From the Gainesville Sun:Knowing how to stretch cash was a skill Oliver H. Jones, 88, said his father perfected.
His father was A. Quinn Jones Sr., a renowned Gainesville educator.
Jones Sr. earned his baccalaureate from Florida A&M in 1915. President Nathan Young encouraged him to become a teacher and principal. As a Gainesville resident for 75 years, he led Alachua County’s first black high school (Lincoln) from 1923 to 1956.
"During the Depression, my father sent my brother to Florida A&M University for $16 a month, and two years later he started to send me for $18 a month," Jones said. "He did that on his teacher's and principal's salary, so he had to be good with money."
The elder Jones also made certain his sons learned to work with their hands. During a few weeks in the summer, the Jones brothers worked in the tobacco warehouses. Wages were $1 a day for men, 75 cents a day for teenagers and 50 cents a day for boys.
"It was hot, heavy work, and a day wasn't eight hours," Jones said. "It was until the warehouse closed."
Sitting in the living room of his northwest Gainesville home, Jones said the late-model car in his garage and the electronics found around his home were purchased when he and his wife could afford them, not when they wanted them.
It might have appeared that the Jones brothers "were deprived, but we didn't know it."
"We were willing to live within our means and willing to do without, and we were still fairly happy," Jones said. It's a mindset he has continued well into his retirement.
"We waited until we were able to afford a TV and a telephone," Jones said, "and then I could enjoy them without worrying about how to pay for them."
Watch video of Oliver Jones sharing more memories about his life with his family during the Great Depression here.