Condolences
Miss you everyday and just love what an awesome mom that you were. Every time I cook one of your delicious recipes I think of you and at every family meal such as Thanksgiving, Easter and Christmas. Not only do I miss you but I miss your thoughts, your opinions about the age old questions that we all ask. Hugs….kisses & lots of love….your oldest Jude
I have a fond recollection of my experiences with Barney, Jane and the family when I was young. I remember a visit to their home and watching a color TV for the first time. Lots of fun on Chestermere Lake and fond memories of life in a simpler time. Jane always impressed me with her upbeat attitude and energy. I want the family to know I am thinking about all of you in your time of grief.
I was Jane Hegi's family doctor for many years until she moved to the Bethany Care Center. I loved having her as a patient - she was upbeat, spunky, and fun - eg her funky glasses! My condolences to the family - am sure your good memories of her through the years will give you much comfort.
Marilyn Ross
My deepest heartfelt condolences at the loss of my dear sister-in-law, Jane. I knew Jane since we were kids and played together. Later we spent many times camping together, going to Phil’s for lunch and fun get-togethers. Jane was kind, thoughtful, compassionate and fun. I have so many wonderful memories of Jane that I treasure and will have forever. She loved her family so much. All the visits she enjoyed with them made her day. To the family, I am so sorry for your loss My heart aches for you at this sad and difficult time. RIP Jane.
Gramma was an awesome soul, always open to adventures and trying new things. Her license plate was GYPSY and suited her perfectly. She took me on a roadtrip to Tarkio Missouri to see our relatives and historic family home. She also took me to Oahu, a place that was like our soul home, we both loved all things Hawaii. I remember her calling the morning rain sprinkles Pineapple Juice. Her favourite Hawaiian dessert is also mine, Haupia Delight, which I will continue to make in her honour. I'll always remember her adventurous spirit and amazing family cooking. No one could come close to that awesome cooking talent but I'm sure we'll all have fun trying to perfect her apple pie, pea salad and divinity fudge to name a few delights. Thank you Gramma for all your awesome memories, 94 years of them! We hope you are enjoying your next great adventure ❤️ Love Marilyn, Tony and Boo.
Too many memories to mention. Buela Jane was a second mom to me growing up. Kind and understanding, her easy laugh and ready smile made Jane a joy, an absolute joy, to be with. A master chef in her own right, she successfully concocted many a delightful meal. Ceasars Salad and Baked Alaskan, just to name a few. It is said, the old timers are disappearing. And it's up to us kids to carry on the legacy of our cherished family and friends, who have passed before us. In light of this, I hope to get to be a worthy old-timer. God Bless Jane and her wonderful family. Sad she's passed, happy she was part of my life.
This is Mom's childhood memories:
CHANCELLOR
I was born in Calgary in a house on 6th Avenue and 11 Street S.W on February 16, 1926. The building is gone now. It was a home you could go to and have your baby. Aunt Beulah told me many times what a darling baby I was and that I had a bead of sweat on the end of my nose. Nice and chubby too. My Aunties and Grandmother had come to Calgary to help my Mom get on her feet again. They always came with chicken, butter, eggs, etc. so Nurse Hall wouldn’t have to work so hard. They were always helping out. Just imagine! I had a brother at home 2 1/2 years older than me.
I will recall some events in my life that I think are amusing, maybe not in sequence, but I will try. I guess nothing replaces nostalgia of the past, especially if it’s good memories. My fond, enjoyable memories as a very young girl can be credited to my family and the town of Chancellor.
Chancellor was a town with around 35 people (different people with different origins). As a result, I was exposed to different cultures from different countries (Danish, Ukrainian, Dutch, Chinese, etc.). It was a thriving town and the central hub for all the town people and farmers in the area. As a young child, I knew everyone including the farmers in every direction. There was a drugstore, lumberyard, hotel, 2 garages, blacksmith, grocery store, butcher shop, post office, hardware store, 5 elevators and 2 restaurants – one owned by a Chinese cook. The mail came in 3 times a week. There was lots of activity at the grocery store, the men playing cards until the mail was sorted. Lots of horses were tied up in front of the grocery store waiting for the men to go home (in the early years). My Mother told me a story about how she was looking for Jimmie one day so she phoned Maude Phillips at the grocery store. Maude said she’d look outside. She rushed back and said “Zeulah, he’s crawling up one of the horse’s back leg”. The horses were tied up as usual and I suppose he was rescued many times as he was growing up.
SEDALIA
My family moved to Sedalia for a short time when I was around 4 years old. I only have a vague memory of it. Only two things stand out. My Mom took me with her to visit a lady friend for coffee. I was outside looking around, poking my little nose into everything. They had a septic tank by the house that purified the sewage that in turn watered the garden. I was standing looking down into it, fascinated with my own image, not at anytime, realizing the danger. Mrs. Dahl or Mom so very quietly crept up behind me and caught me in their arms. If that day had ended in tragedy, I wouldn’t be sitting here writing this little story.
The other short memory was riding on my Dad’s shoulders one very cold winter night going home from somewhere in Sedalia. I can still hear the snow cracking under his boots.
While living there, we all attended an event called Chautaqua in the big hall. It just seemed the grandest thing I ever saw. I couldn’t take my eyes away from it! Another name for it is vaudeville.
VETERAN
My Dad took his family and moved to Veteran to open a new elevator there for United Grain Growers. I was around 5 years old. I attended Kindergarten for half a year and then Grade 1 to finish off the year so I was still pretty young.
Jim and I watched the big fire that broke out on the main street in the late, late evening. That big yellow cloud of fire from our upstairs bedroom window did look huge to our young minds!
