Precious Memories

Button Box reminds me of a repair era

By Joyce Hayko – Lethbridge, Alta. When I was growing up in the 1940s, our home owned a sewing repair kit called the Button Box. Almost any tiny item found its way into the button [continue…]

To the present generation, our past is ‘just a story’

By Anne (Kurkowsky) Cohoon – Wilberforce, Ont. My brother, Michael Kurkowsky, was a soldier. He was born on a farm north of the village of Hyas in east-central Saskatchewan, and attended Lake Helen School. During the [continue…]

Thrilling hang-gliding flight taken at 80

By George Hennessy – Falkland, B.C. I was born in January 1918 to pioneer parents on their homestead farm, 12 miles southwest of historic Battleford, Sask. Mother, as a young woman, walked (mostly behind a covered [continue…]

‘We all rushed to examine this marvel’

By Russ Stewart – Victoria, B.C. During the lean years of the 1930s, a ray of light came into our lives in the form of a radio. Dad paid $2 for it at an auction sale. [continue…]

Family farmers fond of Ford

By Art Klassen – Portage la Prairie, Man. A photo of a Fordson tractor in The Senior Paper reminded me of our Fordson tractors. In the early 1920s, my parents were living with their parents [continue…]

A collection plate predicament!

By Ilien Coffey – Vernon, B.C. I hurried down from my second floor apartment to catch the bus to get to Sunday church about a mile away. I was wearing my brand new shoes with stiletto [continue…]

Dusty old game finds new life

By Hilda Zaiser – Winnipeg, Man. During a fleeting moment of ambition, I decided to create some order in my messy storage room. As I was tidying the shelves, I came across my old Scrabble game. Although [continue…]

Kids were designated wartime smugglers

By Mickey (Larson) Lightfoot – Mississauga, Ont. My early years were spent in a tiny village called Northgate, south of Oxbow, Sask., on the border of North Dakota. A bigger town, also named Northgate, was [continue…]

Sulfur was used to hide smell of homebrew hooch

By Emil Eirich – Saskatoon, Sask. Stories in The Senior Paper about homebrew reminded me about my father, Dave, and my Uncle Gust making their own homebrew. This would have taken place in the early 1940s [continue…]

Depression-era journey was an adventure

By John Seierstad – Nanaimo, B.C. My life was filled with hard work, travel, and adventure, however, none can remotely match the experience of travelling to the north with my father when we left the [continue…]

Dozing chap woke up going where?!

By John Moyles – Regina, Sask. Air travel in the 1950s was much different than it is today. Aircraft were smaller, passenger numbers were less, and there was still a feeling of adventure and novelty in [continue…]

Will Christmas cards be a thing of the past?

By Hilda Zaiser – Winnipeg, Man. Over the last few years, I’ve noticed a definite decline in the sending of Christmas cards. Many people have stopped sending cards altogether. Some prefer email. That’s understandable considering it’s [continue…]

Calm day turned into brutal snowstorm

By Michael Bartolf – Oxbow, Sask. Recent weather events in the news has my memory drift back to a big storm we had in March 1947 at Oxbow, Sask. It started on a beautiful, warm [continue…]

Hauling mail led to lucrative side business

By Harold Thom – Nakusp, B.C. We were living at Candle Lake, Sask., north of Prince Albert, during the cold winter of 1946-47. Deep snowdrifts blocked the road between the lake and Meath Park, the nearest town. [continue…]

Her first time away from home was tough

By Gladys McCarthy – Tisdale, Sask. I’ve always loved to hear the words “home for Christmas,” whether in a song or even an advertisement. I remember so well the first Christmas I couldn’t be home [continue…]

Not all her Christmases were happy

By Maisie Burton – Kipling, Sask. Christmas always brings back memories of when I was a child growing up on the farm with my mother, dad, and several brothers and sisters. Preparation for Christmas always [continue…]

Most special evening was January 6th

By Naden Hewko – Macklin, Sask. We knew Christmas was coming when the teacher at our Paynton, Sask., school started to prepare us for the annual concert. The brick school had four classrooms, two on the [continue…]

Train crew caught in massive snowstorm

By George Rose – Calgary, Alta. Six months after joining the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) at Medicine Hat as a wiper cleaning train engines, I was a student fireman travelling from there to Swift Current, [continue…]

‘I observed enemy aircraft in the area’

By Robert Hislop – Shellbrook, Sask. I joined the army, light infantry, in Saskatoon on Nov. 18, 1941. I was Private L3017. I took basic training in Saskatoon and Jolliette, Quebec. I celebrated my 21st birthday [continue…]

Mom couldn’t keep track of so many of us

By Grace (Huckabay) Haugen – Sundre, Alta. On the homestead at Meadow Lake, Sask., where my parents lived for 20 years, in the Dunfield school district, we had horses, cows, pigs, a dog, and cat. [continue…]

Wonderful Memories in every issue!