Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Mom's phrase and Bruthie camping at the '57 Calgary Stampede

From Bruthie (Leonard)



When we would say " We wished" mom would say, " If wishes were fishes, and horses had wings, all the drunks would be driving around in Cadillacs"

When we were camped in Calgary, I sat on a cardboard box with camping stuff in it. Later as I was walking around, my butt started to get very itchy. Couldn't understand what was going on. Finally figured out that the box I sat on had a can of RAID in it and my sitting on it triggered the erosol and soaked the box top and my butt. And no water to shower etc. Can't remember how the problem was solved.

cheerio,

Our house in Terrace.....originally.....and '54 Meteor

You know, I never for one minute felt poor when I was growing up but boy, when you look at this picture of our house............talk about trashy looking!  My brothers used to pee out of the window on the right - mother wondered why the roof was discoloured........hahaha. 

When Bruthie sent this to me I was hoping the old car in the photo was our 1939 Dodge but alas, it's a Packard that Stan Kerr gave him. 

The old shed was really neat - in the winter we had enough snow that we'd slide down the roof onto the drifts - it was a ton of fun.  And we'd play Anti, Anti Eye Over (have NO idea how to spell that!) in the summers - throwing a ball from one side of the roof to the kid on the other side.  You can see there are 2 doors on the left of the shed - that was for car parking and my sister thinks father sometimes kept a team of horses in it.  On the right side of the shed was a sort of workshop - there was a long work bench with a huge stone grinding wheel - it was fun to turn the handle and get it going really fast.  Because it weighed so much it would spin for a long time.  And then near the door was a great big heavy metal vice.  The shed was made out of cedar.  It was a really neat old thing.  Had home made skis stored in the rafters.

 This next picture shows our 1954 Meteor - it was traded in when father bought the 1957 Chev and shows on the invoice a few posts back.  In this picture:  my cousin Terry, me, cousin Pat, and Bruthie.  Auntie Sophia, Uncle Chuck, Pat and Terry used to come and visit often in the summer and we sure loved having them.  You can see their car, complete with roof carrier, in the background.  (Nice boots, Bruthie)

Cheerio,

The store - one of our homes in Usk...


I've really encouraged (harassed) my siblings to contribute stories of their memories and it has worked!  I'm getting stories.......here's one from my Bruthie - 

We use to live on the top floor.(of the store) In the 48 flood, we tied the boat to the porch roof and walked in the window. I remember dad cutting wood and he came up the stairs and took off his boot and it was full of blood. He cut his foot with the axe.  (below - the top picture is of the store and the picture below is of the hotel in Usk)


Here is a picture of a poster from 1940 - there was a dance hall above the store - not sure how it fit in with the living quarters.......... The woman on the top right hand corner 'Alice', is my father's mother and the guy on the left is 'Lee' - Grandpa Lee - her 4th husband......  More to come on grandma and her 5 husbands later........


 Here's a better picture of the store in Usk.  It was originally Grandpa Lee's and then mother and father ran it after he died.  So, when I think about it - probably it didn't have a dance hall in it when we lived there....





Cheerio,

Wouldn't hurt to pick up a shovel..........

Another story from my sister.........

This is a favorite in our family and we say it on a regular basis.   Mom lived at Twin River Estates in Terrace for the last 18 or so years of her life.  She moved there when she was 76 years old until she was 93.  She helped out with many chores over the years like sweeping the carports, cleaning the meeting room, and any type of extra yard work that needed doing.  She liked to keep busy. She also kept a good eye on everyone else from her condo windows to make sure they were doing their share.   One fellow in particular was a big talker but she felt he didn't do much to help out and it was mostly the ladies who lived there that gave a helping hand.  When we would go to visit her and she would see him wandering around she would repeat the common complaint that this fellow was lazy and she would say "it wouldn't hurt him to pick up a shovel"  So now in our family when someone is not being helpful one of us  will pipe up    "It wouldn't hurt him to pick up a shovel"    or    "it wouldn't hurt me to pick up a shovel. Then we have a good laugh about remembering Mother saying that on many occasions. 

Every time we laugh about this we can hear mother saying it............and you know, it never gets any less funny!  :-)

Cheerio,

Mother learns to drive.......

My sister, Corinne Linda-Margaret was reminding me of this story........one we all know well in our family........mother always took it in good humour when we mentioned it............well, maybe not in 'good' humour but she didn't actively object.......


