Without Social Security …
‘We’d be on the streets’
A pewter urn surrounded by family photos sits on Joann Bozman’s mantel.
It holds the ashes of her husband, Dennis, who died of a brain aneurysm at age 46.
Sometimes her kids put objects on the mantel — Christmas angels, Father’s Day cards, bubble gum. It helps them cope with their loss.
“November 12, 2002,” said Bozman, giving the exact date of his passing.
After 19 years of marriage, she was left to raise four children under age 16.
Dennis was a UAW Local 735 member and veteran skilled-tradesman at General Motors’ Powertrain facility in Ypsilanti, Mich., for 25 years.
To ensure they could make ends meet, Dennis worked overtime and a second job playing drums at union gigs with a group of buddies called United Band.
“It was my choice to be a full-time mom,” said Joann, now 44, whose father died when she was 9. She and her mother lived on Social Security survivor benefits.
When Dennis died, she found herself back in that all-too familiar world.
Social Security is more than just retirement income.
It’s family insurance, providing benefits for those who lose a spouse while either caring for dependent children or if age 60 or older, and also a dependable monthly income to children who lose a parent to death or disability. About 30 percent of Social Security beneficiaries receive disability or survivor benefits.
The Bush administration’s private account scheme does not include such insurance protections, and if implemented it could reduce survivor benefits to families like the Bozmans.
“The ‘For Sale’ sign would go up,” Joann said. “I don’t know how we’d make it. Without Social Security, we’d be on the streets.”
At one time, Joann worked as a nurses’ assistant and planned to return to school for further training once her oldest finished high school.
So why not just get a job outside the home? “I’m an unskilled, uneducated, middle-aged woman. If I got a $10-an-hour job, I’d have to pay for child care, and then where would we be?” she said.
The Bozman family includes Brooke, 16, a high school sophomore who works part time after school; fourth-grader Paige, 9; and 7-year-old Evan, who is in first grade. The oldest, Lindsey, 18, enlisted in the Marines so she can go to college. She left for basic training in Parris Island, S.C., on Feb. 22.
Joann doesn’t dwell on the fact that Lindsey could be deployed overseas and be in harm’s way. “We’ll deal with that if and when the time comes,” she said.
The Bozmans cut costs wherever they can. They keep the heat low, don’t go to movies, rarely eat out and buy winter coats a year ahead because they’re less expensive.
They gain support from friends and a grief group, where Evan once made a Halloween-like mask bearing a happy face on the outside and crying eyes on the inside.
“I draw my strength from Dennis,” Joann said. “You just keep going. You don’t have a choice when you have kids.”
