Shelli Hernstrom

GPC Joint Enrollment Student

Fall 2006

Boxcar Granny

I have heard the story about my granny living in a boxcar more times than I can count, but I never knew how out of the ordinary that experience was. Fifty-eight years ago my great-grandpa McCallum worked on a railroad in Moline, Illinois to support his wife and four children:  Kathy (my granny), Donald Jr., Carol, and Robert. He earned pretty good money for that time, but sadly it all had to be used for medical bills. When Aunt Carol was born, she was accidentally dropped on her head by the doctor. This left her damaged with cerebral palsy for the rest of her life. At a young age she had to have brain surgery, which was rarely ever performed back then and caused Granny's family to be extremely poor.

One sunny day a few years later, while Great-grandpa McCallum was at work on the railroad, the kids were at school and Great-grandma McCallum was sleeping, their house caught fire from a kerosene lamp in the kitchen. Suddenly Great-grandma McCallum woke up and ran out of the house to safety. She got out of the once wonderful house, but everything else was ruined and could not be replaced because of the lack of insurance. All they had left were their memories.  

Shortly after this incident, my Great-grandpa McCallum was transferred to Goodland, Kansas. The family packed what little they had, piled into their rusty old travel trailer and made their way for Kansas. Once they arrived they had no where to live and no money to buy any of the houses near the railroads. The railroad executives told them they could rent a long forgotten, unused boxcar that the section hands once lived in. Of course they took the offer, but did not have the money to pay rent. Luckily the railroad executives understood the situation and let them stay without paying rent.

Granny was worried about how life would be living in the boxcar. She was shocked when she saw the barn brownish-red colored boxcar. She walked in and saw it was broken into three different sections which were the sleeping area, the living room, and the kitchen. None of these rooms were very big. The sleeping area had four wooden bunk beds made into the wall for the family of six to sleep on. The mattress was thin but the few blankets they brought were not in very bad shape.  Their living room only had a small couch and an old broken chair that needed to be re-covered with better fabric. The kitchen had a sink with no running water, a small counter top that left barely any room to prepare food, a few cabinets with little space for their few dishes, and an undersized crooked table for them to eat together at.  

One thing the boxcar was missing was a bathroom. They had to get ready at the Goodland Train Depot every morning before school. Not only that, but at night they had to take a bath in the same silver wash basin, one right after the other. To get the water warm, my Great-grandma McCallum would boil water from the train depot and fill up the basin. After each person would bathe, she would add a pot of warm water to heat the already used water. Granny was happy that she was the oldest because that meant she got to be first and had fresh bath water every time.

Living there was difficult and everybody had to pitch in to keep the boxcar clean, but since Granny was the oldest she had to help Great-grandma McCallum the most. Granny loved helping Great-grandma McCallum make dinner in the kitchen. She laughed every time they would turn and bump into each other, which happened quite often. She remembers hanging the plain white curtains on each window when they first moved in. Granny did not mind helping her mom out because she knew everyone was doing the best they could.

            Over the course of two years, Granny became best friends with Lorina, the girl whose family owned the gas station and restaurant. Lorina and she would play hide-and-seek, tag, house, and other childhood games when they were not at school. They also loved going to the Goodland High School sporting events because every game was different so it was always exciting. When Granny did not have things to work on at the boxcar, she would be with Lorina. Granny and Lorina loved watching Robert and Donald Jr. play cowboys and Indians with clothespins. They always helped Robert and Donald Jr.  make them by drawing faces on the clothespin and giving them to Great-grandma McCallum so that she could make outfits out of left over fabric used for clothes.

            It was difficult living in such small quarters, but they managed to make it through. After those two cramped years of living in a boxcar, Great-grandpa McCallum got reassigned to a railroad back in Moline, Illinois. Even though Granny was sad to leave Lorina, she was more thrilled to finally be back in Moline, Illinois in a real house.