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Memoirs

Project started November 4, 1996

Written by: Elmer Sauder

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Memories 1 I was born on September 12, 1926 on the farm now owned by Peter Brubacher, an Old Order Mennonite who went to school with our oldest son, Allan. The farm is located on Henry Street west of St. Jacobs just past the Home Hardware enterprise. I only lived here for three years before moving to St. Jacobs in the house on the corner of King and Cedar, diagonally across from the United Church and currently used as one of the many shops in the village of St. Jacobs. I am told that Laura Cressman helped to take care of me when I was a baby and I also learned that I had pneumonia twice before I was 2 years old. Faintly in my mind I remember a big cement loading platform to get on and off the horse drawn buggy. My sister Pearl was a few years older than me, born April 27, 1923. Our family attended the St. Jacobs Mennonite Church which was built in 1915. Our farm was sold in 1929, the year the Great Depression started. We lived with my grandfather, Henry Sauder, and my aunt, Annie Sauder, for three years. My sister Eileen was born in this house on Sept. 27, 1930. I remember a few things while living in St. Jacobs. On the farm I learned to talk but it was only in the Pennsylvania German. When I played with the village children I soon picked up the English language and when I started school I was fluent in both languages. I had many escapades in my childhood and youth. Oscar Good operated a Livery service in St. Jacobs and, as youngsters sometimes do, I ran after this horse drawn vehicle but I got too close and the wagon wheel went over me when I fell. I guess all that happened was that it gave me and the driver a big scare. On another occasion I went with some older children along the mill race to the dam and, always being a little aggressive, I got much too close to the deep water and fell in almost to my neck. I was pulled out very scared and

rode ‘picky back’ most of the way home. I think this experience has given me a real respect for water ever since.

Front L-R Elmer, Eileen, Clayton Sauder – Pearl behind Eileen

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Summer Bible School – Elmer is 2nd row, 3rd from left

Memories 2 My sister Eileen was born September 27, 1930. She was born at home and Pearl and I were sent away for a few hours and then were greeted by the crying of a new baby. In 1932, we moved to a little four acre fruit & vegetable farm on the south end of St. Jacobs across the land owned by Abner Good and behind the old Schmidt printing office. Now there is a big printing office on Abner's land and Ephraim Martin, who just celebrated his 81st birthday, lives on our former farm. A number of lots with buildings now occupy some of our former farm. There was an old barn facing the main road on the west side of our house which we soon tore down and built a brand new barn. I can remember the foundation going up and then the frame and roof and then the stabling with room for a horse, two cows, pigs and chickens. The house was old and very plain with no conveniences but I

remember that just before we moved into it we had hydro installed. What a thrill to just push a switch and see everything light up! This really made an impact on me. We had to go to the outside pump to get water for household or animal use. I lived on this farm until I got married in 1951 so I will be writing quite a bit on this era from 1932 to 1951.

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Memories 3 We put our animals into this new barn and soon started using produce from it for our own use and later we sold vegetables, fruit, eggs and chickens at the Kitchener market. We had a stand at the market on the second floor right beside Milne’s Cheese. I still remember getting samples of cheese every Saturday and that was a real treat. In the early days, usually my Dad and I went to market with our horse whose name was Geordie. In the summer we drove a top buggy and in the winter we used a one horse sleigh, often using a buffalo robe to keep warm. In the early days, my mother made butter from our cream. I can still see her mixing it and pressing a one pound wooden butter print and then using a butter wrapper printed by Schmidt’s Printery next door. I enjoyed helping to prepare items for the market whether it was candling the eggs using a viewer with a light bulb inside to detect blood spots or weighing the eggs for large, medium or small or helping to butcher and dress chickens to sell. We had items to take to the market for all seasons. My dad liked to raise strawberries and we sold a lot, whether they were the Dunlops (a sweet medium sized berry) or the Fairfax which were a very large dark red berry and also quite sweet. In the spring we always got some day old chicks mixed (pullets and roosters) and when they were two months old we sold the roosters live at the market. We took them down in crates and sold them outside to the Jewish people who took them to their Rabbi for slaughtering. They would often buy several at a time and leave with these squawking birds in their hands or in a burlap bag. My dad was always interested in growing or raising something new so, whether it was Kale or dressed rabbits or bouquets of mixed flowers, they found their way to the market. These were the years of the Depression so selling things at the market was the main way to obtain some much needed cash. My dad did find some work by the day on the neighbouring farms, mostly at George Martins. I can well remember later in the Depression when my

dad worked four days a week for five dollars. This was at the Aldred Shantz farm and included two meals a day.

House on 4 acre farm

During these early years we discovered that we had one area of our land that had excellent sand and we soon started hauling and selling sand in our one horse wagon. We only had to go down about a foot to get to the sand and this vein went down about ten feet and then we hit water and clay. It was hard work shovelling the sand to the surface and then screening it for people wanting nice fine sand for plastering and cementing. I remember our poor horse, Geordie, straining and pulling the scraper out of the pit to the top level and then pulling the wagon to the customer. But again the money helped the cash flow.

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It was in the early days of our country living that we got a plain simple little box camera. I can still remember how excited I was both in taking my first pictures and in having a picture taken of me. How rigid we stood! You see, we couldn't move and we seemed to be reluctant even to smile. The only very

early picture I can recall is one that we have of the Shantz reunion taken in the summer of 1930.

Elmer holding sign

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Memories 4 Going back again when I was probably about four or five, I remember the John Schearer wedding. They moved to an old house up the hill past the bridge in St. Jacobs, approximately where Walter Hachborn, president of Home Hardware, lives today. I don’t remember the wedding but the reception, especially the ice cream, remains a sweet memory. When I was about six or seven, I remember one bright full-moon night when our neighbour Egbert Schmidt took advantage of my gullibility by asking me to get ‘Pop’ to bring me a ladder so I could climb up on the roof to get this big chunk of cheese which, of course, was the moon peeping over the top of the roof. The Schmidts also owned a tile yard located just past Stan Valenta’s place. We youngsters spent a lot of time at the tile yard because there were banks of sand to play in and there was a big pond there too. They needed a lot of water to make the mix for the tiles and there was a mini rail system with tracks to haul the water, cement and finished tiles. We liked to ride on this track, especially when the owners weren't there. I remember Henry Bignell who worked there for a number of years until he enlisted in the army during World War 2 and I think he worked there after the war. He was not very big but I can still see him with his shirt off revealing a well browned torso and huge muscles. He married Phyllis Schlitt from St. Jacobs. We also spent a lot of time at and on the pond and in those days there were no life jackets. The water was probably at least six feet deep in places and we put together a raft made with two logs with a few boards fastened on and used sticks to paddle around. I never advised this for our own children and grandchildren later in life. There were no fish in this pond but frogs were plentiful. One day I got the notion to catch a few and take them home for Mom to

fry. I had heard about frogs legs being a real delicacy so I could not understand why Mom was not enthused about them. In Abner Good’s field next to our place we often would find patches of ice big and small and we would play on these but I really wanted a pair of skates. But the Depression often deprived us of things we wanted. Finally, I was able to buy a second hand pair of skates from Mel Horst for twenty-five cents. We did not have a nice warm change room to put the skates on so we generally took our old sleigh and sat on it in the cold. I learned to skate and skating, along with hockey, became one of my favourite sports. I have mentioned a few of my escapades in my early years. I had a few more. I was back and forth quite a bit playing with Henry and Aden Martin and one day I was following a load of hay going by on the road and I darted out from behind the wagon rushing home to my place. A car was coming the opposite way and hit me, throwing me into the ditch. I was shook up but not injured and I am not sure who was more scared, me or the driver of the car. One time in public school, some of the bigger boys were playing ball in the boys’ basement. I was sitting on the bench and I’m not sure if I was eating lunch or involved with the play but one of the really big boys, Urias Frey, swung the bat and it caught me on the forehead on his back swing and really gave me a nasty gash. With blood oozing out, I walked home with Clayton Sauder to get it bandaged. Of course, I should have gone to the doctor to get stitches but instead I walked back to school for the afternoon. To this day a slight scar remains as a reminder.

