AMARILLO, TEXAS -- Elanore Riffe was the oldest of five children and she began looking after all of them when she was very young.
"I had the responsibility of my siblings because I lost my mother in a car accident when I was 13," she said. "And from then on I was the mother."
She did everything from the cooking and cleaning to the disciplining.
It is not too surprising that her first job when she was a young woman was babysitting.
She majored in home economics and shortly after college she married.
"I got married, right after the war was over," Riffe said. "From then on I was a house mom and that was a hard job with three boys."
She laughed and said they all had hollow legs, so she was constantly cooking.
Paula Abbott, a licensed professional counselor, said the war played a large role in the work ethic of this "greatest generation."
"They were definitely more patriotic, more loyal," Abbottt said. "War probably had a huge impact on how they viewed work."
Riffe agrees, thinking back to her hard working husband.
"He was very disciplined," she said. "And believed you didn't buy things until you could pay for them, and we didn't believe in credit, except for a home."
Riffe said besides work ethic--that not living within your means is one of the biggest differences between her generation and those in their twenties.
"They're not as dedicated for one thing. They like to buy on credit. They're big spenders," she said.
Abbott added that the advertising today reflects that big spender mantra.
"L'Oreal hair commercials, I may be more expensive but I'm worth it. Everything is sort of "do what you want," Abbott said. "I'm not going to be concerned with working until retirement and certainly not until I can no longer work."
Both agree work ethics are changing and maybe not for the better.