I loved Mrs. Therman who lived next door. She was tall, heavy and beautiful with a personality that attracted young kids. I was always welcome there.
I remember our teacher, Miss Sunberg, throwing a book at my big brother and hitting him in the head. We were all a bit afraid of her but I remember her as pretty and a real good teacher. I hated her for a while because she did that to my brother.
One time my Grandparents came to Veteran for Christmas. All I remember about that whole Christmas was sitting on the steps that went upstairs to the bedrooms and looking at and admiring my new shoes. They were black patent leather with gold buckles. Those shoes mesmerized me!! To this day, I love shoes.
The night Jim peed in the register upstairs sure did set my parents off! The smell!
BACK TO CHANCELLOR (Grade 2)
Neighbors
Edna and Fred Hobbs lived next door. Fred was grain buyer for the Pool elevator. I would go play with Bobby, their son. Edna would let us put the chesterfield upside down, hang blankets all over and make a genuine mess of things but we sure did have a ball.
Sonny Elkins lived next door and he was my exact age as we were both born on the same day. He had an older sister, Ruth. He used to stand on his porch pillar and chant to me if I was outside. “I’m the King of the Castle and you’re the dirty rascal!” We were kind of battling it out, I guess. I don’t think I really liked him, even though my folks had a long friendship with his family after they moved to Calgary. One day I was over at their home (I was there a lot) and Mrs. Elkins had just taken a boiler full of water off the stove to put in the washing machine. I, of course, sat down on the boiler not knowing there was hot water in it and the lid gave way. I was around 5 years old. I sure do remember screaming with pain but I must have been okay – no 3rd degree burns and I recovered.
Before the Big Fire
The Nielsen family ran the hotel. The Nielsen home was my home also, just like my own and I loved going there. Serena was my Mom too. Her two daughters, Dorothy and Marion were 2 or 3 years older than me and were like big sisters to me. They had a police dog, Bill, who was a pretty mean watchdog and our dog, Sandy, was her pup. Sandy wouldn’t hurt a flea unlike his mother.
We would swipe chocolate bars from Dorothy Nielsen’s uncle, who helped run the hotel. We’d go up to Serena’s bedroom in the hotel and crawl under the sheets and eat our spoils and giggle. We would make fudge in the hotel kitchen and once we put it outside to cool on the steps and their dog glopped it down.
In the sitting room located between the kitchen and the bar at the hotel, Dorothy and I made a little hole we could see through. We’d stand on top of the phonograph and watch the men getting plastered in the bar. Sometimes there were fights. God, that was a blast to watch!
After the big fire, we continued going to visit them in Standard when they moved there. One night Vivian Johnson, Dorothy and Marion were sitting in a car with some boys and they were smoking. Me, being such a big mouth, told Serena. Well, Dorothy kicked me all over the bedroom. She was so mad at me that I had to sleep with Serena.
The Big Fire
It happened quite suddenly as a result of arson. The Chinese cook, owner of the Chinese restaurant, set fire to his place because he wanted to collect the insurance and return to China. The hotel was next to the Chinese restaurant so it went up fast, a few hours after midnight. I was around 6 or 7 years old. It burned out all the businesses: hotel, 2 garages, drugstore, grocery store, hardware store and a huge lumberyard. At about 4 a.m., the Nielsen Family came to our place for refuge. They woke us up and I can remember looking at the flames (another memory I’ll never forget) coming from the hotel. Everything went up like match sticks—the flames were so much higher than the building. The Nielsen Family lost everything and would have been a casualty but their police dog barked and woke them up in time.
That was the end of Chancellor as a thriving town. After the fire, we all went to Standard for all our needs.
Just imagine! A Chinese man, who had come over here to live, setting fire to his restaurant that resulted in major businesses burning down. The fire could have taken some lives. I do think back, however, and I can imagine how lonesome he was: no car, no friends, just himself. The Canadian Government did this across Canada allowing only one Chinese family per town.
THE FRANCIS FAMILY
I felt so loved and protected by my Grandpa, Grandma and Aunties.
My earliest memory was at 2 years old. I was at my Grandparent’s farm. I was looking out the back screen door when a rain and hail storm hit with such ferocity. That is why it imprinted on my mind so well. I had to stand on my tiptoes to see outside. I turned to my Grandparents and said, “It’s raining outside”.
I was still real young when this incident in my life happened. My grandparents had come to Chancellor along with my two Aunties for a visit. I must have returned to the farm with them. It was sometime in the dead of winter. It’s a bit vague in my memory except for the actual ride home. My Grandfather had built a cutter, a sleigh that was totally enclosed with seats and, believe it, a stove. There was a little window in front for the driver to see out, holes for the reins to go through to drive the horses and windows on the sides. On the way to their farm, we ran into a whiteout snowstorm. When that happens, all you can see is white and you lose all sense of direction. The horses took us home and, as I’ve later learned, this was a common thing for animals to find their way home by instinct. To me, it was a miracle but sometimes I stretch the facts (no, I don’t). A lot of people think the horses did what they do naturally, so I guess, it was no miracle (ho hum). Even Lassie came home. They used to have these cutters in Russia and for Royalty they were fancy.
I remember evenings sitting in the kitchen: Grandma cooking, Auntie reading, Grandpa reading the paper, the hiss of the gas lamps, the kettle steaming on the stove, the coal pail full and wood piled to the top of the box by the stove, the warmth radiating from the stove – feeling so peaceful and happy. The kitchen cupboards were gleaming, as they were never used. They were nickel and polished every day—only knick-knacks sat on them.