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Memories 5 Memories keep coming back and it is somewhat difficult to keep the records in a chronological order. One thing that comes to mind was on my first day of school. I came home at noon crying and telling my parents, "I can’t make the 2.” I did go on making many 2’s and really enjoyed school, even skipping Grade 2! I did miss one thing from Grade 2. I never did learn to print in the regular way and to this day when I print it is in capital letters. I graduated from public school when I was twelve years old. I started high school in September, 1939 and turned thirteen on Sept.12. September 3, 1939 also marks the beginning of World War 2 and so my next series of recollections will involve the five years at Elmira High School and the War Years. In 1939, not many of the young people from our church went to High School. Howard Good and Marshall Musselman and I went and in the next few years more went but many did not graduate. I was a small country boy and travelled to school on the bus. The first few months were times to adjust and it was after my first report card that I realized school is more than play so I buckled down and at the end of Grade 10 was rewarded with a Certificate stating I was the student showing the greatest improvement in lower school and my scholastic ability showed in the fact that I didn’t have to write any final exams except Grade 9 Art in all the five years. To this day I retain a few things that I made in Grade 11 with Ernie Kendall as my shop teacher. We still use the old bread board, the sugar scoop and the plant holder. The foot scraper finally had to be discarded. I also have the five Year Books of the years 1939 to 1944. I recall in grade 9 that Mr. Kendall would eat his noon lunch with the boys in the basement. The girls had their own basement. Fraser Hardy taught Phys Ed and Math in Grade 9. Both

these teachers stayed at E.D.S.S. for a long time.

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Memories 6 I have to move back to my public school days again. When I was about eleven years old I had my tonsils removed. Apparently, I had quite a few colds and bouts of sore throat so arrangements were made with our local Doctor Robinson with the help of a surgeon from Kitchener for the operation. This surgery was performed on a table in Dr. Robinson’s office which was beside his house at the top of the hill next to Martin’s Garage. This house later was owned by Ken Sittler, father of Darryl Sittler, the famous Maple Leafs hockey player. I can still remember being given chloroform on a cloth which was used as an anesthetic to put me to sleep. I was asked to count to twenty but I think I only got to about eight or nine. Soon after the surgery I was taken home and I had ginger ale and I think a soft poached egg for supper and soon was back at school. We always had a variety of animals on our little farm. I can remember the goats we had, especially the young ones (kids) and the antics they performed. We have a few snapshots of these around and we also ate a few and used goat’s milk from the mother goat. Little ducklings grew big and we got eggs and meat from them. We had rabbits, guinea-pigs, bantams, hamsters, canaries or budgies, etc. This was besides our regular farm animals like a horse, a cow, pigs and chickens. We just had the cow for a few years and then started to get our milk delivered. I can remember one very cold winter day when Allen Frey, who delivered milk and worked back at George Martin’s, had an accident. The snow was so deep and it was so cold and stormy and the covered milk rig fell over pinning him beneath and breaking his leg. The rest of the details escape my mind but I know it was quite traumatic. We had cats and of course kittens at the farm and we also always had a dog. Pop liked fox terriers and for a long time we had Sport, a brown and white male with his

tail chopped off. I think it was Sport or Sportie as we usually called him that was willing to take on anything large or small. One day he encountered a ground-hog and kept scratching away even when the ground-hog retreated. Sport did not give up and managed to drag the ground-hog out and I think we then helped to finish him off. The next dog also was a brown and white fox terrier but she was a female and we did have cute little puppies a few times.

Me with Goldie and pups

I was over at Henry and Aden’s quite a bit. Their father, whose name was Emerson, also had a small farm although bigger than ours and also attended market. He was quite an entrepreneur, involved in several sidelines. He had his horse-drawn saw-mill and cut a lot of wood and he had a little greenhouse which his son Henry expanded into quite a business. Emerson also was a bee-keeper, owning quite a few beehives and selling honey at home and at the market. I can still see him in the orchard with a big screen over his head using a

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smoke pump to ward off the bees. I also remember the big container in the honey house where he would trim off the honeycomb. We kids would reach into this bin and take some of this honey filled wax

and chew it. How sweet it was!

Helping dad dig a ditch at our house

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Memories 7 I now go back to my High School years including the summers. I just turned thirteen in Sept. 1939 when I started High School and I, of course, noticed some of the big guys in Grades 12 & 13, fellows like Ed Bearinger, Ivan Letson and Clarence Mattusch. I guess I almost feared them but soon realized they were harmless but they had a tremendous sense of humour and you never knew what prank they would pull off next. In the next number of grades I realized I was getting taller than the younger students and they were looking up to us with respect. When I started E.D.S.S. there were 129 students enrolled and there were two Grade 9 classes totalling approximately 50. Many of these dropped out after Grade 9 or 10 but others graduated after Grade 12 with what we called Junior Matriculation. There were only thirteen of us who graduated with the Senior Matriculation or Grade 13. I really enjoyed High School and for the most part had excellent teachers. I enjoyed the camaraderie with the students and even the homework was something I found interesting, challenging and inspiring. We didn’t have the distraction of TV and the many sports and social activities that demand so much time today. I recall one exam in Science where I felt I had done quite well but when I got my paper back it had a mark of about 75% which really disappointed me. I checked and double checked it and arrived at a much higher mark. Finally I went back to Mr. Kendall and we went over it section by section and he kept saying this one is perfect and this one too and so on until we had gone through it all and discovered I was only one mark short, giving me a total of 99%. Then I felt much better. Since these were the war years, I remember especially in the higher grades we had a lot of current events discussed and political views expressed. I would get into quite a discussion with Stewart Huehn & Vivian Hoffer about Russia and the British Empire

and I predicted we would have serious problems. They both believed things would work out and we would be at peace and in harmony as far as these countries were concerned. Well, I don’t know how much we got resolved but they must have been of one mind because they ended up getting married and still are together. During the summer holidays I kept busy at our little farm but also by working at bigger farms. I soon drove the teams of horses during haying and harvesting. Later, I would set the sheaves of grain in place as they were being pitched up to me from the stooks on the ground. My first full summer was spent working for Thomas Martin back in the Erbsville hills. His brother Amos had a farm near the present location of Columbia and Fisher Hallman in Waterloo. I was home only for Sundays and for the rest of the week I was back this long lane, hardly able to see a neighbour. Thomas was a very good boss and a fine Christian. He was very dedicated, newly married and after a few years they left farming and became very involved in mission work in the Sudbury area. They served many years in this work but unfortunately Thomas met with an untimely death due to an accident. I would get up at 5 a.m. to do chores, then eat a hearty breakfast and continue on with other farm duties.

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Memories 8 During the summer that I worked for Thomas I think the only day that I had off other than Sundays was one day to go to the big Shantz reunion that was held every five years. I think this reunion was held in 1940 and there were many people there for what I think was the last one to be held. I mentioned that Thomas and Amos worked together but they also worked with their father whose name was Sydney. This farm is located where Henry, another brother, lives today but his son runs the farm. Sydney also had a son named Sydney who lives in Abilene, Texas and he and his wife Florence remain our good friends. I twice experienced runaways with teams of horses. It is very scary. Horses sometimes are young and excitable and anxious to take off. I think both times the teams took off with an empty hay or grain rack wagon and both times I got off at the start and just let them run over the fields until they tired out and we could subdue them. Luckily, no one got hurt and very little damage was done. I really liked getting home for Sunday because it was a lonely experience on this farm back in the hills. The conversations with Thomas and his brothers were stimulating. I also remember the meals, including the Friday night bean soup, were all very good. I remember Sydney Jr. was 17 years old and Henry was 19 and they loved to sing the Gospel tunes. I recall them singing the song ‘Tempted and tried I'm oft made to wonder why it should be so all the day long’. This was at a period of time when many of the Old Order Mennonites were getting restless. They wanted some changes. They wanted to be more evangelical, stressing salvation through Christ more than just doing good works. They also wanted to drive cars albeit painted black. I liked to get to Sunday School and Church. I am not sure what years I had Oliver Koch for a teacher but I do know that one year he encouraged the boys in his class to start a 10 year Bible memory work course. I took it but finished it

in one year. To this day I credit that course for helping me retain in my mind many of these verses. Another thing that I remember from Oliver's class was the explanation for the word often found in the Bible – ‘Selah’. It is usually found on the end of a verse in the Psalms and he said it means, ‘Think of it’. I am satisfied with that explanation.

