She quit school because her father became disabled in the mid-50s. My grandmother had to work outside the home making "women's wages" in a very sexist era.

It took both of them to keep the family afloat.

My dad had a similar situation. His father was in a TB sanitarium during that same time.

The difference was that after my mom died, Dad kept spending money he didn't have. Mom was more frugal. Dad wrote checks and never entered them in the register. That part drove me crazy.