When Grandma and the two Aunties came down to stay overnight, us kids were in our glory. It didn’t matter who we slept with. Sometimes Grandma, sometimes Aunt Ruth but when morning came, Jim and I would hold them in bed. We fell for the same trick every time—they would get us counting the roses on the wallpaper and then they would slip out of bed.
My Grandfather Sam
I had him in my life for eight years. I’d have liked it to be longer. To me, he was a quiet man, very loyal to his family and strong-willed. He liked me around him and I was there a lot. Most men smoked cigars but not my Grandpa. Nor did he ever take a drink. He was a very kind man, even-tempered and his family and running his farm was his whole life.
I rode with him, hauling grain in the huge galvanized steel wagon pulled by four horses. I sat up high on the seat with him when we drove 4 1/2 miles into the elevator in Standard. To a little girl, it was very high. It was scary in the elevator too as they held the horses to the side while the load was raised on scales from the front and the wheat ran out the back into the elevator pit. Later it was elevated into bins and eventually to railroad cars to be shipped to other parts of the world. The horses were nervous when this was done but pretty soon we were on our way home via the pool hall uptown where I was treated to an ice cream cone.
I loved to go to the barn when Grandpa milked the cows. The cats loved it too. He would milk the cow and aimed it right into their mouths hardly spilling a drop. The cows were gentle and he never hobbled them to milk. They never kicked him. He had a marvelous way with animals. He talked to them. He wasn’t Dr. Doolittle but he was very sensitive towards them. He had names for all his pets (horses, cows, dogs, pigs, and cats).
Most animals that got sleeping sickness died from it. My Grandpa saved one of his horses from sleeping sickness by putting protection on every side of its stall. A horse with sleeping sickness had to be kept on its feet and Grandpa did this by putting a sling under its belly for support. Day after day, I went with him to see how this horse was doing and it pulled through.
I was told later in my life that he was the only man in the neighborhood that could break a horse without getting on the animal. He would let the horse buck and wear itself out until it was broke. Then, he would put a bridle on the horse and talk to it, taking his time and finally mounting it and it wouldn’t buck. Farmers from all over brought their horses to my Grandpa to break.
So many times we sat in the kitchen and he would pull out a nice clean handkerchief that he always had in his pocket. He would put it on his lap and I’d sit beside him and he would peel an apple. I’d get a slice and he’d get a slice until it was gone. He always had a chicklet in his pocket for me and he never ran out of these.
I sure remember him running the binder. I’d go out in the wheat fields taking it all in! The binder cut, bundled and tied the wheat and then it was stooked by hand to ripen before threshing. When the threshing crew arrived, it was a real big deal! Trying to imagine a big thresher coming into a farm and threshing all the bundles of wheat is hard to do. The wheat was put in granaries and the leftovers formed a big haystack. Playing in the haystack sure was fun and real itchy afterwards. A big cook car along with the cooks came and parked in the barnyard of farms. It was a real enchanting time looking at it through young eyes. Playing in the wheat in the granaries was different. We swam in the wheat, a treat today’s kids know nothing about.
My Grandfather’s new car was something that made him real proud. I think it was a Chrysler, grey or light blue, wooden spokes for wheels and side curtains. He farmed from 1915 on and he didn’t get that car till around 1930/1931. If Aunt Beulah drove it to Standard, she’d come home and park it in front of the garage door and Grandpa would drive it in. They had saved for 15 years to get their car.
Grandpa had one of the best root cellars in the country. It was a big hole in the ground like a basement with cement walls. A dome-like cement ceiling was made with two big open chimney holes. Everything from the garden and apples from Calgary were kept in the root cellar except meat. To regulate temperature, Grandpa would open or close the chimneys and/or light candles in the hole. It kept everything perfect like a refrigerator.
I was 8 years old the day he passed away from cancer. He died in his home on the farm and I remember him in bed for quite a while. It saddened me a lot and I missed him.
My Grandmother “Nettie” Vesta Jeanette Francis
I had her in my life for 21 years. If any person on earth had a better disposition than my Grandmother, they were a lucky person. I loved crawling into bed with her and cuddling up to her. She always liked me around her. I would observe her methods of cooking that I used in all my later cooking years. Her apple pie was real good and that is why I’ve had so many compliments on my pie. Everything she cooked was excellent. Oh boy! The making of bread and buns, of course, passed down to my Mom and me.
I remember when she gathered eggs she would put them in her apron. Her unique way of raising chickens was really something and I got to pick up those little chicks in my hands. Grandpa made each hen a little house with a roof and a small fenced yard. The hen sat on the eggs but Grandma wanted them faster, I guess, and didn’t want to wait for hatching. They brought newly hatched chicks from Calgary and slowly she removed an egg and replaced it with a chick. Soon the hen was strutting around with her new family. I guess the little house was to keep them together for a while. When those chickens got bigger they were fed grain and clabbered milk (milk left in great big pans till it clabbered – comes to the top and is thick like yogurt). When they were big enough for frying that’s where they ended up, dipped in milk and flour and put in the frying pan. Fried chicken doesn’t taste quite as good today but back then it was simply delicious freshly killed and fried along with Grandma’s mashed potatoes and biscuits.
I really don’t think I wore very many store-bought clothes when I was a young person. My Grandmother made almost all of my clothes as she did my two Aunts. My Mother seemed to buy more clothes than the Aunties, I guess, because she was married. I have pictures taken in Grade 9 wearing print dresses that Grandma had made. She must have been on that treadle sewing machine many, many hours. I think I was around 8 years old when she made me a velvet jumper and a silk blouse in a kind of maroon color. I was so proud of that outfit and wore it all one Christmas and to the School Christmas Concert. I had a picture taken wearing the jumper and blouse with Jim and Dad.