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Memories 9 During the Second World War, students in High School who achieved high enough marks during the year doing tests could get out of school a little earlier. When I was fifteen, having completed Grade 11, I began working for Willard Shantz on his farm located where the miniature golf is now just past the stockyards. I liked farm work even though Willard's mother was pretty fussy. One time I was in a hurry to eat and quickly washed but not well enough because I stained the towel and had it pointed out to me by her husband whose name was Ephraim. It really was my mistake. I was only at the farm a few weeks because I spent the rest of that summer in bed. June 5 was the day of my accident when I fell through an open hole in the barn floor landing on the stone surface below and fracturing my skull. I was semi-conscious for most of two days and in the hospital for three weeks with an ice pack on my head all the time. I had to stay in bed for the rest of the summer until towards the end of August. I just managed to pull myself together in order to start Grade 12 in September. One side benefit of this experience was that my S.S. class made a radio available for me which I really appreciated and used a lot. I think that soon after that summer we bought a little radio and I really looked forward in the winter time to listening to Hockey Night in Canada with Foster Hewitt. I think it was the next summer that I worked at Snyder's furniture factory in Waterloo. My dad had started work there in the lumber yards a few years before and really enjoyed simply having a steady job and one he stayed with for over twenty years until he was 72. Then, feeling he was too young for retirement, he got a job with Home Hardware, staying there until he was 82. I can still hear him talking about fellow workers or supervisors like Ed Mank or Mr. Ertel or Mr. Stalbaum whom he got a ride with for many years. I can remember often getting wood pieces for heating our stoves. Emil Martin would deliver the wood which

was a very cheap source of fuel. The summer I worked at Snyders I usually ate my lunch with my dad outside under shade. Snyder's Furniture made nice tables and chesterfields and desks. I enjoyed working at Snyders and got to know a few people. Getting a regular pay cheque was a real novelty for me even though it was quite small. I didn't mention that when I worked for Thomas I got $10 a month along with room & board so I earned $30 that summer. My job was mostly working for David Martin who operated a machine called the Sticker. It did a lot of shaping and planing of the pieces of wood. When these pieces came through I would pile them on wooden carts. I had various jobs which didn't require a great drain on my brain but gave me lots of time to meditate. I can still see another man who I thought was very young also operating a big Sticker. One other student from Waterloo also worked there that summer and his name was Carl Zinkann. He went on to become President of Zehrs Ltd. and is now retired. I forget which year my sister, Eileen, got scarlet fever. In those days that meant a quarantine of quite a few days with a red sign posted on your house and isolation. I moved out and stayed with my Aunt Annie and my grandfather Henry Sauder in order for me to continue going to High School. I don't remember a lot about this experience other than doing my homework at night and eating meals there. What I do remember very vividly though is sleeping with a ninety plus Grandpa. That was something. I can still see him in his winter underwear and I think a night cap and quite understandably stiff and getting feeble. People will remember him also for many years having tape or a small bandage on his nose. In those years you didn't hear the word cancer very often but I guess this is what it was. It started very small but ended up as something not pleasant at all. I will continue to talk a bit about my

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Grandpa Sauder because he is the only grandparent that I knew. After the home farm was divided between uncle Ezra and my dad, my grandparent Sauders moved to a big nice house on the corner of King & Samuel in St. Jacobs and Grandpa would walk down to the wagon making shop where the Stone Crock restaurant is now. This business was owned by John Sauder and I can still remember going in there as a small boy and seeing all the wood shavings and seeing and hearing the big belts driving the machines. My grandfather would walk down to our farm when he was in his late eighties with a hoe wanting to do some weeding. They didn't stay in the big house very long before moving down to the corner of Cedar and King. Grandpa said he didn't want to walk the steep hill all the time but I think Grandma never liked the move. Grandpa Sauder served as one of the early trustees at the St. Jacobs Mennonite Church which was built in 1915. I can remember dropping in at his place many times. Once or twice he offered me homemade dandelion wine which I sampled but didn't like. I guess he was not a total abstainer. I remember for years he carried a mortgage on the Earl Schieffle farm and faithfully every month they would make the payment. We do have a few pictures of Henry and one of them was taken at his, I think, 84th birthday over at uncle Ezra’s. It shows him holding Eileen and some other cousins are there too. Grandpa Henry died in 1944 at the age of 93. The year 1944 turned out to be quite a tumultuous year. I was in Grade 13 which now is like the first year of University. I did quite well even with subjects like Zoology, Trigonometry, Analytical Geometry, French, English, etc. In the winter break I got the flu and the weather was nice so I went outside too soon and developed an ear infection. This was before there were many antibiotics and the ones that were available were used for army personnel. I was left with a running ear and a perforated eardrum. This affected my hearing somewhat but I still managed to get through my school year with high

enough marks so that I did not have to write any final exams. I was finished in May already on the condition I work for agriculture or a food producing place. I opted to go to the Niagara area and got a job on a fruit farm at Vineland Station working for Alvin & Isaac Culp. I enjoyed a variety of duties on the farm, cultivating, spraying and picking fruit and vegetables. A year or two earlier my dad and I spent a few weeks picking peaches for the Culps and we lived in a cabin on their property so I was a little familiar with the setup.

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Memories 10 A certificate was given to me in 1944 for contributing to the national war effort in the area of food production by working a summer on a fruit farm. I still have this certificate in my possession to this day. The summer was going quite well and I enjoyed going to church at Vineland Station and also taking walks down to Lake Ontario which was just across the Queen Elizabeth Highway. There was also an Experimental Farm that you passed on the way to the lake. One Sunday afternoon I was walking back from the lake and the police stopped me and questioned me as to where I was and what I had been doing the last few hours. I gave a satisfactory explanation but I was really scared. Apparently they were looking for a young fellow about my age (17). I didn't get home much that spring and early summer but I did notice a little difference in Eileen. She seemed to have some nervous twitches and her balance was affected at times. Perhaps with earlier diagnosis and if medication like penicillin had been available she could have been cured. She also had a bout with rheumatic fever earlier. The final diagnosis was St. Vitus's Dance. Abner Good, who was the Deacon at our church, phoned me at Vineland and gave me the news that Eileen passed away August 3, 1944 at St. Marys hospital in Kitchener. It was very sad and to this day over 50 years later I still think of her and miss her. She had a sweet personality and enjoyed life and had her friends who still speak affectionately about her. In those days our church did not have flowers at a funeral but my dad put a nice white rose on her dress in the coffin. It was a hard blow for all of us and the question remains... Why??

Eileen with arm around Mary

Life must go on. I went back to Vineland for the rest of the summer wondering what I will do now that I’m finished high school. I did go to Stratford Normal School in early Sept. but, not having any guidance counselling and not having much in finances and just being overwhelmed by it all, I went back home to ponder my future. I went to the employment office in Kitchener and found out that since this was war time jobs were available. They told me that Burns Meats had an opening for a shipping &

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billing office clerk. I went out there and when they heard I was a High School graduate I was hired immediately. I do remember the starting rate was $18 per week. Everything was new for me including the fellow employees, the work routine, the size of the place but it did not take too long for me to feel comfortable. I had to take the bus which was not too good because I always had to transfer to a city bus to get me out to Guelph Street where Burns Meats was located. The shipping office was located at one end of the plant and was quite small and only had one window. I remember we put up a sign calling it the ‘Black Hole of Calcutta’ and you history fans will know what that meant. The shippers would come in during break periods and smoke and we tried to keep working. The second hand smoke was terrible and it was a real relief when we got larger quarters and smoking was banned. I soon got into the routine of things and began to think about getting a car.