Father giving mother a driving lesson.   This first and last lesson must have been in the old model A type truck around 1950 because we still had the shingles on the house.  Mother is in the drivers side, with Dad in the passenger seat and she has to back up to get out of the driveway.  Apparently she asked Dad which way she should turn the wheel and in his wisdom he thought she should know what to do without any advice from him  (some instructor he was).  She backed up at a good clip and veered off the driveway and proceeded to strip the house of some of its shingles.  That was the end of Dad teaching Mom to drive. It scared her so much she never attempted driving  again for many many years and when she got her nerve back again she  took private driving lessons from an instructor.  Below is a picture of our house, when my grandmother and grandfather were still living there.  In the picture are:  Father, Mother, Danny, Leonard (Bruthie), and Linda.  I am unborn at this time.......Bruthie was 4 1/2 when I was born and we moved into grandma's house when I was two and a half.  Guess we were visiting.  Also in the picture you can see the truck that father drove - and that's the one mom was attempting to learn in when she took the shingles off the house a few years later! 



Cheerio,


Our 1952 Vacation..............

I was only six and a half when we went on our very first vacation, summer of 1952.  Some of it I actually remember but most is from asking mother questions about it.

We had a 1939 Dodge 4 door car and our ages were 13 (nearly 14), 10 (just), 9 (just) and 6.5.  Mother was 38 and father 37 at the time of the trip.  Haven't really thought about it before but they were quite young - guess that's why they coped so well.

There were no such things as air mattresses or sleeping bags at this time.......well, there may have been but we sure didn't have them.  Mother packed all the sheets and blankets for the 6 of us along the back seat and the 3 big kids sat on them.  I, being the youngest and smallest, got to sit in the front between mother and father.  One of the back doors didn't close properly so there was a rope tied from one door to the other - not sure how that impacted the seating, no one has ever mentioned it.  Maybe the rope went from the door to the bottom of one of the seats........I just remember being told the door needed to be kept closed with a rope.
My memory is that we broke down in Burns Lake and had to be pushed, by a lot of people, to a garage or somewhere.  I remember people on a porch looking at us.  Seems to me one of my siblings says this happened on our way home........  I don't know what went wrong but obviously it got fixed as the car continued to run.  Wish I had a picture of it.  I don't even remember ever seeing one.  I've been to many 'classic' car shows over the years and each time I hunt for a '39 Dodge and have NEVER found one!  I have seen a '39 Chrysler - it is on display in Las Vegas and belonged to Johnny Carson's father.  He (Johnny) learned to drive in it and in later years hunted it down and bought it.  Same shape as ours but a bit more luxurious.

I think we were gone at least a month........there were no campgrounds in those days - at least we didn't stay in them, if there were.  We'd find a nice, grassy place near the highway and pitch our tent there, hopefully beside a creek.  We had a big white tent - with a pole down the centre of the roof - (when I mentioned camping in 1957, in Calgary, I said we had a white tent but now I remember it was a new, modern one - brown, with a high piece in the middle of the roof - probably had a pole from the pointed roof to the floor.......might even have had a floor in it.  I'll have to correct that post....)  When I asked mother what we did when we couldn't find water to camp near, she said we just all piled into the car in the morning and drove until we found water then we'd stop and brush our teeth and wash.  My god, can you imagine how we must have smelled?  Yuck!

All the food and tent etc was packed into the trunk, along with clothes etc.  Mother cooked all our meals - have no idea if we stopped for lunch at a restaurant now and then or if she made lunches in the  morning and we ate on the run........can't remember and no one has mentioned how that worked.

That year we went to Trail to visit our cousins - mother's 2 sisters, Fanny and Sophia, both lived there.  I think that year we went to Beda's wedding.  Somewhere there's a picture of some of us all dressed up.  I remember my dress well - white with little blue flowers and a little bolero jacket that went with it.  We stayed at Auntie Sophia and Uncle Chuck's house and for some reason I've never forgotten the address......1467 2nd Avenue.........when I saw it decades later I was amazed that they could even raise 2 kids there it was so small.  How the heck all 6 of us ever fit, I'll never know!

We also went to Victoria and Nanaimo.  In Victoria we went somewhere that had hedges all cut in the shape of animals, a couch and stuff like that.  Again, somewhere there are pictures.  When I find all these pictures I'll come back and post them.  Bruthie sent me some of his 1959 Chev - my, it was a beautiful car.  He worked in a body shop when he had it (I think) and painted it a really neat burgundy/plum colour.  It was a very cool car.   Note the fender skirts.....

I don't know where the picture was taken.......whose shop is that, I wonder?

Also in Victoria we went to somewhere that had an electric car display.......I wonder if it was a dealership.....anyway, these cars were just toys and they were going round in a circle.  I must have spent quite a bit of time looking because the guy gave me one.  It was pale yellow and in my memory, everything worked - the doors opened, hood opened etc.  I just loved that car and have no idea what happened to it.

