An Interview With Catherine Reda

I chose to interview my Grandma, Catherine Reda, for the Back Then assignment to get some insight into her life and understand what money was like when she was younger. The grandma I interviewed is my mom’s mom, she is currently 71 years old. She grew up in California, but then moved to Louisiana and then eventually to Michigan where she still resides today. Her very first job, other than babysitting, was when she went to LSU and worked at a local library making $.24 an hour. She went to school to become a teacher, which she did for quite a few years after college, but then decided to become a stay-at-home there after. Her husband, Gary who passed away over 17 years ago, was the love of her life. She said she met him at a gas station and he was a friend of a friend. She said they only waited 5 months after they met to get married. Gary worked for the city of Grand Rapids doing
After the death of her husband my grandma chose to stay unmarried. Surprisingly, Catherine still lives at the very first house she bought with Gary in Jenison, Michigan for $21,000. Catherine has been very accountable with her money. She did not get a credit card until after she was married. She only got into money fights with her husband when he wrote checks without writing down the amount or without looking at the account to see if there was enough money. She also said that she didn’t worry about debt until the interest rates went super high. Catherine really did not have anyone to teach her about money, she relied on her own trial and error to understand what to do and what not to do with money. She told me that she has learned over the years that money is important, but family is more important. She is always telling me that you can’t take