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Memories 11 After working for Burns Meats for about six months, I received my army call to report for my physical examination prior to possible induction into the armed services. This letter arrived when I was exactly eighteen and one half years old. At the time I did not realize how very young this was but now when I see boys and girls of this age it really does show the youth that were being drafted at that time. I reported at Wolsley Barracks in London, Ontario and stayed there overnight, sleeping in an army bunk. I was already in bed when another young man who was a day or two younger than me came walking in. Here it was Jim O'Rourke from Burns Meats office and were we ever glad to see each other. Because of my perforated ear drum I did not pass the medical and they said I could go home. I had been deliberating between going into the services and applying for Conscientious Objector status. I opted for the latter and when I mentioned it to the officer, he was surprised in light of the fact that I wasn’t classified as ‘A1’ because of my ear problem and also the war was coming to a close and the need for recruits was not very great. I was required to pay $10 per month to the Red Cross but this only lasted for three months because then the war was over. It was a good experience for me but I was glad to get back to my job. I was starting to get interested in a car for myself. My dad had a 1927 Nash but we mostly used it for local driving. I found out that Harold Cress had a 1929 Model A Ford for sale and I bought it for $175. It was black with red spokes in the wheels. It was

not real long before I realized it needed some motor work and since Lorne Schlitt and his son Russell had the local garage they got the job which cost me $129. While I am talking about car costs I might add that one night I was driving along the Conestoga road with a female passenger (before I even knew Beatrice) when all of a sudden a front wheel fell off and went rolling in front of the car and then veered into the ditch. That time I think Good’s Garage got the business but I don't think it cost very much. I may not have the sequences quite right but there was another time that the Model A incurred expenses. It was during the summer and we used to have parties like wiener and corn roasts at Leonard Snider’s farm which was located a road north of the Three Bridges road. One night Mel Horst and I were heading for a corn roast for the young people from the church and on the way a jack rabbit ran in front of the car and we, well… I chased it and as it was a gravel road I lost control of the car and rolled it into the ditch. We crawled out of a broken glass window and a hole in the roof. Mel cut his knee quite badly and it was really bleeding. We hiked back to Menno Eby’s place and got some attention and the details I don’t remember but I do know the car damages added up to $88. And we never did get to the corn roast! My friend Nelson Horst also got interested in cars and I’m not sure what year he got an old Model T Ford just for fun. He really painted it up and we had a lot of fun with it. We often drove around on a Sunday afternoon but I think Dundas was as far away as we ever got.

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My buddies Mel & Nelson after a hunt with my Model A Ford

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Memories 12 Some more memories come to my mind as I continue these memoirs. I recall that in the winter time it would get very cold especially so in the mid 1930s when many times Mom would take a nice warm brick or a warm iron and put it at the foot of my bed so that when I went to bed it was fairly comfortable at least for my feet and then sometimes she would put the big buffalo robe on top of the other covers. We did not have a furnace in the house and my bedroom was above our living room and we very seldom had that stove going. The special times we did have a coal fire in the living room stove it was really nice to feel the warmth come up through the floor register. During the Depression we could not afford to buy coal very often and when we did we only bought two or three bags at a time from Schaner Coal & Feed. I also remember going there for a few bags of feed at a time for our animals. When we got groceries at Welker's, later Bauman’s General Store, we sometimes used the barter system, i.e. traded a few dozen eggs for some groceries. I also remember during at least one cold day in the mid thirties my Dad came to school with the horse and sleigh and brought some warm soup for Pearl and me. I mentioned before that we always seemed to have a dog at our place and I think it always was a fox terrier. Many times in the morning, Mom would open the door leading upstairs for Sportie or Goldie to run up and wake me up by jumping on my bed and licking my face. As a family we always enjoyed Christmas time. I remember our first Christmas tree was a very small table model artificial one which we decorated. We did have real Christmas trees long before many people in our church had them because they were considered too worldly or modern. My dad always was a little more liberal. I was quite young when I remember him talking about his light coloured

gabardine suit. When money became a little more available he did not mind getting me more colourful jackets or other more current clothes. He also very much encouraged me to go to High School when many of my friends had to go to work when they reached the age of fourteen. Back to the early Christmas days. We enjoyed getting up early Christmas morning to see gifts wrapped for us and having candies and nuts and other goodies sitting around. We often had turkey with all the trimmings. Once we had a radio we listened to Christmas music and my dad usually wanted to hear the King or Queen give the Christmas greetings and during the war we often listened to the Servicemen send Christmas greetings to their families and friends. We usually went to church on Christmas morning and asked our friends what they got for presents. We had our big dinner at noon so by mid afternoon I was ready for some exercise. I would often join my friends and go ice skating on a pond in Abner Good’s field or at the outdoor rink in St. Jacobs. Sometimes we would go sleigh riding or sometimes we stayed inside to play games. Christmas was celebrated more simply than these days with the increased commercialism, television, etc. On the other hand, we do have access to much good music such as the Messiah presentation and many good programs performed by schools and churches.

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Memories 13 More memories of my childhood keep coming back but not in any particular order because I do not remember the exact sequence of events. On our four acre farm we always saw lots of birds. I wanted to catch some sparrows and I had heard of a simple trap which I wanted to try. I laid four bricks on their side on the ground and put another brick on top at a 9O degree angle, held there by a little stick. I sprinkled some grain inside the bricks and waited for results. The sparrows would hit the stick and the top brick would fall down on the side brick and the sparrow would be caught inside, generally unharmed. I also remember one summer my cousin Sylvester Sauder went to Summer Bible School and came to our place one day. He had a BB gun, something I always wanted but could not afford. I used his gun and shot a bird which turned out to be a young robin. I shot it in the eye and I always felt terrible after that and certainly was less enthusiastic to buy a BB gun after that. I remember seeing my first moving picture show. It was a farm show put on by Purina Mills when I was a young Public School student and it was shown in the basement of the school. I recall one scene where a young fellow was getting feed chop out of the bin and the lid always kept falling on his back. We all just roared and wanted the scene replayed. I was greatly impressed by that humourous episode. Slingshots were very popular for the boys in my time. It was something you could easily make with a forked twig, rubber tubing and a bit of leather and using a stone to shoot. One shot that I will always remember was at the school yard. There was a strong west wind and my stone really travelled. In fact, it kept going to the second story bedroom window of Mr. Shoemaker, of course smashing the window and landing near the owner. I felt awful and was very happy that payment for the window brought about the reconciliation I wanted. Another time that I

got a sickening feeling was when we boys were horsing around in the boys’ basement at school pushing benches back and forth. I pushed a bench against another bench and Don Amos had his finger there. I did not know if the finger was broken because it was bleeding and he was in pain. Fortunately it was only badly bruised. Thinking back on my school days, I remember the strap was one method used to keep discipline. Did I ever get the strap? Yes, I did, once in Public School and the other time I think was in Grade 11. Why? I think sometimes we ate our lunch in the classroom and one day, foolishly, I threw an apple at the blackboard creating a stain and mess. I don’t know what I was trying to prove but it didn't take long for me to receive my punishment. The other time involved homework where I thought we had to do the prime numbers in the math questions when in reality we had to do the odd numbers. I think that time I had the company of two or three other fellows in getting the strap for the same reason. School concerts were always looked forward to and a few things stick in my mind. One play I remember was Tom Sawyer and the fence that needed whitewashing which provided lots of laughs. Another time there was a band performing, using everything from old washboards, rattles or bassoons and Vernal Cress was the music conductor and he started by saying, one, two, three, Play! Only he said it in German. We would also sometimes like to attend any Christmas Concerts in the area. It seems to me that a few of us walked through the snow over to a school on the Heidelberg Road to take in a concert but I think it was in the afternoon. Just a few more things from early childhood. I remember going for the mail when I was quite young. Mr. Winkler was the Postmaster and to me he seemed old and gruff with a big bushy moustache and small horn rimmed spectacles. I would come up to

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the wicket for my mail and he would stare at me for awhile and then bluntly say... ‘Sauder?’ I would say ‘Yes’ and he would reach for our mail. He was also the village Pharmacist and I certainly was bewildered by the display of remedies and salves and medicine ranging from horehound to rubbing alcohol. I also remember the local dairy with the men wearing big rubber aprons and getting the glass bottles filled up. One thing that stands out in my mind at the dairy did not concern the milk, cream or butter but rather another attraction. You would put a penny in a container filled with big coloured bubble gum and pull the lever. You would always get bubble gum but if you got a black one you got a chocolate bar. I tried a few times but I don't think I was ever lucky. Speaking of eating, I remember butchering times at our farm. We got Ezra Martin to butcher a pig for us in the winter and we used our old smokehouse to heat up the water and later Mom would also make homemade soap from the fat. Usually, by the time I got home from school I would see the results of the butchering. The farm sausage would be in coils and the liver sausage would be in crocks. The hams would be ready for smoking and we had other fresh meat ready to eat. I remember coming home from school later on winter days seeing these crocks of liver sausage in the summer kitchen and since I was often hungry by then I would carve a chunk of liver sausage, heat it in a pan and put it on a piece of bread… ummmm, good. Growing up as a youngster I don't recall my parents doing much entertaining although I do remember aunts, uncles and cousins dropping in. My uncle Emmanuel Schleuter was a huge man and he had relatives in Linwood and would often stop at our place on the way back. I can recall him sitting in the car with his tummy touching the steering wheel in his car. They had a big family and were poor during the Depression. They lived in Waterloo and had a little farm and then started hauling garbage for the city with his team of horses and things started to go better. Most of his kids did quite well,

particularly Lorne, Adam, Margaret and Harold who owns and operates Schleuter Motors in Waterloo along with his son Dennis. We did visit them sometimes and also went to Uncle Ephraim Bearinger’s who had a farm on what is now Bearinger Road. The Bearingers also had a large family and they had twin girls. We did visit back and forth with Uncle Mose Shantz who had a small farm on Lexington Road. They never did get a car but their pride and joy was a team of beautiful horses and a nice top buggy. Mose & Aunt Lena only had one son, Harold, who really liked animals. He always had rabbits, ducks, chickens, pigeons, etc.

