Howard Herron Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

Howard Herron 95
Q: Howard, who did you most admire in your life time, was there someone
you really admired?
A: Franklin D. Roosevelt, he was a great man. When this country was
down in the dumps, he. . . . I bought a house here for $400, over here
from the First Federal Savings and Loan. And I didn't have to pay
anything down, all I had to do was start paying the monthly payments that
the fellow owed. The mortgage was much more than that but they let me
have it at that price. Then I bought another house up there when they
had an auction and I bought a house for $1500 and the house sold for
3,000 in a year or two years after that.
In the meantime, every bank went broke and people was losing everything
they had. Closed everything they had down and they had to prove they
could operate in the black, instead of the red or they couldn't open.
Then the Bank Examiner's examined it and that's when they opened the
banks. Then he put out a WPA, what they called a Works Progress
Administration. That's how we got the City Water Works here in Auburn is
through the WPA. We didn't have the money and they furnish the money for
the wages to put these men to work and then when they got working and
they got money, they became taxpayers. That was one of the reasons I was
voting for Carter was because he was going to do the same thing. That
was his motto. I admired Roosevelt, I believe, better than any of them.
Woodrow Wilson was a good man. He was a better educated man maybe than
Roosevelt but he didn't have the know how that Roosevelt did. I always
thought Franklin D. Roosevelt was, and his wife would be next, because
she was a wonderful woman too. You probably read of her.
Q: Eleanor
A: Eleanor Roosevelt. Those two were about the most famous people that
I admired.
9: Where is the prettiest place you've ever been in your lifetime?
A: I believe Florida. Florida is the prettiest place. I went down
there in the wintertime and it was summer down there. This Kapok Tree, I
showed you there, restaurants there and fine places. If you ordered a
steak and you wanted it medium well, you got a pink pick stuck in the
steak it was medium, and if it was rare it would be red and if it was
well done it would be brownish like. That's the way it was in the
restaurants. You had to sit and wait. The whole state of Florida, I
wasn't there only one winter. But towards the last I didn't like the way
it started raining a lot like that but then I went to Phoenix, Arizona.
My wife and I went to Phoenix, Arizona for six winters. 1 had a nephew
and a niece out there.
Q: Did you think that was pretty?
A: It was pretty there but it was sandy and deserts but this Florida was
all greening and in flowers. It was pretty and it was real nice.
Q: Well, Howard, we're almost at the end of our interview and I just
want to thank you so much for confiding in me a11 of your experiences.