Our arrival in Nanaimo, at my father's sister's house - Auntie Bessie and Uncle Ralph - must have been something to see.  Father wanted to surprise her and we pulled into her driveway and she came to the door to see all 6 of us pile out.  Mother said she just collapsed on the front step when she saw us.  Have no idea how long we stayed there or what we did.

That's all I can remember now.  cheerio,






Monday, August 20, 2012

Our 1957 Chev.....including the invoice...and the Calgary Stampede

In April, 1957, mother and father bought a brand new car!  We had a 1954 Meteor (I think it was a meteor) panel kind of van - only trouble was, it had no windows or seats in the back.  I think we sat on benches or something......I'm sure my siblings remember what it was like inside so they can update me, maybe.  Anyway, it wasn't very suitable for a family of 6 so trading it seemed like a good idea.

That summer we went to the Calgary Stampede!  Only 3 of us kids went, though.  Danny, the eldest, was working already.  What a trip it was......we had a big white tent and this trip we all had air mattresses and sleeping bags, I think.  (I'll write about our 1952 holiday another time)  I don't remember which route we took or if we went to Trail to visit our cousins before heading to Calgary but I do remember that we camped in Banff on our way and we were up at the crack of dawn, absolutely freezing!  We must have arrived in Calgary really early as I don't think we even ate breakfast before leaving - too cold out.  In Calgary we camped in a great big field - north of the city - it's all subdivisions now.

I remember mother getting out of the car and she had red all over her shorts (why did she have shorts on if it was so cold when we left Banff?........maybe this memory isn't of us arriving but of her getting out of the car another time while we were camped in Calgary) and I said to her 'oh, mom - your shorts are all red - I think you must have sat on a tomato!'  I was nearly 12 years old and didn't have the sense to realize she'd started her period!

The big star of the Calgary Stampede that year was Lash Larue - I got a signed picture of him - signed with purple ink, I think.  Kept it for years and have no idea what happened to it.  They had acts where women hung by their necks from helicopters - mother had to look at her feet - she had a terrible fear of heights.  They also had the most amazing fire works - I remember one that was in the shape of a royal carriage.....not sure how they did that as I've never seen anything like that since.  We went to all the chuck wagon races.........or many of them, anyway.

From Calgary we went to Minot, North Dakota, via Saskatoon.  I remember Saskatoon because I got to buy a new dress there - it was white with big, dark pink roses on it and I just loved it.

In Minot we stayed with my father's uncle and aunt.  Bill and Rosie Alger.  They had two teenage sons, I think, and we also went to someone's ranch or farm and my sister got to ride a horse - I think it was old and we had to push it to get it to go........

And that's all I remember about that trip - I think we were gone 5 weeks or something like that.  Imagine, mother had to cook all our meals and where she did laundry etc. I have no idea.  Can't imagine going somewhere for that long, doing all that work for 5 people and calling it a vacation!  She said she enjoyed it, though.  Oh, right - I remember stopping in Montana at the Great Divide - and the 'longest bar' and mother and father went in and had a beer and we three kids sat outside in the car and waited!  We also spent one night in a motel in Kalispell, Montana and there was a really neat convertible car parked at one of the units and someone took a picture of it.  That picture is still around somewhere.

Here is the invoice for our 1957 Chev.  I wonder if the car is still in operation somewhere?


Cheerio,

Sunday, August 19, 2012

McLaren Family History........


Mother wrote a brief family history and I'm going to type it here:

McLaren Family History by Margaret O'Brien



Elizabeth McAlpine Millar was born in Musselburgh, Scotland July 13, 1878.  She was the second oldest of a family of twelve - 6 boys and 6 girls.  Being the eldest daughter, her earlier years were spent helping to raise her younger brothers and sisters.  Later she worked as a cook's helper in a hunting lodge.  


Elizabeth migrated to Canada in 1906 with her father and older brother and his family and they settled in Winnipeg, Manitoba.  Her dad bought a large house and then the rest of the family came to Canada.


Joseph McLaren (Mac) was born in Cupar, Fifeshire, Scotland, February 8,1878.  As a young lad he worked on a farm, receiving $75 a year and all the milk, oatmeal and turnips he needed.  All other necessities he had to provide.  He proudly told us that he not only managed to live on his wages but also bought a bicycle.


Joseph migrated to Canada in 1906 and stayed in Winnipeg for a short time.  He didn't care for city living so decided to go to the Crows Nest Country.  He worked in Pincher Creek and Fernie for a while but finally decided to settle in Moyie, BC.  His brother had a small dairy farm a few miles out of Moyie.  (Moyie is in the Kootenay Country a short distance from Cranbrook, BC)


Joseph and Elizabeth came to Canada on the same ship and became engaged before he left Winnipeg.  He bought a small house in Moyie and they were married in Winnipeg July 16, 1909.