When Grandma bought her 1939 black Dodge car, Mom and Aunt Beulah went to Windsor to pick it up. They visited with the Milwaukee relatives then drove the car home. I remember Grandma and I were sitting in front of our house one night in her car. I was 13 years old and she giggled with me and suggested that I drive it around the block (which I did). Boy, was Aunt Beulah ever mad at the two of us but we enjoyed our little prank. The front windshield had two parts to it. A typical 1939 Dodge. Oh, she was so proud of that car. They were shining it all the time. My two Aunts and Grandma moved to Calgary later and still had the car. They later sold it in Calgary when Aunt Beulah quit driving.
Aunt Beulah Aletha Francis
She was Mom’s twin sister. They weren’t identical twins but they were enough alike. She was the Auntie that was the strict one. One time, Jim and I had to pick all the weeds out of a large piece of land in the trees. Boy, did we bellyache to each other but we did it because she made us do it.
I remember her as a very hard-working girl. Stooking at harvest time was a man’s work but she did that too. Today, I think about her working in the garden and how big an area it was and there was never any weeds. She would have a can with liquid in it (maybe, gasoline?) and she picked all the bugs off the leaves and drowned them in this liquid. Today it would be sprayed.
She was quite pretty and her boyfriend Logan Drydale came a courting when he could. They used to neck in the dining room when Grandma was cooking supper and I’d run in and break it up. Logan had a beige “Model A Ford” car with a rumble seat in the back outside the car. It was like opening a trunk and it was so---much---fun! There were a few guys that would have liked to court her – but, no, it was Logan all the way! They went together for 15 years. To this day, I can’t figure out WHY she didn’t marry him. He was such a nice man who would take her to Calgary and, one time, he bought her a beautiful watch with her name engraved on it.
I do remember a few fights going on. When I was two years old going on three, she picked me up and set me down on my two feet under the telephone. She had a shovel in her hand. The memory is gone now but it was traumatic for me. Another time, Aunt Ruth and her were going at it, so bad that she pulled some of Aunt Ruth’s hair out. They wore dust caps in those days so it didn’t show.
This story was told to me when I was older. She was so thin and had trouble with menstruating (loss of blood) so they took her to the doctor in Calgary. They were just in time as she was badly anemic and had to have transfusions. I believe she was told at that time that she couldn’t have children and, so maybe, that’s why she never married.
My Auntie Ruth
She was in my life for 37 years. She was the sweetest natured person and we loved her – Jim and I. She would always make us an Angel Food cake every time she was with us.
She came down a lot to stay a day or two and help my Mom when she was having a whole bunch in for supper. My parents were one couple in a group of around 10 couples, so putting on a supper needed help. My Folks took me to a few of these suppers (if it was me I’d have gotten a babysitter).
Aunt Ruth could also make divinity fudge to die for. If she got a bit miffed with Jim and me, she’d say, “I’ve told you 40 eleven times not to do that”. She would also say, “You little fiests.” (Whatever that means).
We did love her a lot and in later years she loved all my kids. She did what comes natural. To some people, being around her was good a feeling.
MY FAMILY – THE FENSKES
My childhood was a happy time. I was one of the lucky ones to be born into a caring family. Mom and Dad were just plain nice people and enjoyed being our parents. I never knew hate, jealousy, revenge or boredom.
One memory is of the family driving to Standard one day, probably, for supplies everyone needs. On the way home, just a bit out of town, we got stuck in a snowdrift. Dad jacked the gearshift from forward to reverse, to rock the car and a lot of time you can make that work. However, he did it once too often and he ended up with the gearshift loose in his hand. We were so surprised and thought it was so funny. We walked back to a big garage, probably Westergaard’s, and bought a new car. We sailed home with everything solved.
My Dad - Hugo Frederick Fenske
Our house was always warm when it was time to get up to go to school. Dad was always up first to make a fire in the furnace and the stove in the kitchen so the house was cozy warm. He would open the bedroom door and say, “You kids get up. What do you think this is – a summer resort?” I’d roll out 10 minutes before school started with no breakfast. I’d make up for it at dinner with the nice meal my Mother cooked.
Dad was always carpentering on something it seemed so there were always shavings around. Shavings are made from planing down a board to fit somewhere. The shavings would curl as the wood was planed down. I used to pin these shavings in my hair with a bobby pin – would I ever flip my curls around and imagine I had hair down to my waist. To say the least, it was fun!
My Dad was quite a guy. We didn’t have to go outside to the biffy like a lot of people did. The Phillips, Hobbs and our family had sanitary toilets built in the house. In the attic, Dad fixed a sanitary toilet hooked up with a vent to the chimney. It was heaven and he was the one who emptied it in the outside toilet. Even in school, when I had to use the bathroom, I ran home and used ours. The school was just across the street.
In the basement, we also had a shower that had wooden walls and a cement floor with a drain. It was as cozy and nice as any $1,000,000 dollar shower. We had a huge cement cistern that collected rainwater from the roof. It never ran dry it was that big. The ritual was to pump water from a pump on the kitchen cupboards over the sink from the cistern and fill the reservoir in the stove that was kept full most of the time. The reservoir water was always warm depending on how big the fire was in the kitchen stove. We would put the warm water from the reservoir into a bucket under the sink and it would flow down the hose by gravity to a real nice shower in the basement.
As Jim and I got older, Dad added onto our two-bedroom house by building a sun porch to be used as another bedroom. However, Jim and I didn’t get our own rooms because we started boarding teachers at that time. In those days, you could always add another person. We didn’t mind and my Dad told all his Paul Bunyan stories to the teachers and kept them laughing.