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Memories 14 In my childhood there was no TV; in fact, no radio until I was a teenager. A lot of recreation centred on sports, especially ball and skating and hockey. I liked school sports in public school and high school whether it was softball, sleigh riding, pump, pump pull away, Andy Andy Over or whatever. I can remember sometimes we had freezing rain and we got on our skates and could skate even on the road. When we got a little older I remember Henry Martin and I were thrilled when Gladys and Miriam agreed to go tobogganing down at the tile yard in the evening. I guess that was the start of boy-girl relationships for both of us. Speaking of Henry, I also liked to go fishing in the summer and one time Henry and I went fishing at the river in Abner Good's flats and Henry caught a huge carp about 24 inches long. Not good eating but what excitement to catch! In the summertime we also did a few things which we hardly see anymore. We used to like to walk around on homemade stilts and the higher the better. Another thing that occupied our spare time was hoop and stick. We would search for a wheel or hoop and then make a T-type wooden stick to push and guide the hoop along with us running behind. A few kids were lucky enough to have a scooter, run by manual power of course. There were other activities which kept us busy. In early spring I liked walking over to visit the maple sugar bush, either at Seranus or Almond's. I enjoyed seeing the crackling fire heating the sap in the huge pans and then later seeing the evaporator in action and tasting the boiled sap that was the sweetest, very close to the final product of maple syrup. Watching the team of horses pulling the sleigh and collecting the sap from tree to tree was also very interesting. Another chore from the distant past which is not done anymore is cutting ice from the river. Before the days of refrigerators and milk

cooling equipment, farmers would go to the river with a sleigh and a team of horses and saw or cut big blocks of ice, load them on the sleigh and pack them with sawdust in the ice house. As they needed ice for the ice box in the house or to keep milk cool in the dairy house they would simply get some from the ice house. The sawdust would preserve the ice until the summer. In the fall I enjoyed going to the Elmira Fall Fair. I did not have much money but watching the horse races and seeing all the exhibits of farm animals, fruits and vegetables was all free. I generally had a little money for a few rides and maybe a hot dog and a drink. Going to the Fair was an annual event. I also remember when I was in Grade 7 or 8 my teacher Glen McLeod asked me to be a dairy judge at a Fair in Galt. That was quite an honour and I actually fared quite well. I also remember my first airplane ride. One day a small plane landed in Abner Good's field and the pilot was giving rides so I decided to go. What a thrill! Up in the sky over St. Jacobs and even seeing our little farm from an entirely different view. I have mentioned Abner Good's field, flats and river a lot but that is where a great deal of my outdoor activities took place. This big field is now mostly covered with houses.

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Memories 15 During my childhood we did not go away much for holidays other than by the day. We went to a few reunions, perhaps a picnic at Waterloo Park, a drive to Paradise Lake, back to Martin’s Grove, to Elmira Fair, etc. We didn't have a car until I was around fourteen or fifteen so we were limited in our travels. I do remember one time my dad asked Joe Martin, who owned the local harness shop, to drive us to Goderich. In those days that seemed like quite an outing and it was an all day affair. I think there is a snap around with me posed in a rigid position in front of Joe's car. I remember one time I did go away for a few days of holidays to visit my cousins, Gordon and Carl Sauder. Aunt Katie was a real good cook and I really enjoyed her meals. They had a large family and so Gordon, Carl and I had to sleep in one bed and I remember this well because I fell out of bed. When I was a young teenager, as I mentioned before, I did like hockey. I would play on the ponds in the fields and I would walk up to the St. Jacobs outdoor rink which was located on the north side of the river at the corner of King and Eby streets. I never had the money to buy much equipment. I couldn't even afford a hockey stick so I usually scrounged around for a discarded broken or worn out stick and it was quite awhile before I got a pair of second hand shin pads. In fact, most of my hockey equipment was obtained second or third hand. I still liked the game and perhaps it was due to the lack of good hockey gear that for a few years I turned to the role of goalkeeper. This was in the days before face masks were invented and I did get some bruises and scars. I played a few years for the St. Jacobs Juveniles in a league with St. Clements, Linwood, and Wellesley. I remember playing my first game in an indoor rink in Wellesley and within about five or ten minutes Wellesley popped in two goals on me. I had to get adjusted to the arena. However, those were the only goals they got and we went on to

defeat them five to two and Orville Hahn, our centre man on the first line, got all five goals. Orville went on to play Junior B and then Junior A. He was small but very good and shifty with the puck. After a few years, I got out of the goal keeping business and started playing right wing. I liked that a lot and when Church League started I was right there. There was only one team in the north area and we had players from St. Jacobs, Floradale, Hawkesville, Elmira, etc. In the very early days the Martin boys from Floradale pretty well carried the team. Three brothers, Elmer, Dick and Butch were very athletic and played a lot of ball and hockey. Elmer, the oldest, had played on the St. Jacobs team when they won the All Ontario rural senior championship in 1936. Dick played for years for the Elmira intermediate team and Butch went on to play Junior A and for the KW Dutchmen and he was on the Olympic team at Squaw Valley. He was drafted by the New York Rangers but turned the offer down because of religious beliefs involving Sunday hockey playing. I often wonder how he would have fared as a pro. I think he would have done very well. In church league I played on a line with Willie Martin and Mel Bauman. They usually scored the goals and I tried to feed the puck to them. We had good times together. Another social activity that I remember took place in the big house in St. Jacobs which is now the Village Manor run by Wes and Deb and is the house right beside Phil and Julia. Freeman and Mary Gingrich and family lived here and Freeman liked classical music and he wanted to do something for the youth of the church so periodically we were invited to Freeman's for an evening of listening to his classical records. Freeman also liked to show off his house and it was a beauty. It originally belonged to one of the original Snider family that started the mill in St. Jacobs and to EWB Snider, the Hydro pioneer. There was a lot of ornate woodwork, stained glass windows and lots of rooms full of beautiful furniture. Freeman

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was in the cheese business and we always got something to eat, often cheese and crackers! We always enjoyed these parties and are indebted to Freeman's generosity. Speaking of Freeman, he was a man of vision and had a real sense of mission. He tried a career of teaching but this was not his cup of tea and he started selling cookies and cheese. He travelled around the countryside, especially to farms, and developed quite a route, finally just concentrating on the cheese business and opening markets in Hamilton and Guelph. I remember after I was married I sold cheese for Freeman at the Guelph market. I especially remember driving this big, new, black Chrysler. I felt pretty important behind that wheel and every Saturday I picked up Menno Horst at 6 a.m. with a load of cheese and drove to the Guelph market. I would be quite tired by mid afternoon but there always were more chores to do at home. In my childhood I remember a few deaths that made quite an impression on me. A young Carson boy lived where George Ritters live now and I think he was six years old and I believe it was in the month of March and the ice on the river was just breaking up. I think he was walking with another boy near the railway bridge and he wandered down the bank and fell in and drowned. His body was not found until several weeks later. That was very sad. His father worked in the office of the Felt Factory in St. Jacobs. Tilman Martin, an old order Mennonite boy, died of leukemia and I remember seeing him dressed in white garb in a black coffin as was their custom. Daniel Brubacher, another old order, died of a ruptured appendix. I know when growing up we all feared disease, illness, and surgery especially in the days before many of our antibiotics were available. In those days we often had pains, real or imagined, and we feared the outcome and really worried. We did not have the facilities to keep food refrigerated and maintain some of the stricter health standards we have today.