Two daughters were born in Moyie:  Fanny on July 10, 1910 and Margaret on November 28, 1913.


The mine closed in 1914 so they moved to Rossland, BC - another mining town.  They stayed there until early 1917.  One more daughter, Sophia, was born there on June 4, 1915.  After a bad fall in the mine, they decided to move.  This time it was to Prince Rupert, BC.  He made one trip on a whaling ship and didn't like it and neither of them liked Prince Rupert so they moved to Terrace June 4, 1917.  We lived in a small bungalow just east of the Skeena Hotel for the first 3 years.  The house is still there.  It was been stuccoed, the windows have been changed and a sundeck added but the roof type is the same.  (added in handwriting, later......'the house has now been torn down and a beer and wine store is in its place')


After the war dad bought 10 acres on Kenney Street.  There were four 10 acre parcels of land, running from Kenney to what is now Monroe.  These parcels of land have all been subdivided and are divided by Davis, Park and Lazelle.  Milt Alger had 20 acres and sold 8 acres to the School Board for the High School.  It is now the Skeena Junior Secondary School.  Mr. Alger also gave 33 feet for road allowance and Walsh and Monroe Streets were built.  My dad cleared some land then he hired a couple of so-called carpenters to frame the house.  He wanted a two-story house like my grandmother's in Winnipeg.  When the walls and roof were on, the 2 x 4s and the partitions were up, we moved in.  We had a great time darting in and out between the 2 x 4s.  I remember coming out to the property and seeing the lumber piled in triangles to dry. 


My dad cleared five acres and we had to pick up rocks and roots.  I still think he bought the rockiest 10 acres in our area as the 10 acres on either side of us hasn't any rocks.  I'm still picking up the rocks.


We moved into our home at 3324 Kenney Street in the summer of 1920.


When dad came to Terrace he logged for George Little.  After the war people moved to Terrace to settle and needed land cleared and wells dug so dad was kept busy. 


In 1924 he was hired by the Kitsumkalum Timber Company to act as watchman for their timber holding at Kalum Lake.  He spent seven months of the year at the Lake.  Everett Dix bought the old hotel from George Cobb and he built a dance hall and a dining hall.  Kalum Lake became a popular place on Saturday night.  Dad often played for these dances.  He also organized the annual boat race.


We spent a lot of time at the Lake in the summer.  We'd pitch our tent and cook our own meals.  We could have stayed with dad but camping was more fun.


In later years my dad worked for the forestry during the spring and summer and dug wells and trapped to keep busy the rest of the year.  He was a 'Jack of all trades' so was never idle.


In the late 1920's dad decided to start a dancing class.  He had taught my sisters and a couple of their friends Highland Dancing but felt that there was a need for the young and not so young to learn the basics of regular dancing.  These classes were held in the GWVA Hall.  There was a 25 cent charge which went to pay the rent. 


I can still see my dad playing the accordion and walking around the dances ready to help anyone who was out of step.  There was always a good crowd and if a few who came were going to do a bit of cutting up, dad soon put them straight.  He was always in complete control and everyone looked forward to the weekly lessons.


My sisters and I went to the four room school, which is now used as the Resource Centre.  Our high school was a converted teacherage with a room added to the side.  The laboratory was in an upstairs bedroom and the other bedroom was the teachers' lounge.  A gully separated the schools, with a sort of elevated sidewalk between.  In the winter we used to sleigh ride down one side and try to make it to the top at the other side.  Those who didn't bring a sleigh sat on a piece of cardboard.  The janitor used to throw the water from the drinking fountains on the steepest part of the hill and it would freeze and get really icy.


After Fanny graduated she went into training for a nurse.  The Prince Rupert General Hospital had a nurses training school at that time.  By the time she was an RN, the depression was on so money was scarce.  She was kept busy in Terrace, often without pay.  There were times when she would get a dollar a day but often she just got heartfelt thanks.  Later she nursed in Hazelton then moved to Trail where she married and had two daughters.  She nursed in the Trail hospital until she retired.


I guess our life would seem dull to the kids of today but we had an uncomplicated and easy-going life style and had lots of fun.  In the early spring we played jacks, marbles, hopscotch and skipped rope.  Later we played ball.


