Ottawa ? Bob Hill was just 9 years old when the stock market crashed in 1929.

A few years later, he watched as banks across the country were forced to close for days to restore financial stability. When Hill was older, he stood by as interest rates skyrocketed in 1968 and again in 1974 and witnessed what became known as a loan crisis in 1984.

“Farming communities like this one never have been hit as bad as the rest of the world,” the longtime Ottawan said.

And with today’s economic downturn, Hill and others who have seen the highs and lows of the times agree that the current slump, like those before it, soon will pass.

When Don Waymire of Ottawa was growing up, he didn’t notice the things he didn’t have, didn’t worry too much about money.

“Everyone was poor, so you didn’t envy anyone,” Waymire, who was born in 1928, said. “We always had food on our table, but we really didn’t have any luxuries.”

Waymire moved in 1937 with his family to Ottawa. When World War II broke out, he said people turned to organizations like the Civilian Conservation Corps for work.

“The CCC did conservation work that wouldn’t have been done otherwise,” Waymire said.

Today, the organization’s work still can be seen in the form of Garnett’s north lake, water sheds, Ottawa’s Girls Club and other local projects. Its companion organization, the Works Progress Administration, built public structures, including Ottawa’s Eugene Field Elementary School.

“We didn’t bail out everybody back in those times,” Hill said. “Things had to correct themselves.”

Ray Talbott of Ottawa, said he’s unsure whether some of today’s children and even adults would have been able to make it during the Great Depression, make it in a time when most people sacrificed life’s luxuries.

“If kids had to turn the clock back to that time, a lot of them would starve to death,” Talbott, who was born in 1925, said. “There was just no money and no market.”

His wife, Marilyn, who is almost 80, said because people of the older generation have experienced worse times, others should try not to complain about the current downturn, complain of the things they don’t have.

“You need to count your blessings and be thankful for what you’ve got,” she said.

Mildred Heathman, Ottawa, thinks today’s economy will turn people toward doing more odd jobs to get extra cash.

“I feel like people will return to doing more for themselves — I think they’ll have to,” she said.

And the need to do more might mean less selectiveness in jobs.

“A lot of it is about what people are willing to do for work,” Heathman, who was born in 1928, said.

That includes entertainment, too.

“We didn’t need much,” Hill said. “We used to play games at home, and we didn’t have a TV. There were so many fewer distractions.”

Hill said life was more family-oriented, with more family activities and meals together.

“I don’t think people today are teaching children the value of a dollar and to save money for a rainy day,” he said.

Because of Franklin County’s location, the area has avoided some of the major effects of previous slumps, and that’s true with today’s situation so far, Waymire said.

“This part of the country never really experiences any big booms or any big busts,” he said. “It has a moderate effect on the majority of people.”

The Talbotts said, for them, the current economy doesn’t compare much with worse times they’ve experienced.

“It really hasn’t affected us much personally,” Ray Talbott said. “Things like groceries are going up every day, but we get by all right.”

Heathman practices a few cost-cutting techniques in times like these.

“I go less when gas is high,” she said. “I make a grocery list, and I stick to it.”

For Hill, it’s a matter of realizing that economic downturns have happened before and will happen again.

“It’s going to happen periodically throughout life, but we’re going to recover,” he said. “Franklin County is a great place to be — on good days and bad days.”