Tom’s Substack

Tom’s Substack

Benjamin

The street musician who won over my Grandmother

Tom Calabretta's avatar
Tom Calabretta
Sep 01, 2023
∙ Paid

Benjamin was proud of his ability to pull his family through the Great Depression.

When most families scraped to get by, he used his woodworking skills, working in a casket factory, to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. In 1935, his employer began deducting Social Security from his paycheck; something he grumbled about many years later.

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