Another sad case involved a very promising, intelligent young boy destined to become a great hockey player by the name of Jimmy Hoelscher. He was accidentally killed by a shotgun in the hands of an older chum. That was very unfortunate and very sad. We had a neighbour by the name of Harry Diebel and his wife Agnes. They had a cute little girl called Patsy. They were very poor and we did not know until much later that Harry had a drink problem. They moved to a small farm at Zuber's Corners and had a baby boy. One night while the family was at a Christmas Concert in West Montrose, Henry went drinking in Elmira, drove back, hit a tree and was instantly killed. We grieved with the family.

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Memories 16 More memories keep drifting back from my childhood and early youth days. I have talked about the old barn that was located on the front of our property facing the highway and it was torn down and replaced by a new barn built in 1933. Where the old barn had been became a nice flower garden that my mother took great pride in. It produced beautiful flowers such as gladioli, daffodils, asters, zinnias, petunias and pansies. As a young lad I worked in the field and garden quite a bit. I felt quite grown up, when I could cultivate or scuffle as we called it, harrow and even plough with Geordie using our one horse equipment. I also remember one very hot summer in the mid-thirties which made an impression on me. We had neighbours on the south side of our land who also owned a small farm by the name of Burgess - Rose, Clara and Norbert. None of them were married and Norbert was quite physically disabled so it was the women, primarily Rose, who had to run the farm. It was in the middle of the Depression and on occasion unemployed men would come around looking for work. I remember this one man who was hoeing for them one day in the blazing sun and Rose brought him water and a little lunch and he sat down and rested and started to cry. I guess he was so emotionally involved in his situation - unemployed, very hot, not used to farm work - that he just broke down. I have talked about our market days selling eggs, fruit, vegetables, etc. I remember one customer who I think lived on Stanley Street in Kitchener and bought eggs from us on a regular basis. During the Depression some funds were made available to the poor in the form of relief money. Our customer, whose name was Wettlaufer, had to use this money and it was a very embarrassing situation for him because in those days people had a real pride in working and providing for their families. Some years later when I started league bowling at the YMCA I saw this man working at the desk. Another memory from market days was stopping at

the Palladium restaurant in Kitchener. We sometimes delivered purchases their buyer had made and we would go to the back door. I well remember the back of a restaurant is different than the front even as it is to this day. I remember the huge tops of the stoves where they prepared things like bacon and eggs. I also remember the occasional time that we went into the restaurant for a piece of pie or ice cream. Another thing that comes to mind from my High School was our school cheer – ‘Themistocles, Meltiades, Pelopennesian War, X Squared, Y Squared, 2HO SO4, the French book, the Latin book and the History, Elmira, Elmira on to victory!’ When I was in Grade 13, one of the subjects I took was a combined course of Zoology & Botany and I remember learning about the human brain and remembering the names Cerebrum and Cerebellum. The five years going to EDSS were very good years. I enjoyed school and still like to browse through the five Year Books that I have from the years 1939-44. It was an adjustment moving from the classroom to business and industry. I turned eighteen in Sept. of 1944 and have already talked about some of the early years working at Burns but I can think of a few more. Ball and hockey took up a lot of my spare time as I have already indicated and being involved in these sports gave me the opportunity to meet a lot of other young people. This then meant getting to do other things too. We also had a church activity called Fireside which took place at various churches following the regular evening service. Many young people attended this special service which usually had some rousing singing led by Pastor Sorley. Of course, we always had to go to a restaurant after, usually Roy's Lunch, a very popular place for ‘boy meets girl’. Another restaurant that was very popular was Harmony Lunch in Waterloo but it was not open on Sundays and it was mostly where just the male gang

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would go. Mel and I went there many times during our youth and I believe a hamburger and mild shake cost twenty-five cents. During those years movies were forbidden by the church and even bowling was frowned on but Mel and I got involved with a few of these things that were on the black list. When you think of some of the mild Western shows starring Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and Abbott & Costello that we watched it is almost amusing. Chesley Lake was in its early years and I got there a number of times. I remember one time a few of us guys went there one summer for a few days holiday. I believe the twins, Ian & Mahlon Shantz, Red Ziegler and I went and I think it was August but was it ever cold, too cold for swimming and I think about all we did was play volleyball. I also learned surfboard riding at Chesley Lake. Cleason Horst, Vernon Sauder & Lewis Sauder all had girl friends or wives by the name of Erma and they also had a boat which of course they named Erma. I enjoyed getting on the surfboard and was challenged to get out of the water wake and go in a long circle and also ride and jump the waves. This was before the days of life jackets. If you fell in you had to swim - literally sink or swim. I got to know Dick Martin through sports and went with him to a couple of big league football games in Toronto or Hamilton. I also chummed with Francis Brubacher going to sports activities, skating, hockey & ball games, shows, etc. After Mel started dating Leeta I branched out to other fellows and was quite sports and socially involved. Francis got a boat and I remember one fishing trip we took to Manitoulin Island. The lakes we fished on were Lake Kagawong and Lake Mindemoya but if there were any fish in the lakes we left them there except for a few small sun fish.

He also had a motorcycle and I had a few rides on it but I never did get to own a motorcycle. I guess it kept me busy to operate a car on my salary. I also learned to roller skate when I was around eighteen or nineteen. The first time I went roller skating was at an arena in Cambridge (Galt). I think I had a few spills but did not get any broken bones and really got to enjoy it and just like ice skating somehow I got involved with couples skating. Skating parties were often a part of church activities but sometimes a group got together and ended up at a house, often at the John Horst place, for hot chocolate & hot dogs. Sometimes we would skate on the river if it was hard frozen and clear. When the arenas with their artificial ice became available it meant we could skate almost any time.

At Chesley Lake with L-R Mahlon Shantz, Red Ziegler, Len Bowman & Ian Shantz

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Memories 17 I am writing this page after taking Victor (Phil's dog) for a walk on the mill race and it is early in March and most of the snow has disappeared. Phil's dog is a Schnauzer, three years old, but unfortunately he has gone completely blind and so relies heavily on his senses of sound and smell. He is good on a leash and enjoys the walks. Spring is in the air and this reminds me of years ago when I would try to find the first pussy willows, back near the dam. Spring is also the season of Easter. I recall during the Depression we would colour our white eggs using an onion skin solution which made the eggs brown. Later on when we had a little more money we would buy Easter egg colouring and then we made eggs of different bright colours and sometimes we had transfers we put on or put our names on by first writing them with wax. Eggs were a real symbol of Easter and even eating them was almost a contest. I remember as a boy we often asked each other at church, “How many eggs did you eat?” Later we started getting Easter baskets with a variety of goodies in them, even chocolate bunnies or chickens. We had to search for our own basket and then enjoy the sweets and sometimes tooth-aches. April 1 is still considered April Fool's Day but not nearly as much is made of it as in former years. I remember my Dad telling us an April Fool's Day story which involved John Brown who was our hired man when I was a toddler. Apparently my Dad had a big stuffed rabbit which he put beside a tree in the orchard and when John saw this rabbit he got the shot gun and was ready to shoot until my Dad said ... “April Fool’s!” I know my Dad always tried to fool us kids and his fellow workers on April 1. Another memory that came back to me while I was out walking involved the Horst family. I was often there and sometimes was invited to stay for Sunday suppers which I enjoyed. The Horst family was very musical and the four boys played a variety

of instruments including accordion, mandolin, violin, guitar and mouth organ. The girls often played piano. My contribution was made by listening to this variety of music being produced. One time Mel told me, “I bet you don't know what the name of this song is that we will play.” I surprised them all when they had finished playing by correctly identifying it as the Tavern Waltz. Memories keep coming back of my childhood but I think I will move on towards my trip out West in 1947. I had worked at Burns for almost three years and was getting itchy, ready for a change. I had to work nights every third week and sometimes very long hours and only got fifty cents a night extra and I felt I was missing out on a lot of sports and social activities. I thought I would like to travel and a saying that was often heard was... ‘Go West, young man, go West!’ I had quite a few friends including Milton Eby. We got talking and planning and decided that maybe we could drive out West, do some work and keep on the move. Milt had a 1934 Chevrolet and we got serious about taking a trip to the West. Milt had a brother, Ivan, who worked out in Guernsey, Saskatchewan for several years and also was engaged to a girl by the name of Irene Weber and was planning to get married in the fall. Ivan was also in the process of building a house for Clarence Burkhardt and would be able to give work to Milt. I didn't know what kind of work there would be for me but I was willing to take a chance. I handed in my notice at Burns in late June of 1947 and we left for the West at the end of June, arriving in the community of Guernsey in early July. The car served us well on the trip and we just followed the map and took some pictures which I still have, Portage La Prairie, road conditions, etc. We couldn't believe the main road in some areas, not paved, deep ruts, and not many cars. We arrived at Guernsey right at conference

