By John Nuckel
John entered “The Summer of ’69” in the April/26 “Writing Conflict” contest.
Two weeks ago, my attorney daughter casually mentioned “Grandma’s New York Supreme Court ruling.” I was shocked to hear about it. My brother and sister were unaware as well. My daughter showed me the files concerning my late mother, Rose Nuckel. I was stunned.
It took me back to the summer of 1969, when I was ten years old, the middle child of five. My parents had split, and we were living with relatives in Bayshore New York. My father came to see us once. He brought presents and had a beard. I was afraid to speak to him. I had good reason. I knew he was a violent man.
I was not happy when our mother announced we were going to move with him to Florida, I was panic stricken.
We moved into an apartment complex in Boca Raton. The girls had one bedroom; my brothers and I shared another. My parents had a room down the hall. It all seemed so normal. Until it wasn’t. We lived in a war zone where he beat us and my mother daily.
He was in jail for a while. It was good to be rid of him, but we had no money. A neighbor’s dog had puppy’s and we begged our mom for one. She must have wanted to add a little joy to our lives because one morning she surprised us with a cute white puppy. Of course, we couldn’t afford it. Soon enough the puppy was gone. A few nights later we ate dog treats for dinner. Doggie Donuts. There were many sleepless nights crying in bed from hunger.
One early morning my uncle Michael shook me awake. We were leaving and he was there to protect us from our father.
I never saw my father again. He died in 1981. Good riddance.
He’s a footnote in my life story. The stars have been strong women. None stronger than my mother Rose.
Back in New York we moved into a motel where the six of us slept in two beds. It was tight, but I felt safe for the first time in memory. We had dinners at Howard Johnson; all you can eat chicken or fish. After we ate mom stuffed leftover chicken or fish into her bag for tomorrow’s dinner. We were running out of money and relatives to stay with.
She applied for public assistance and was turned down on August 12th, 1969. A single, battered woman with five kids was turned away by New York State because she hadn’t spent a continuous year in the state after living there her entire life. She took New York State to court.
My daughter showed me the case.
Nuckel V. Wyman: Supreme Court, Special Term, Nassau County September 8th, 1969
The ruling cited a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling and read in part: “The basis of the Supreme Court’s ruling was that such statutes violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by impinging upon the rights of welfare applicants to travel freely from state to state.”
She won!
Shortly after, her ruling was cited in Harris V. Wyman. Ms. Harris was denied benefits as well. It was the precedent in Nuckel V. Wyman that won her case. There have been numerous citations since.
The Nassau County social services department tried to deny benefits to my mother despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling then tried to deny Ms. Harris despite a New York State Supreme Court ruling.
They must have thought women too ignorant or timid to fight for their rights. They didn’t count on Rose Nuckel. She didn’t seek to change the law. She wanted to feed her children.
I remember sitting on wooden benches with my brothers and sisters during that summer waiting for mom to come out of a big room. I didn’t know until recently that the big room was a court room, and my mother was standing in front of a judge fighting for her children. It was her courage that led to relief for countless mothers and their children after her.
Mom never spoke of the case or much about the horrible days with my father. She was a tough Irish woman. We used to joke that her catchphrase was “I’ll give you something to cry about.”
There was no time to look back raising five kids on her own. She worked six days a week and slept on the couch of our little apartment throughout my childhood. I never imagined I could respect her more, but learning what she did reinforced how strong she was and how much we were loved.
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