In all the years of growing up, Dad was the disciplinarian and Mom could always be wheedled about anything (almost). He only spanked me once. Jim and I listened when he told us the rules. That aside, I remember him being a huge pile of fun!
My Mother - Zeulah Fenske (Francis)
My Mother filled our home with music. Mom had 8 years of music and was ready for her recital but was unable to finish because the Francis family immigrated to Canada at that time. As I think back to some of the songs she played, I realize today what a talented piano player she was. When people came to dinner at our house, after everything was cleared away, we often had singsongs. Reese Hugh (the bank manager from Standard) and my Mother played duets together. I loved it when she played Gershwin songs and today they are my favorites. She also played violin. She was organist for the “Star” for years. Even though she was musical, she didn’t force me to learn.
Mom always baked bread once a week. Her buns and bread were the best. Done the old-fashioned way by setting a sponge the night before. After school on bread day, I’d go home and my Mother would let me slice several slices from a warm loaf fresh out of the oven. In the summer, I’d go sit on the swing and eat this fresh bread with “Rogers Golden Syrup” on it. I still love bread and syrup today. Can you believe I was a skinny kid and ate like that?
On Monday Mom washed clothes. Summer was so different for washing clothes – 2 big clotheslines but in winter the clothes would freeze on the lines while blowing dry. We had power so we had a wringer washing machine. What a routine of heating water in a boiler on the cook stove, pouring it in the washing machine, two big tubs to rinse the clothes after they were washed, then emptying everything outside afterwards.
The memory of the following takes place when I was approximately 5 year old or younger. At this point in time, our Alberta winters were longer, colder and stormier than today. We had Chinook winds at times, but when it blew up a blizzard and drifted snow up by the houses and fences, you knew it was winter. My Mother was always a person that could do a lot of things and she wasn’t afraid to take a chance. She packed herself and me up one day and headed out to Coronation, a town in central and east Alberta. I would say, maybe 150 miles from Chancellor. The Days (friends) lived there and Mom was going to visit and attend a “Star” celebration of some sort. She was a very active member and so was my Dad in the “Masons” and the “Star”. Well, during this drive, I’m getting colder and colder because we were in a car with no heater. A blanket does not solve all problems. The image I remember, even today, is a very cold, bleak winter day below zero. She never thought of turning back. I guess I was crying! I can remember pain and more pain. When we arrived at the Days’ home, we were welcomed in to supper and hospitality. I developed chill blains I will always remember. My Mother (probably as cold as I was and in as much pain) never complained I’m sure.
When I was around 9 years old, we went to Calgary because Mom wanted Grandma’s picture taken with Jim and me. We went out and she bought me a beautiful lace dress and Buster Brown shoes. Right after the photo, the new clothes were returned to the store. I’m sure that was the shortest time on record for wearing a dress. Hey, I almost forgot, I got my hair marcelled (pretty big deal)!
My Brother - James Fenske
Being raised with my brother in Chancellor was a great life. We really didn’t fight but we did play push-off on the old leather davenport.
Auntie Beulah and Mom told me these two stories on James. There was a funeral in Chancellor one day and Aunt Beulah was supposed to be looking after Jim but when Mom and Dad went by he was peeing a stream without a care in the world. I imagine there were a few smiles. The other escapade involved Aunt Beulah as his sitter again and, again, she wasn’t too attentive. When Mom came home he had crawled up in the pantry with a leg in each pail of water (used for drinking, cooking and washing dishes, etc.) throwing it all over the kitchen with the water dipper. I wonder if Mom changed sitters after that. Ha! Ha!
Another time, Jim and I were left alone one night and we were sleeping together in Mom and Dad’s bedroom. Outside the wind was rattling the electric wires. We were so scared stiff we couldn’t move. We just knew the bears were coming after us. We were sure glad Mom and Dad came home.
I was still quite young, probably around 7 or 8 years old, when Jim had an abscess on his lung. Mom told me when I was older that he had peddled Dorothy Nielsen around the section on his bike and had overheated, etc. Anyway, they had to put him in Bassano Hospital and he was very sick. The only part I remember is, “Why was Grandma and everyone at Mom and Dad’s and all sitting around crying?” Dr. Scott had to lance his abscess just at the exact correct time or he might have died, so it all ended happily! Thank Heavens or I’d have been the only child.
When we were very young, Jim and I loved going to the movies. They had them in Chancellor Hall and then we had to go to Standard. My recollection of an actor from the movies in Chancellor was Sir Cedric Hardwick, an Englishman. I was in total awe of him because I was so young. In the early 1930’s we would wheedle Dad to take us to the movies in Standard. He would kid us sometimes and say, “Go get Perry to take you” and, believe it or not, Perry would. I can just see us kids in the front row (always). We loved it. Perry Barker was a bachelor and, in later life, he married. My Mom, Aunts and us kids would go out to their beautiful farm to visit him and his wife.
James was confirmed in 1938 and looked great in his suit and tie and new shoes. I was 12 years old.
Other Things I Can Remember
I loved paper dolls but somehow I didn’t get a set you buy from the store—where the clothes all fit the dolls. Shirley Temple and the Dionne Quints were the going rage; however, I settled for the catalogue. I’d cut out the models and if I couldn’t quite get the cutouts to fit right, it didn’t matter. I played with cutouts a lot.
You could send away for “Mr. Peanuts” coloring book for so many empty peanut sacks that you bought peanuts in. I colored a lot of those. Must have eaten a lot of peanuts. It’s no wonder I still love them.
Drinking ovaltine! My Mom would shake it all up good and Jim and I loved it. No electric mixers.
