HOWARD — C. Crawford Webb has been in Apple Valley since the year 2000. Before that he worked as an optometrist in Flora, Ill., for 40 years. But when the idea came to Webb to put some of his life on paper, his mind immediately reached further back, to the days of the Great Depression, when he grew up in Lucasville, in southern Ohio.

“Stayin’ Outta’ Trouble: At the Foot of Haystack Hill” is the book Webb came up with, and it is rich with stories of a time, if not always simpler, one nonetheless more focused on community and character.

“Back then, you took people at their word,” Webb said. “If someone didn’t keep their word, the whole town would know.”

Webb recalls economic conditions that make the current recession look mild. Many girls wore dresses made out of feed sacks. Every younger child expected to inherit hand-me-down clothes from older siblings as they outgrew them. But at the same time, he said, there was a sense of security and belief in friends.