There was a gully behind the old Curly Bailey property next to Captain Bowen-Cothurst's which we made into a swimming pool.  The boys dug a trench from the creek and the gully filled up and it was a dandy place to swim.  A lot of kids learned to swim there.  I don't remember the water being cold but then we used to have hot summers.  We spent hours down there and never took a snack along so we were a dirty, starved bunch of kids when we arrived home - shank's mare (on foot), of course!


In the early fall all the neighbour kids went down to the Thomas property at the bottom of Lanfear's Hill and we'd play kick the can or run sheep run.  There were lots of out buildings so we had plenty of places to hide.  In the winter there was basketball.  We had to walk but we never missed a practice.  The Moore girls had to walk from the top of Miles' Hill.  If the Horse Shoe area flooded there would be skating.  What I enjoyed the most in the winter was the sleigh riding down Moores' Hill.  (It's now called Miles' Hill).  The hill wasn't graded so there was lots of snow.


I went to work for Mrs. Percy Skinner at Usk in 1933.  It was there that I met and married Jim O'Brien.  We were married in the archway of my parents home on Kenney Street, September 9, 1936.  We lived in Usk until 1948.  We had four children; Danny, Linda, Leonard and Sharon.


We moved to Terrace July 5, 1948 and took over my parents' home at 3324 Kenney Street, where I still reside. 


We always enjoyed playing on the stairs and sliding down the banister and our children and grandchildren have also helped to keep the banister polished.  For a few months after we moved to Terrace, Jimmy continued to log for Dick Adams at Usk.  Later he hauled poles for John Hagen, worked for Pohle and logged for Fraiborne Sawmill.  In 1952 he started working for the Department of Highways where he worked for 10 years.  He then bought Giggey's sawmill at Amsbury, BC, which he operated for several years.  He also started Domac Equipment, which he later sold to our son, Danny. 


Three of our children still live in Terrace.  Danny, Leonard and Linda Buller.  Sharon lives in Cranbrook, BC.  There are nine grandchildren; eight granddaughters and one grandson.

My dad joined the Oddfellows Lodge in Rossland, BC and was very active in the Terrace chapter.  He was Deputy Grand Marshall for many years.  My mother joined the Rebekah Lodge in Rossland and was a member of the Terrace chapter for years.

My dad played the accordion and supplied the music for many of the dances with Rolly Beecker playing the drums.

(I don't know exactly when this was written - prior to 1988, though, because mother says in it that she's still living on Kenney Street and she moved to Twin River Estates in 1988, I think it was)

Here is some additional info she added in her handwriting - never made it into the typed version for some reason:

Joseph McLaren (Mac) passed away in January 1948 in his 69th year.
Elizabeth McLaren passed away in December 1972 in her 95th year.

Fanny married Pete Holm of Trail.  They had 2 daughters.  She passed away in July, 1977.  (Beda and Valerie)

Sophia married Charles (Chuck) Royce of Trail.  They had a son and a daughter.  She passed away in July, 1980.  (daughter, Pat Burt of Coleville, Saskatchewan; son, Terry, of Nanaimo)

The house grandpa Millar bought in Winnipeg was always referred to as 540.  They found it wasn't large enough and bought one at 711 Sherbrooke Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba.  


The Beginning......Mother's side....

Ok -  here goes............

I've decided to write down some of my family history so I'll begin by recording who my grandmother and grandfather were.  I'm going to start with my mother's side of the family.  Later I'll have stuff about father's side and I'll title something with 'father' in it so everyone will know it's the other side of the family.

My Grandmother, Elizabeth McAlpine Millar, was born in Musselburgh, Scotland, July 13, 1878
My Grandfather, Joseph McLaren, was born in Cupar, Fifeshire, Scotland, February 8, 1878. 

My grandmother and grandfather came to Canada on the same ship - I think around 1906 - and were married in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1909. 

I don't know how to do 'trees' in this so I'm just going to list children etc and hope it is understandable.

Joseph McLaren and Elizabeth Millar McLaren had three daughters:

Fanny Sawers McLaren: Born July 10, 1910 in Moyie, BC; died July 1, 1977
Married:  Peter Holm
Children:  Beda:
                 Valerie: December 4, 1946 (?)

Margaret Hamilton McLaren:  Born November 28, 1913 in Moyie, BC; died December 10, 2007
Married:  James Edward O'Brien
Children:  James Daniel:  September 19, 1938
                 Corinne Linda-Margaret: May 18, 1940
                  Leonard Marvin:  May 31, 1941
                 Sharone Elizabeth:  November 9, 1945

Sophia MacDonald McLaren:  Born June 4, 1915 in Rossland, BC; died July 8, 1980
Married:  Charles (Chuck) Royce
Children:  Patricia - 1946 (?)
                 Terrence (Terry)

Next post will be the McLaren Family History, written by my mother..........