The Ironing Board Chair

I have never lived a day in my life without this chair being in it. This chair was made by my Grandfather Lininger at sometime in the 1920's I think. This was during the Great Depression, and my parents, along with my two oldest brothers, were forced to move in and live with my mother's parents, Grandma and Grandpa Lininger. My older brothers were probably about 3 and 1 at the time.

I am not sure how long this living arrangement lasted, but two more boys were born in the 30's, and I came along in 1936, and I'm pretty sure that only the two older boys lived with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa Lininger built this chair as a "time out" chair for the little boys. As I remember Grandpa, he was not terribly enthralled with little children, and was a little short on patience. The Time Out chair was probably a good idea. And, I'm sure that, being short of money, Grandpa used whatever materials were at hand. In this case, he used an old wooden ironing board. If you look closely at the back of the chair, you will recognize the shape.

This chair was always in our house as I grew up. I remember it for a short while in the laundry room with an always overflowing laundry basket sitting on it. But, mostly I remember it for years in my parents' bedroom sitting by my dad's side of the bed. And it was always stacked tall with issues of the "Saturday Evening Post." All the years of my dad's life, that I knew him, he subscribed to this magazine, and only this magazine. You know the Post - it is still in print in a much smaller paper-saving version. It always had a cover that was a painting by Norman Rockwell. It had recent news and human interest stories, some fiction short stories, and a lot of cartoons.

My dad read the post in bed every night before falling asleep. I believe I started reading it as soon as I learned to read, or maybe even before. I loved the pictures and the cartoons. I can remember lying on their bed on summer afternoons and reading that week's issue. I know it wasn't great literature, but I liked it, and it introduced me to American culture as only a popular magazine can. When I see today's little puny version, it makes me sad and homesick to see my mom and dad propped up in bed reading when I went in to kiss them good night.

Now the chair sits in my bedroom by the window. The seat has a crack that might pinch your bottom if you sit in it. Anyway, it's really too low for an adult. So you see that now it has been claimed by Frank the cat, and from this viewpoint he loves to survey his empire. It is comforting to awaken in the night, and see him keeping watch over our little world.

The Ironing Board Chair - it's not beautiful - but it continues to keep me connected.