T. Leon Doyle

Bayou Lagrue: Life During the Big Depression T. Leon Doyle

With little more than an average monthly income of only two dollars and fifty cents per month and the plentiful bounty of the Arkansas bayou country, the family of Leon Doyle-a family of six-survived the ten years of the Great Depression. Though stricken with extreme poverty, Doyle enjoyed a happy, unencumbered life of southern superstitions, witches, boogiemen, and mysterious apparitions in the backwoods. He wasn't really aware of the shortcomings of his circumstances.

Completely happy with his life until World War II was just over the horizon and his family moved into town, completely destroying his comfort zone. The shortcomings were so immediate and overpowering that it took him years to overcome them.

However during his last years in high school he felt comfortable with the situation, accepting life as it was given. Basking in his maturity he got a job, and except room and board he supported himself. Finally, in gratitude for all the Mamma and Daddy did for him, he helped buy a house, a home of their own.