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time at the Sharon Mennonite Church which meant there were people there from churches in Alberta and Montana. Beatrice says the young girls all wanted to have a good look at Ivan's brother. So all the attention was on Milt and Elmer was in the background. He just came along with Milt. Ivan only needed one man to help build the house so I had to look elsewhere. Ralph Hawes owned a small farm in western terms but he did a lot of carpenter work on the side. He said he would give me work for the summer if I promised to stay until the harvest was completed. I agreed to this arrangement and had a real good summer working for Ralph. We got along real well and sometimes I thought we were cast out of the same mold. I started a routine of farm work which included doing chores twice a day, field work with the tractor, chopping, garden work, and hauling grain to the elevators. The first week we brought in some alfalfa done up in long heavy sheaves for cutting. That job was very strenuous and almost did me in. I also did some stooking for Alf Hawes and I wasn't sure if it was grain or Sow Thistle that I was trying to stook. I also stooked grain for Dave Rosenberger for two solid weeks by myself. It was quite a feeling stooking by fork in this vast space wondering if you are making any headway. Ralph and I had lots in common. I was almost 21 and he was almost 25. In fact we both celebrated those birthdays the summer

of 1947. We sometimes went to movies and to Manitou Beach for swimming or roller skating. We both were single and free but ready to pursue romance should the occasion avail itself. It was a busy and interesting summer full of activities and social and church events. I got to know some of the young guys and one weekend five of us decided to go to the Regina fair. Gerry Rosenberger, Orville Snyder, John Knoll (from Elmira), Milt Eby and I went. We weren't the tamest five but had a good outing which included one flat tire. The Angus Eby family lived on a farm in the Drake area and had a small house for a large family. It was a very poor house with no conveniences but the Ebys were very hospitable and would often entertain or have the young people in. The young people would sometimes go down to Manitou Lake for an outing. My first introduction to this salt water lake was quite interesting. I had never swum in water that keeps you afloat but also I had never experienced the stinging eyes and mouth that the salt water gives. It was fun to go down the slides and also to swing on the ropes.

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1947 – heading West with Milt in his 34 Chev on a challenging road

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Doing chores at Ralph’s farm

Regina Trip – L-R Milt Eby, John Knoll, Gerry Rosenberger, Orval Snider

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Working on the prairie

My boss Ralph Hawes

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Memories 18 One Saturday night a bunch of young people went up to Humboldt. During those years the stores were all open for business, including grocery stores. We were walking along on the sidewalk and Ray Burkhart looked down and noticed his shoes did not match; in fact, I think one was brown and the other one was black. Those were more or less somewhat care free days. We often went in to Guernsey on a Saturday evening and walked the board walk which was the sidewalk, perhaps indulging in an ice cream cone and keeping our eyes open for a pretty girl. Guernsey was a much more active little hamlet in 1947 than it is now. There were a couple of grocery stores, grain elevator, garage, post office, town hall, Chinese restaurant, bowling alley and a hotel. The town served a fairly wide community which included mostly farmers. There also was a curling rink there. When you went to Guernsey, chances were you would know most or many of the people there and, like many small communities, a visit to town was a chance to socialize. The standard of education in the province of Saskatchewan was high and I was really amazed with the fact that even in the mid forties many young people went on to higher education either by correspondence or by attending colleges or universities and ending up in a profession. Ray Burkhart, who mixed up his shoes, went on to become an engineer. There were teachers, nurses, social workers, ministers and others that had their roots in the Guernsey community. The first month that I worked for Ralph was a month of becoming acquainted with the daily work chores, the Hawes family, the church, and the community. There were a lot of young people at Sharon Mennonite Church and I got to know most of the young

fellows and even some of the girls. I was only there a few weeks when one young girl in particular caught my eye and it was her bright beautiful eyes and a nice smile that attracted me to her. I saw her standing on the steps of the Sharon church on a Sunday morning and decided to ask her for a date after the service that evening. I had a friend, Willis Weber, who lived across the road from Ralph and he agreed to ask Blanche Rosenberger for a date and he also had the car. My date was Beatrice Biehn and she was seventeen while I was a mature twenty going on twenty-one (ahem). It was a beautiful evening out there on the lone prairie. One thing we will always remember about that first date is that we stopped at the school yard and went on the teeter totters. You know, this first date resulted in more dates that summer and when the summer ended the letters went from East to West and vice versa and this romance culminated in our marriage October 6, 1951. Back to the summer of 1947. It was a good summer. Social activities reach their peak during the summer months, especially back in those days. Beatrice had an uncle, Clem Snyder, who had a beautiful farm which also was the Experimental Farm and once a year they had a big field day which attracted people from a big area and they had their program and activities and of course lots of food and a great time to socialize. There were school picnics and field days which included ball games and other sports activities and food. The young people from church also had quite a few activities which brought people together and it was at some of these events that I became more attracted to my future wife. I have mentioned Manitou Lake and certainly that was a place many of us went to. One night we went to the indoor swimming pool and it was raining heavily and water came through the roof and

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soaked some of the clothes and even filled the shoes with water. I don’t remember if it was this night that we had an awful time on the way home. Those roads were not paved and the alkali made a gumbo out of the dirt roads and we were slipping and sliding all over in the dark and in the ditch and were in quite a mess when we finally got home. Gerald Rosenberger worked for years and, in fact, lived with his uncle Dave Rosenberger. Gerry and I were good friends, interested in many of the same things such as sports activities, driving around and social activities. A few years later Gerry came down to Waterloo and worked where my dad worked at Snyder’s Furniture and would often spend time at our place and said he was looking for a girl. One Sunday a bunch of us were at Bea's place and they had a big wind mill to generate power for lights, etc. We were young and daring and climbed up quite high on this tower. I believe I have a snap of this event. I'm not sure if it was this time or not that I left my hat at Aaron Biehn's place; anyway, Bea's dad kidded me a few days later and said I have an excuse to come back. I did come back a number of times during August and September but I also encountered a little obstacle. As was the case almost every summer, car loads of Easterners would travel West to help with the Harvest, spending a few weeks in Saskatchewan, then moving on to Alberta and maybe travelling for a few weeks before heading home. Well, 1947 was no exception and on September 12 one of these Easterners took Beatrice to a movie that night along with another couple. I didn't blame Bea for going because our romance was still in its infancy. She says she didn't really enjoy it and I guess I was a little disappointed because Sept. 12, 1947 was

my 21st birthday. A happy ending though... we did kiss and make up. My buddy, Milt, also started checking the young ladies and became somewhat enamored with a girl by the name of Agnes, or Aggie, and she had the same surname that he had. This romance petered out for awhile but later became reactivated and also resulted in marriage for Milt and Agnes Eby. She was a teacher and later a nurse for a number of years. Her one daughter, Linda, Mrs. Charles Kruger, lives across the street from us. Yes, the summer of 1947 was a good summer. Milt and I spent three months at Guernsey and in September Ivan (Milt's brother) and Irene Eby got married and we were able to attend. We had promised to stay in Guernsey until the harvest was completed and we did manage to get it all done by September 30. We made arrangements to travel further west, going by train because Milt sold his 1934 Chev to Ivan. We bought a train ticket which would take us to Saskatoon, on out through Alberta, B.C., through the Rockies, down the western U.S.A, through the southern states to the Gulf of Mexico, up to Chicago, on to London, Ontario and home with about thirty dollars left. There was lots of time to contemplate, to fondly remember my last date with Bea and to write many letters.

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Sharon Mennonite Church, Guernsey, Saskatchewan – where I asked Beatrice for our 1st date

1947 – Leaving the West, heading South

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Memories 19

When I got back home I thought about the summer of 1947 with fond memories. I had a very good place to work and a very good boss in Ralph Hawes. We had lots of good discussions and since we were both single we had time for social outings too. I appreciated the people and got to know many of them quite well. I grew to really like the prairies. Some people drive through and say everything is flat and there is nothing to see. I enjoyed the drier climate, the wind, the sunsets, the quiet, the peaceful feeling, the prairie rose, the sloughs, the ducks and geese, the slower pace, the sky, the space. It was the time and place to meet the girl of my dreams.