Most kids, in those days when we were really young, had such imaginations. One of my little make-believe worlds was playing in patches of dirt in the schoolyard. I’d get a big stick and draw out a house. It was big enough for me to walk from room to room. Boy, how I furnished it, etc. etc. and played for hours at a time.
Listening to the radio in the evening to programs like “Fibber McGee and Molly” or “The Lone Ranger” and it was always better when Dad popped popcorn with real butter over the furnace coals.
Halloween and tipping toilets. We snuck around so no one would catch us and we laughed and kept watch very closely. We dumped most of them over. It was fun.
Dust storms - You could see the cloud of dust coming and it looked ominous! We closed windows and doors and just watched. It went as dark as night as it went over us. Then, after it was all over, we had to clean up the mess. We cleaned out from 2 to 4 inches of dirt in the attic. It seemed a mile high. I remember the sagebrush blown up against the fences and the drifted dirt everywhere.
The locusts. They were a passing swarm that came and went and ate most of the grain in the fields. Whatever was in their path. I was still under 10 years old.
In the spring, going out by the railroad tracks and picking buffalo beans and crocuses (as long as they lasted) to take home to Mom.
The train station and looking forward to being down there on the platform when the big steam engine slowed down. The steam was rolling out the sides and we would scream with fun and dash around not to get burnt. Never got tired of going to watch the big train come in and watch it shuttle around to take the big grain cars to Calgary and west to Vancouver. There was a passenger train also.
Fishing at Lake McGregor with the Hegi family and catching some fish to take home. It was always a fun time in the boat and having lunch.
Going to Standard in John Papp’s old Ford Fliver to the picture show. It was lots of fun (I’m about 10 now). The bugs would hit John, Jim and me in the face (there was no windshield in the car).
Walking down to the creek about 1 1/2 miles from home to play in the water and, of course, balancing on the railroad tracks on the way there. It wasn’t deep enough to even swim in.
Gathering cattails and bringing them home.
Playing in the icehouse was a real cool sport. Those blocks were about 4 ft. by 2 ft., all covered in sawdust. They didn’t melt either. I’m still under 8 years old at this time.
After the spring thaw, we’d go down to my Dad’s elevator and he’d set up some of the wooden doors off the boxcars and we’d raft. The water between the elevators was deep enough to raft on because it couldn’t run off. It was fun. Most of the town kids were there.
The cook who lived in a railroad car that came into Chancellor. I think he was with the railroad crew that repaired the tracks or on the relief fish and fruit that was shipped into Chancellor. He would make taffy for us kids and we all pulled until it hardened. It was such fun and so good.
CHANCELLOR SCHOOL (Grades 2 – 6)
We moved back home to Chancellor when I was in Grade 2. Bobby Moor was my teacher but I have no memories of him. Marjorie Grant is my next memory. As far as I remember, she was my teacher for Grades 3 to 6. All grades were taught in one room. It took talent and planning to do that but the teachers did it and the kids learned.
Miss Grant was a teacher who liked discipline. We were all at our desks one day when an airplane (two-seater) circled the school. It was Tommy Inovaldsen in his plane and, of course, we all jumped up and ran to the windows to take a good look. I was probably around Grade 5. Well, we all paid the penalty. She lined us up in front of the desks looking at the blackboard and went down the line strapping everyone. I was the only coward and pulled my hand away. She sent me home with a note of what I’d done. My Dad’s reply to her was, “If you can’t discipline those kids, I’ll come and show you how”. So, guess what? She turned me over her lap and gave me a good old-fashioned spanking. Barney told me, not too long ago, that she had made him and Harry strap each other. I don’t think he liked that very much.
In school, I was always put in the front seat because I talked all the time to whoever was close to me. As a result, I missed some of the stuff that went on at the back such as Lief Erikson eating plasticine all the time.
School was really fun for me. In the summer, at recess and lunch, we played baseball (which I was a bust at), Anti-I-Over, Run Sheep Run, and played on the swings and teeter-totter.
The Queen visited Calgary in 1939. Our school was so excited and all the kids were going in to see them. I remember my new white shoes and blue jacket and waiting on the 10th Street Hill. My, what an event! The sidewalks, all the way to 8th Avenue SW, were lined with people. They were in a black car with no roof at all. It wasn’t like convertibles are today.
The one thing that wasn’t any fun was the outdoor toilets. In the winter, if the door was half open, the snow would blow inside until it was level with the seats. Sometimes when this happened, the kids would use the barn. The barn was used to shelter the horses that brought the farm kids to school (some of them 5 miles) in a little cart without heat.
Practicing for the Christmas Concerts was some sort of fun! We started practicing in early November, rehearsing over and over. Such a small school – under 12 kids and we put on a two hour concert every Christmas. We did Christmas songs, plays, recitations, and tap dancing (Mary & I). I had taken tap dance lessons in Standard. The men in town helped hammer a stage together with big doors from the grain elevators. (It really was a community thing!) The teacher and kids had curtains made to draw open or close between acts. At that time in my life, it was as exciting as a “New York Stage Production”. Before the concert started, we’d peek out at the crowd. It seemed like everyone was just so excited waiting for it to begin. Every concert we did went off just great. I can remember the school being packed and some people standing. One of our concerts was held in the big dance hall that had a higher stage than our school. Bill Fraser and I did the cutest dance to the tune of “Rubin, Rubin, I’ve Been Waiting”. After concerts, Santa came. He gave every kid a net bag filled with nuts, candy and a Japanese orange. I can’t remember if there was a lunch served. The kids drew names and exchanged one gift. Everyone’s parents were there along with others from all over because every school did this in the district, each on a different night. My Dad and Mom took us to at least a dozen concerts around our area. All of them were as exciting as our own. The actual concert, waiting for Santa again, taking a sack of candy home that always had a homemade popcorn ball in it was just as thrilling to attend as our own. I was under 10 years old and Marjorie Grant was still my teacher at this time.
