My Mother, the Pioneer-Prepper, Offered Survival Advice in an Age of Anxiety

My mother made preparation for disaster, first during the Cold War (1947–1991), which encompassed my childhood. Responding to philosophies expounded by Ayn Rand, her fears multiplied and underscored her anxiety about the future.

Mom was certain that America faced national destruction, collapse from within, or defeat from foreign enemies. She must have pictured an apocalypse with an aftermath something like Planet of the Apes.

On and on she fretted.

The Nevada Test Site was located 65 miles north of Las Vegas, where she and I lived for much of my childhood. Many of my mom’s fears stemmed from actual threats to our safety.

Today, I remember her hyper-vigilance and seriousness. Her face flushed and her eyes widened when she discussed with me evacuation plans—where to meet, what to do when, and where she and I would go to escape.

Her friend Reba owned a gold mine.  

Oro Amigo, “Friend of Gold,” was a walk-in gold mine operating near Searchlight, Nevada, 50 miles south of Las Vegas. My mother and her like-minded friends envisioned this mine as a sanctuary that would house a small colony of other intelligent survivors of thermo-nuclear war who had prepared well in advance for the coming calamity.

In 1960, when I was still in elementary school, I traveled to this mine with my mom when she transported a yellow, metal, 40-gallon barrel filled with supplies she had collected and then left it there in Reba and Bob’s mine.

We never went back.

Fast-forward from 1960 to the 1970’s, “I am very worried about many things.”

From a letter dated November 30, 1975, my mom wrote to her sister Joyce, sharing plans to escape imminent disaster.

“I would like us to find a hideaway somewhere, where we can be together when things get so bad we will have to hide to survive. It won’t be long now. If the economy of NYC can collapse, the U.S. won’t be far behind. The only thing the government can think to do about it is to raise taxes, which is why things are as they are in the first place. We are going to have total anarchy . . . It has already reached the point where you can hardly survive without a S.S. number. It won’t be long before we are required to have a passport to travel from state to state. The political climate is very, very bad now. Unless the people of this country demand a return to our original form of government, soon, it will be too late. I expect that we will be in a war soon, and then the government will invoke ‘emergency powers’ or laws, which means total control over everyone and everything. I am very worried about many things . . . .”

Excerpt, letter dated November 30, 1975

In 1975, when my mother and her sister wrote letters to each other, I was a mother myself. Two pre-schoolers kept me too busy to pay attention to the world beyond the limits of our small town of 20,000 residents or to converse with my mother about her fears, which to me, still seemed irrational.

 “You can take my advice or laugh, as you please. Forget about TV’s and electrical appliances. Buy what you’ll need when we return to the Dark Ages, and be prepared to fight to keep it, cause you will have to. It will be necessary to hide. We will need some dogs, too. I suggest a Shepherd/Collie cross . . .

We wouldn’t need all these things if we wanted to live like the Indians used to live. But we want to make the transition gradually. I think the last things we would miss the most are salt and toilet paper. How in the hell did Indians live without toilet paper?”

Survival Supplies Checklist, cir. 1975

Reading the list my mother wrote out, I realize how much thought she gave to what would be needed if all the wheels of civilization fell off.

In the event of a national disaster, I could never get past the problem of how to get to wherever these supplies could be stored.

Reports on the evacuation of residents prior to a hurricane forecast to hit Houston, Texas, pictures and video show the evacuee’s cars bumper-to-bumper, filling the lanes of the freeways and highways heading out of town. The Texas Department of Safety has even routed traffic away from the city by taking over both sides of the Interstate.

I wonder, where are people going? What happens when cars run out of gas? How could anyone prepare in advance for a mass exodus of millions of people?

And then, I remember my mom, and her earnest attempt to anticipate what it would take to survive the kind of crisis she could imagine.

Here’s her list of supplies:

• *Salt (table & preserving) + 25 boxes should last you 5 years
• Sugar (about 60 lbs. per year x5, 300 lbs) stored in cans or jars
• Cooking oil—Gallons
• Coffee
• Tea
• Whiskey
• Flour
• Dry CerealsCorn Meal 
• Dry Beans—Gobs
• Medicines—anything you can get, alcohol, cotton, tape, bandages
• Vitamins—as much as you can afford
• *Seed—Corn, beans, etc. (very important)
• Canned good—milk, juices, meats, etc. (beer?)
• Dry yeast 
• Soap
• Cocoa
• Hard Candies stored in cans or jars
• Fabrics & thread (needles, denim, wool & cotton)
• Blankets
• Guns, knives, shells (knife sharpener)
• Socks (wool) extra shoes, rain wear
• Rolls of plastic sheeting
• Iron pots, the larger the better 
• Kitchen matches (50 boxes)
• Flashlights & batteries 
• Cig. Lighters, fluid, flints
• Kerosene lamps, wicks, kerosene
• Candles
• Axes (have several) Tools & utensils
• Rope—buy the best—long
• Shovels, hoes, rakes 
• Sleeping bags
• Shoes, boots, (as many as possible)
• Heavy duty clothes
• Books
• *Toilet Paper—Gobs, tons
• Kotex, hand cream, razor & blades 
• Towels, etc., dishes (of course) 
• Canned Tobacco & roller, papers
• Paper, pens, pencils, children’s school workbooks, crayons, paints
• And etc. etc.
• You can probably think of many things I can’t.” 

Mom said, “I am very worried about many things.”

And that’s what makes me sad. Her worry. Because her fear of what could happen obscured her vision of present realities.

Proceed with Caution not Fear

Today, amidst the current coronavirus crisis, people are worried about many things. Often now as then, some of the proposed solutions to problems make as much sense as a survival barrel stuck in a gold mine. 

Would it surprise you to learn that the stripes in the middle of roads and highways range from 4–7 inches wide? Not much margin for error.

My mother was a very smart lady but she lived most of her life in fear. Her reasons for being afraid were valid, based on real life tragedies and setbacks. Still, I watched her suffer as much from things she feared would happen as from any of the troubles that actually did occur. 

Fear and faith cannot occupy the same space at the same time any more than 2 vehicles can occupy the same space on the road at the same time without colliding.

Crossing the thin yellow line in the road to where fear takes the wheel puts you and me in the path of greater dangers than even the coronavirus poses.

At this critical juncture in America’s history, people will have to choose whether to move forward by faith, or take actions out of fear, as if somehow preparing for a doomsday.

While I have no idea what the road ahead looks like, I don’t want to live in fear until the future gets here.