Growing up in Portsmouth

Carl: I grew up in Park View, the oldest suburb in Portsmouth. The rich people lived on Court Street, a block from the ferry (to Norfolk, the city across the Elizabeth River), but Park View was the first of the suburbs. My parents separated around 1928-- don't know if they ever formally divorced or not, I don't think so. I went to live with Sister (his aunt, named Hattie after his grandmother) and my grandmother, who they called Big Hattie. My brother (George) and my sister (Jean) stayed with Mother. We lived a couple of miles apart-- might as well have been in a different world.

Ellen: George is the one who died young, right?

Carl: Yeah. He was still in high school. I think it was around 1938. (An internet search indicates George Franklin Kraft died on April 28, 1938.) I remember I was walking to the streetcar when V (his girlfriend at the time) came running after me and called, "Carl, Carl, your brother's dead." He was out on the river in a rowboat-- stupid-- when you're young-- well, I don't suppose it's any more stupid than some of the things I did. Anyway, he was with the younger brother of my friend, and what with all the boat traffic on the river, and the wakes... the other boy had the sense to stay with the boat, but George tried to swim for a pier. It was only about a hundred yards away, and he was a strong swimmer, but he got partway there and then just... (mimes going under water). We weren't close, because like I said, we didn't live together. 

And by then, my life was almost completely centered around Norfolk. I lived in Portsmouth, but I worked in Norfolk, and I'd take the ferry over there for work, work till five, come back to change, then go back to Norfolk and take V out for a date. It was about a mile walk from my apartment to the ferry, but that was normal then. People just didn't have cars. We didn't think about it.

(Goes back to childhood) After my father left, Mother had to work for Grant's (a department store), because someone had to bring in the money. She became a manager of the children's department, which was unheard of-- back then women were always just clerks. But she became manager, and they called her the Queen. Not that she was mean, but... well, she had things her way. Sister, on the other hand, worked for the railroad. She got me my job there when I got out of high school. That's how things were back then-- you didn't apply for jobs, a family member got you a job. (He gave me a sort of yearbook for his time at the Officer Candidate School, and his occupation is listed as "Railway Clerk.")