When the yearly inoculations came around at the school, I was in the lineup, always being last. I watched all those needles being given so that by the time my turn arrived, I was ready to faint. I fainted every time and, sometimes, I hit my head on the wall and it hurt. I never conquered needles until after I was married.
We had a real good bully in our school. Bill Fraser had no respect for anything and he seemed to get away with it. Was it because his Mother was on the School Board? He would hit the world map that hung down from the ceiling with a bat, damaging it a lot. He would also go back and forth on the piano strings and walk on the keys with his boots. He set fire to every thermometer we ever had, finishing it off. The worst thing he did was chip at the 8 X 8 school supports with an axe until they were maybe 1 inch thick. I simply can’t understand how they held up.
CHANCELLOR SCHOOL (Grades 7 - 9)
I had Miss Wilkie in Grade 7. I learned more in that year than I ever had and I’ll always remember her for that reason. Following her was Isabel Nielsen and my last teacher in Grade 9 was Lois Nelson.
Mary and I were janitors for the school in our last year (1939). In the winter, we made the fires, dumped the ashes and cleaned the school. It was a hard job. We made $7.00 a month in the winter and $5.00 in the summer. We split those earnings. Big wages! I bought a typewriter by making monthly payments. When I moved to Calgary, I sold the typewriter and bought a bicycle. “A Big, Wheeler Dealer”. While I was emptying some of the hot ashes in the winter, I bumped the pail and a cinder fell in my boot and burnt my skin pretty bad. It got infected, of course, and Dad stayed up all night changing hot cloths on my foot. It got better but I have a scar today to remind me.
SCHOOL FRIENDSHIPS
I have formed life-long friendships that started in Grade 2 with Mary Clark (Hnatiuk) and Betty Louden (Christensen). To this day, we meet quite frequently for lunch and a good old gab. We were in the same grade all through school and played in each other’s houses all the time, even staying overnight quite often.
I remember Mary, Betty and I riding our bikes down to the dam that Betty’s Dad had made. I wished I could swim when the big kids came from Standard because they could swim. I didn’t learn until I was 50. When they dove off the dam, I really envied them and they seemed so sophisticated. They were probably in Grade 12 to our Grade 4 or 5. That’s how it looked then.
I remember walking home after school with Betty; cutting a whole strip of cake off the end of a King Edward Cake that Mrs. Ed Christensen had just taken out of the oven. We’d go crawl up on top of some roof in the barnlot and eat the whole works. That high up, we could see right over Chancellor.
Betty and I tried to smoke. We’d hide a pack down by the snow fence. We sure didn’t inhale. I could get smokes at the store because I would get them for the teachers all the time. They were okay cigarettes.
Mary and I played quite a bit together but not as much as Betty and me. Mary had more chores to do than the rest of us. She and I got into trouble one day and I can’t figure why we did it. We threw mud balls at Glen Phillips’ grocery store. Boy, was that fun ‘til we got caught. We had to clean it all up, of course! Mary and I would also play in Glen Phillips’ cars and an old combine hopper, in the center of town, going places afar!!
I went to Mary’s house a lot. Her family was Ukrainian. I remember her Mom always doing a lot of cooking, sewing and raising chickens, etc…. She would offer me a perogy or cabbage roll and when I would shake my head no, she’d smile. They mixed in community affairs but never mastered English too well. All the kids were fine—two boys and three girls. I went to school with all of them and they were smart kids.
Mr. Hnatiuk worked on the train tracks to keep them in repair for the train. He let us kids ride on the trolley car the workmen used getting to work. Mr. Papp also worked on the tracks. He was Hungarian and couldn’t speak much English either.
The Hegi Family had a Dutch history. I remember walking home with Edie and Lill Hegi after school in the summer and swimming in their rain barrel. The pool (ha,ha) wasn’t heated and there was room for only one at a time but we did have a great splash! Those 2 girls had more nail polish than everyone else put together. It fascinated me and I went home with lovely bright nails. Edie and I would go out in the coulee where there was a patch of hard clay-like soil. We’d pretend dance, we’d whirl around and around, guess we were dancing with some prince. It must have looked hilarious.
My Mom kept some clothes that she had for years: wedding gown, dresses, slips, shoes and hats. These were packed in trunks in the attic. There also were dishes, pots and pans and miscellaneous great stuff. Betty Christensen, Edith Hegi and Mary Hnatiuk were the kids that came to play with this collection. Sometimes, we dressed up and strutted around town. We were so young our shoes fitted inside my Mom’s pointed high heel shoes. We had a marvelous time!
After school, I would go part way home with the Nielsen kids in the buckboard that they drove to school with a horse. I thought riding in this thing with two rubber tires was a real fun thing, then I’d walk back home (2 – 2 ½ miles).
OUR FAMILY TRIPS
A Day In Calgary
Had to get up around 4 a.m. to heat the house and have breakfast. It took two hours to get to Calgary on a gravel road – speed limit was 40 mph. It was so exciting in the big city and once in a while we stayed overnight.
We did our grocery shopping at “Naglers” where all the farmers shopped. It was so different back then. Flour and sugar was bought in large sacks (around 100 lb bags). Jim and I had a ball, in Calgary. We would ride the streetcars to the end of their route and then, back downtown. Every time we went to the city, we would ride a new route. Afterwards, we would go on to the movie houses. We saw two movies every time we came to Calgary. We also shopped for clothes, etc.
