In the local fish wrapper this morning: Archival Revival: Socialist Party’s national convention took place here in 1938
http://kenoshanews.com/news/archival_revival_socialist_partys_national_c...

The short write-up hits home for me because my Mom's Dad (active in the Lathers' Union) and my Dad's Dad (active in the Machinists' Union) are listed among the 10 Kenosha alternate delegates to the Convention. This was 13 years before my Mom and Dad married.

--Side Note: I had the opportunity to run for Bernie delegate from my CD, and I even had a small chance of winning having been an organizer of our grassroots Bernie group KenoshaForBernie (All three Bernie delegates from our CD are KFB members). The out of pocket cost of being a delegate is why I decided not to run. (Participation in Democracy is great if you can afford it, eh?) Woulda been kinda cool to follow in both my Grandfathers' footsteps, but I hold hope that in a few more years I could be a delegate to the convention of a truly progressive party. End Side Note--

The article also mentions Walter Reuther. My Mom tells a funny story from about this same time (late depression, maybe 1936 or '37 or so) about Walter coming to her parents' house for supper. He visited Kenosha, not sure how many times, while coordinating Kenosha & Detroit auto workers' unions into the United Auto Workers. Mom was a youngster of about 7 and when Grandma served the soup that night, young Mom said, "Hey, there's a hair in my soup!" Grandma was sooo embarrassed, and Grandpa & Walter took it in stride. Mom's brother, 4 years older, told her to shut up. Funny how of all the possible stories to remember from that night, Mom remembers embarrassing her Mom and feeling bad about it.

Anyhoo, our local newspaper is a sleepy, lazy, toe-the-corporate-line rag, so seeing this reminder of our local roots was a pleasant surprise.