Life's Resume
Memories of a Childhood in Mahanoy City During and After World War I
Written in Verse and Illustrated for her Grandchildren
by Nancy Mignon Kutz Myers 1913-1999
Nancy Mignon Kutz was born in Mahanoy City on December 1, 1913 . She was the daughter of John Henry and Edith Powell Kutz.
Her grandfather, John Martin Kutz, was a pioneer businessman in the borough, having operated a grocery store at 30 East Centre Street until his sudden death at the Reading Station on North Main Street in January of 1907.
Her father, known as Henry, took over his dad's business in 1907 and later moved the store to 611 East Centre Street. Henry died in May of 1930, during Mignon' s junior year at Mahanoy City High School, which was just two blocks from the Kutz family store and residence.
At that time Mignon's older sister, Lorraine, was a student a Kutztown State Teachers College.
After graduating from MCHS, Mignon followed her sister to Kutztown where she received her degree in elementary education. Mignon taught in the Bethlehem and Reading School Districts for many years.
In 1940 Mignon married James Myers of Bethlehem. Mignon and James were married for forty-nine years and had two children Beth and David. Mignon died in 1999 in Bethlehem.
The historical society is thankful to Beth and David and their children for allowing the historical society to digitize Life's Resume and the accompanying photographs.
This delightful memoir in verse is a view into a time gone by in the Coal Regions. Many of you will relate to Mignon's memories of her childhood in Mahanoy City. Mignon was a contemporary of my parents and so I feel many of her experiences would have been shared by my parents, especially my mother.
I have often thought that my childhood experinces of the 1950s were closer to what my parents experienced in the 1920s than to what my children experienced in the 1980s. Memories of icemen, kitchen coal stoves, roller skates with keys and even hop-scotch. Desks with ink wells and Palmer Method drills, wringer washers and scrubbing boards.
No matter what generation you belong to, you're sure to enjoy Life's Resume.
PTC