For supper, we went to the “Palace of Eats”. It was on the corner of 9 Avenue and Centre Street. The restaurant served really good food: soup or salad, a “full meal deal” and dessert. It all cost only 25¢ a person. We’d have a turkey dinner or roast beef or whatever. Across the street was the Yale Hotel. The Yale Hotel was so neat to stay over in. It had a mezzanine floor and I still remember it as quite luxurious. I suppose it wasn’t. They brought in a cot for us kids because we always stayed together all in one room.
We sometimes visited friends in Calgary. In the summertime, when we went to H.B. Grant’s place (up 10 Street on top of the hill almost Crescent Road), I was in heaven. I always played in the water hose running around in the grass. We didn’t have city grass in Chancellor. When we went to N.P. Nelson’s place, I played in the park on 1st Street and 5th Avenue NE in the pool for little kids. I would run around there and splash as long as they would let me. That park is still there.
Camping
The earliest trips that I remember going on was to Banff with Mom, Dad and Jim. Dad packed the tent and a bed on legs with a mattress for him and Mom. Some kind of a bed was put down for Jim and me. All this went in the car (a very small box on the back of the car was the trunk) and Jim and I would lie on top of everything. We had about 2 feet of space after it was all put in the back seat. One memory stands out – going around those mountain roads and looking at those large mountains from the car (I’m still very young). I don’t remember anything else about Banff at that time. Later, as I got older, I remember lots of camping in Banff—the rain sprinkling on the tent in the night—being in the pools at the “Cave and Basin”—I couldn’t swim a bit—running around the campgrounds with other kids.
We also camped at the Calgary Stampede campground a lot when the Stampede came to Calgary. It was next to the chuck wagon racetrack. Dad took us all in and got us settled in our tent then he went home to work in the elevator and came back to get us after a few days. Jim and I rode every ride there was to ride. We just had a ball. Also had fun in the campground. Played games with kids we met and ran through the trees by the river. We loved this, as we didn’t have a river and trees in Chancellor.
Trips to Visit Dad’s Family in Alberta
Dad was one of thirteen children. Most of his family lived in different places around Alberta. His brother Joe and wife Elsie and his brother Ben and wife Mary lived at Sedalia on separate farms. His oldest sister Minnie, husband and daughter Loretta lived on a farm 5 miles south of Cereal. He had a brother at Stettler whom we didn’t visit. We went to Sedalia and Cereal a lot. The gardens and animals were a different world for us. The antiques Minnie had were really something. The Aladdin lamps they had in the house and the buggies they had in the barn, etc. impressed me. We also visited the relatives at Wainwright. Wainwright’s hotel got moved to Heritage Park in Calgary in later years. Another sister Tillie worked as a cook in the Cereal Hotel. She had two daughters, Hazel and Selma Ann. I played with all the cousins a lot.
I faintly remember the big Fenske home (my Dad’s parents) south of Cereal. It burned down in a terrible fire when an Aladdin lamp was accidentally overturned. My memory just might come from what I’ve been told. I can’t really remember. It was a three story beautiful white home built in 1919 and large enough for all those kids. After the fire, Emma and Hazel (two other sisters of Dad’s) took their Mother and moved to California where they stayed.
As I remember, every time we went to visit the Uncles and Aunts, we drove home in the mud. We’d have to go through Drumheller, Rosebud and then home to Chancellor. It was a longer way around but I guess the roads were better. There wasn’t any gravel on any roads back then. All I can remember is going around those coulees and looking down and being scared even though Dad was an excellent driver. I don’t remember ever going in the ditch.
We took trips to Los Angeles, California quite a bit. The first trip was to my Grandmother Fenske, Hazel and Emma’s where they all lived in the same house on Bell Avenue close to Huntington Park. I roller-skated a lot on that first trip. They strapped four rollers on my shoes and I can say I had a barrel of fun. On that trip I was so young all I remember is the fruit trees in the back yard, slamming the screen door a lot and a black widow spider out by the garage. I slept with Aunt Hazel and I kicked at night, like all kids do, and she kidded me about that for years. They had planted two palm trees in front of their house, very small and the last time we were there they had grown 20 feet! Even then I was in love with California. On one trip, Mom decided to stay a while longer so Dad and us two kids drove home to Alberta. Dad bought a case of oranges and Jim ate so many he got hives. Dad was so sleepy driving home across the desert that he got a pail with a little water in it and Jim and I were in the back seat ringing out cloths and laying them on his head to keep him awake. There was no Disneyland in those days to go to but the weather alone with the hose in the yard was treat enough for two prairie kids. Of course, the beaches and the sand were there to play in.
When I was 7 years old (1933) my Mother joined the N.P. Nielsen family on a car trip to the “World’s Fair” in Chicago. The night before we left, I had a bad accident and hurt my leg pretty bad by running into a bar that Dad had put behind his car to carry lumber. There was a big gash above my knee and they had to call Doc Fletcher from Standard to stop the bleeding, which he did. Everyday on the trip we had to stop at a Doctor’s office and have it dressed with new bandages. Mom left me in Milwaukee with her two cousins, Jeanette and Bea Bowers, while she continued on to Chicago. The only other incident I remember of that trip was—they took me to a park to play. I met this little girl and started playing with her. She told me that she had a writing desk at home—so, of course, I really did want to see it (because my dear Grandma had promised me one if I passed school with good grades which I never got). I got good grades; it was the writing desk I didn’t get. Boy, when they came back to the park and I was gone, they were really upset but it had a happy ending. The little girl took me back.
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