It was tough times, for sure, with millions of workers unemployed throughout the United States, yet families everywhere were determined to rejoice with a Thanksgiving Day to remember.

That was 1934, and it would be at least another 10 years before Maine saw a significant recovery from the Great Depression. In the Twin Cities of Lewiston and Auburn, grocery stores like Tarr’s Market at 12 Lisbon St. and Sanitary Market a short distance down the street were advertising turkeys, geese and ducks, along with all the holiday dinner fixings. Peck’s Department Store pitched roasters and dinnerware, while other stores offered specials on dining room furniture, tablecloths and curtains.

Thanksgiving was a holiday that was not going to the diminished by hard times in L-A.

For several days leading up to that year’s Thanksgiving, the Lewiston Evening Journal published long lists of party plans and expected dinner guests of communities’ residents. A special holiday story by Sam Conner featured stories told by prominent L-A men about Thanksgivings they remembered.

Lewiston Mayor Robert J. Wiseman, a doctor, recalled a Thanksgiving Day in 1903 when he received a phone call. It was from a family in Crowley’s Junction, South Lewiston, and a young boy had become extremely ill when he sat down for the family’s holiday feast. Mayor Wiseman rushed to the home, and soon determined that the boy needed to go to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy.

The story had a happy ending. They boy narrowly survived. That day stood out as a holiday with special occasion for thanksgiving.

Auburn Mayor George C. Wing remembered his happy childhood holidays, and Bates College President Clifton D. Gray told about hunting trip with friends on Thanksgiving Day when they wound up in a very rough camp with nothing to eat but baked beans.

“That was our Thanksgiving dinner,” he said. “Baked beans were the first course; baked beans were the second and third course, and baked beans were dessert.”

He described that memorable meal as if it was a dining table heaped with the traditional turkey and pies.

“These were not white-livered beans,” he said. “They were soaked with molasses and were a delicious brown.”

Lewiston mail carrier John T. “Chubby” Coffey stopped his deliveries on that 1934 November day to tell the reporter about a Thanksgiving Day in France. He was in training there and the base served only ordinary rations on the holiday, so he and three friends set out for a restaurant in a nearby town.

None of them (Coffey, Farrell, Murphy or O’Reilly) spoke French, though they tried their best to order a turkey dinner. After failures by the others, Farrell said he knew he could make himself understood. He got up, began waddling around and flapping his arms while crowing like a rooster.

The French waitress broke into a smile and exclaimed, “Ah, oui,” and rushed to the kitchen. Before long, she was back with a large covered dish, which the soldiers eagerly opened to discover a huge omelet for four.

Those were unusual Thanksgiving Day memories. More common among the older generation around L-A is the memory of wonderful smells from the kitchen from early morning until the turkey was presented for carving.

While prepared foods make up a large part of today’s holiday meal, time-honored tradition can still be found. Cook books with favorite contributions by local ladies are still used, like the 1919 North Auburn Grange Cook Book that’s on our family’s kitchen shelf.

That’s where recipes survive, along with the careful directions from the cooks whose names accompany them.

There’s Sadie A. Lyford’s Auburn Pudding (flour, molasses, milk, spices) which is steamed for an hour and a half and served “with good pudding sauce.”

There’s Jennie Boothby’s Indian Pudding and her Christmas pudding, Izora Jordan’s Mountain Dew Pudding (no liquor in it), “Aunt Mame’s Cake” from Edith Blethen, “snow pudding” from Mary Schoppe, and mock mince pie from Sarah Thorne.

Whether your Thanksgiving dinner comes from boxes and cans or from talented cooks with years of experience, it is sure to include many wonderful memories.