|
a.
|
Note: "Just a Brief History About Me" - I was born on November 22, 1914 in a sod house 10 miles west of Mendham, Saskatchewan. Later on my father had a three room frame house built. We were a large family with a new baby arriving almost every year. As a youngster I can remember going out to the pasture to pick up dried cow patties to burn in the cook stove. We had a good herd of milk cows and always pigs running around the yard. Chickens were everywhere and we even had tame rabbits hiding under the granaries. Mother always grew a large garden with watermelons. Sometimes they didn't ripen so they were pickled with dill and ate during the winter. With no refrigeration, meat was always put in salt brine to keep. Sometimes it didn't smell so good. There was always a big pot of milk on the back of the range to make cottage cheese and always a big pot of soup cooking. The one room school was just across the road from us where I started in 1923. Things gradually got worse, no crops and for some reason we had to leave that farm, so we had to move to a vacant dilapitated farm further south, closer to Gascgoine where we walked two miles to get to school. Sometimes there would be a rattlesnake curled up on the trail in the hot sun - and I mean HOT! Never any rain, only sage brush and russian thistle and us in bare feet; we were very poor. Father used to get clothes for us from the Red Cross in Burstall, but we always had about 20 horses. Father was a great horseman. He would drive to Leader with the buggy and 2 horses and would come home with a different team. They always had to match. It was no fun to keep the water trough full. We always had to pump by hand. It took Louis and I sometimes hours to fill the trough. At night, badgers would be digging under the house. My Aunt Annie and Uncle Paul Zubot wanted to adopt me, as they had no children, but Mother would not allow it. They later adopted Anne who lives in Medicine Hat. My Aunt and Uncle are both buried in the cemetary south of Mendham. Things went from bad to worse. All the cattle and horses were mostly sold. So in 1925 Father went to Leipzig where his brother Paul had moved to, and helped with their harvest. So in 1926 we loaded two wagons - one was covered with canvas - and we started out for Leipzig. It took us three days. What implements and furniture we had was shipped by box car to Scott, Saskatchewan where father bought a farm with payments each fall. Well, the real estate man in Wilkie did not send in the money to the owner in the States so we were forced off the farm in 1930. We were on the move again to Traynor, Sask., this time renting land. This was part of the eulogy given by Norm Woodcock; he continued with the following: I thought it was important to hear her words because it helps us to understand her character. She was very strong willed, determined or stubborn, pragmatic, and above all, industrious. Her early live was not exactly a fairy tale story, but it built a strength of character that saw her through life. One story she related about her early life was helping to carry the casket of one of her brothers or sisters from the church to the graveyard at Mendham during the diptheria epidemic of 1918-1919 when the family lost 4 or 5 children. She would have been 4 or 5 years old at the time. That would have been a very confusing and difficult thing for a child to do. Her life as a wife and mother began in 1934 when she married Frank and lived at Wolfe. Her three sons were all born while living in Wolfe and even having a child wasn't a straight forward procedure. We were all born at City Hospital in Saskatoon and Mom would come there by train a couple of weeks before each birth to stay until the birth and then return to Wolfe by train with the new addition. During the thirties at Wolfe, there were many people "riding the rails" looking for a better life. Since we were a railroad family, we lived in the section house beside the tracks. Many times Mom would hear a knock at the door when she was alone with her baby. She said she would be afraid to open the door because there were some very rough looking characters who greeted her. All they wanted was some food and she never came to any harm and no one was turned away. I'm sure she remembered what it was like to have bad times and understood what these people were experiencing. We moved to Hughenden, Alberta in 1947 and lived there for 10 years. At Wolfe and Hughenden, Mom and Dad kept a cow to have milk and butter for the family and any surplus provided a supplement to the family income. While we weren't farm kids, we certainly learned how to feed and water cattle and muck out the stall. We became attached to the animals and it always was a traumatic experience when the animals were shipped away. In 1957 we moved to Nipawin and in 1959 to North Battleford. Mom began her work outside the home in Nipawin working at the dry goods and this continued fro many years in North Battleford. She worked at Eatons at the time of her retirement. Mom took pride in her appearance and I'm sure many of you were surprised to learn that she was 83 when she passed away. In the family we always used to say she was 80 going on 70. This youthfulness was relected in activity as well as the many other things she did to occupy her time. She took a similar pride in the appearance of her home and yard with her meticulous housekeeping and gardening. She set a very high standard forther sons and daughters-in-law and it was soon realized that it was ridiculous to try to equal her standard. We all tried to make things reasonably presentable for her visits and during the visits when she would disappear, she would usually be found pulling weeds our the garden or flower beds. After a while it was learned that it was best to not worry too much about the weeds because it gave her something to do while visiting. Mom was also inordinately proud of her sons and their familiies, and at times could be downright boastful about their activities and accomplishments. While her expectations were high, she was never pushy or closed any doors, letting us find our own way. This encouragement, I think, is reflected in the fact that while she had a Grade 10 education, her sons all completed post secondary education of one type or another. Sometimes her pride was a bit embarrassing. I can remember working in the Yukon one summer while going to University. I was waiting for my marks to come for the previous year and for some reason it was a long wait. One day a large brown envelope arrived. In it were my marks, a letter from the College of Engineering advising me to stay out for a year, a note from my Mom that said "Here are your marks", a letter Mom had written to the college and Mom's reply. My marks weren't very good, in fact there were two or three failures and the college felt I should take a year off to reflect on my career choice. Mom's letter to the college was to the effect that what was wrong with this University that would let such a smart person has her son fail classes. The colleges reply was to the effect that they didn't doubt her son was smart, but that perhaps her son wasn't applying himself. On this letter Mom had underlined the words "applying himself" and wrote "What does he mean not applying himself?" I'm sure you will believe me when I tell you that I applied myself better in the future. Mom loved to tell stories to her grandchildren about the old days. These were usually funny and when they were told, Mom would laugh until tears ran down her face. When one of the sons came into the room and laughter died down, you knew she was telling them stories about her son's follied during childhood. Later in life Mom's artistic talents began to blossom. She was always busy with her hands so weaving was a natural for her. The two wall hangings before you attest to her talents. And she loved lawn bowling tremendously and while she was a good sport, she was a better sport about winning, especially when the team she beat was skipped by a man. The rapidness with which the disease progressed took our breaths away and it seems to us that Mom's death was untimely. I know this sounds odd when talking about someone who is 83 but she was full of life up until a few months ago. While her death seems premature, we can take some comfort in the fact that she did not have a prolonged and painful illness, nor was her passing so sudden that we didn't have the opportunity to say our good-byes. Lord, you how have a helper, you probably haven't met her yet, but if you noticed someone scurrying about pulling chickweek from your gardens, that will be Mom. And when someone gives you some free advice on how to spruce the place up, that will be Mom. Goodbye Mom and I hope we showed you as much love and caring as you gave us.
|