I also had time to reflect on the trip Milt and I took by train through the Rockies, to the coast and through the U.S.A. The train was one of the most modern and fastest of that time. We got off at different places and could board the train at any time. We did stop off at Los Angeles, San Francisco and New Orleans. I remember taking a taxi in San Francisco and being very impressed by the height of the city and curving around the narrow winding streets, seeing Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. I recall the long drive through Arizona and Texas, seeing the desert, cacti and other sights. When we got to New Orleans it was very hot and humid. Milt was wearing a fairly heavy shirt and for some reason he broke out with a big red rash. We had a hotel room for the night but he was very uncomfortable and the next day we got on the train heading for Chicago. The rash gradually disappeared and we were glad when the train was heading for London and then on to home.

After a few days of rest and

contemplation, I knew that I needed to look for work. I checked around and took a job at People's store on King Street in Kitchener. It was a store somewhat like Woolworths or Zellers, only smaller. I did some of the receiving and stocking shelves. I really did not like the work and started to keep my eyes open for something else. I remember a few things from my approximately three months at People's store. A young fellow living in St. Jacobs, Ken Weber, worked at a shoe store just down the street from where I worked and often during the noon hour we would shoot a game of pool. I think he always beat me but I kept trying. I worked at the store from Nov. 1947 to early Feb. 1948 and I think it was that winter there was a big fire that destroyed a big dance hall on Queen Street which was not too far from People's store. One morning in early February I was cleaning the front store windows and Elmer Hergott, a man I had worked with in the shipping office at Burns Meats, walked by and I asked him how busy they were and he said they were quite busy and were looking for more help. It didn't take me very long to go out to Burns and talk to the office manager, George Knechtel, to see if they would hire me back. He said they would give me my former job back if I promised not to go on another Wild West trip. So I was back at Burns in February 1948 and stayed there until June 1984 when the plant ceased operations and officially closed down, I believe, in November of 1984.

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Beatrice Biehn – my girlfriend

Courting days – in front of Bea’s house

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Memories 20

It did not take me very long to get back to routine at Burns Meats Ltd. I still had my Model A Ford and used it to commute back and forth to work and also to drive my folks for the occasional outings and to get the groceries, etc. I did not like the night shift at Burns which I had to take every third week and sometimes more often if someone was on holidays or was sick. Clarence Hallman (Shorty) was the boss and a few of the other fellows I worked with were Al Tanner, Elmer Hergott, Jim O'Rourke, Harold Dobson, and Grant Yandt. There were many more in the years I was there and the list would be long and would include many short term, long term, vacation help and others.

I sent Beatrice a few cards while Milt and I were travelling home and then I started writing letters and eagerly awaited my first letter from her. In due course it arrived and our letter writing started in late 1947 and continued until she came for our wedding day October 6, 1951. Many letters flowed back and forth and we have retained these letters to this day. In the last year or two we have read these letters again and they have brought back many pleasant memories. They have brought to mind people and events of almost fifty years ago and impressed on us the passage of time and also the rich value of memories.

Beatrice did not come East the first winter we were separated but she did come down the next three winters to attend Bible School from which she graduated in the spring of 1951. She has retained her Year Books from these years which help her to remember some of the people and events of her time at Bible School. I believe it was the first winter that she

was down she worked at Galt Towels before school started and really got to know the three Wismer sisters, two of whom worked there too. In fact, she got to know them so well that she had them sing at our wedding. On a few occasions, Bea's parents came down for the winter or at least part of the winter. One time they rented a cabin from a Mr. Nafziger on the Old Highway 8 for the winter. The three winters Bea was down meant we could be together quite a bit rather than do our courting by writing. We would be at our place quite a bit and also would visit Bea's uncles and aunts and their families. We had many good times, good meals and good fellowship with the families of Clayt Eby, Ivan, Lloyd, and Sylvanus Shantz. Beatrice and I also enjoyed some social activities and she got to know the Abner Good and John Horst extended families, just to mention two. She felt welcomed by quite a few people at our church and both in our courtship and early marriage days we became friends with Nelson Horst & Helen, Lloyd & Gladys and others. Bea and I enjoyed doing things together: skating, hockey games, driving and parties. The winters were always too short and then we would be back to writing letters. When Bea was back home in the West I, of course, kept on working and continued with my active participation in ball and hockey and also going to sports events, movies, etc. I was still at home too so I helped with various projects on our little farm. As money became a little more plentiful we spent time and effort in home improvements: new roof, painting, water to the barn & house, changed the old smokehouse into a garage and just generally made things more presentable. I also got interested in getting chicks and raised them to sell the roosters and kept the

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pullets for laying eggs. Quite often my mother and I would dress ten or twelve chickens and I would take them to the Burns office and sell them.

I enjoyed these projects and had visions of some day going into business but I guess it was better this way. I really don't know if I ever really made a profit at my chickens but it was a good experience and kept me busy. I would establish a routine on Saturday mornings when I would usually sleep in, then go and do the business like getting the feed for our farm, get the groceries and whatever other business and often by mid afternoon get ready to do some leisure activity. Like I mentioned before, I kept busy with my job, letter writing, sports and social activities, my chores around the farm, driving the folks and church activities. My church work was not as involved as it would become later on but I was fairly active in the social events connected with the church, such as arranging and planning parties for newlyweds.

I think it was in 1949 or 195O that I went back out West for a vacation. I really enjoyed getting back to the area I had enjoyed so much in 1947 and, of course, spending time together with my future wife. The time was too short but it was great to be out again on the lone prairie although this time it was not alone. Our courtship remained intact except for one brief interval when things were a little uncertain but the romance resumed and became even stronger. We, of course, had exchanged birthday gifts since we went steady but the gift that sealed our engagement was when I gave Beatrice a cedar chest which still is in excellent condition. This, of course, meant making plans for our wedding. We had to decide many things, such as where, when, attendants, etc. and all by

written correspondence. No e-mail or faxes then, and we didn't even use the phone. It seems long distance phoning was only done in times of emergency or in dire straits as it was too expensive. I mentioned the letters we have saved and much of our planning for the wedding is recorded there. Since we have read the letters, we are amazed at how things worked out in light of the time frame. It seems we left some of our major decisions until quite late in the planning and with everything done by mail we were fortunate it all worked out so well. The harvest was quite late in 1951 and Beatrice and her folks did not get down until a few days before the wedding. It is pleasant to think back to October 6, 1951. We of course have our wedding photo and snapshots of our wedding and our honeymoon. These were the times before colour photography but that does not mean things were drab and dull. The weather was grey and cool after a week of sunny and actually hot days. The rain held off until late in the evening of our wedding day. We decided to get married at St. Jacobs Mennonite church and we invited about 75 guests. Roy Koch was the minister and Mae Snyder was maid of honour and Francis Brubacher was best man. The Wismer girls sang and the ushers were Clayton Sauder & Clayt Jewitt. It was a nice wedding and I thank God for giving me a beautiful wife who has stood at my side these many years.

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My bride & I cutting the wedding cake

Leaving on our honeymoon

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Memories 21 We chose the Old Mill restaurant for our wedding dinner and were quite pleased with the location and service. After the meal we went out to Mae's parents’ farm, Earl & Velma Snyder, for the reception. They did an outstanding job hosting this event. Tilman Horst drove us to our car which we had parked at a pre-arranged garage and then we were on our honeymoon. We stayed in Guelph and Orillia on our way to Algonquin Park where we had made reservations for a cabin on Oxtongue Lake. The weather had turned cool and most of the coloured leaves had fallen and the place, while pretty, did not have the comforts of a motel suite. We do have some snapshots ranging from the burnt toast and boating on the lake to seeing many deer close up and of course I had my dear close up too. We had our first apartment on the corner of Cedar & Duke Streets in Kitchener. It was an upstairs three room apartment and we had to share the bath with a couple who lived downstairs. I had acquired some of the furnishings earlier like the fridge, chesterfield set, bedroom set, etc. We did not really like the apartment too well because it was upstairs, it was cold and the couple downstairs smoked heavily and sometimes had parties that lasted almost all night. They operated a coffee shop on the corner of King & Cedar and had lots of weird hours. In spite of the situation, however, we did some entertaining in the first year of our marriage and continued going to church in St. Jacobs. We bought a 1952 blue Pontiac and planned a trip out West in the summer following our marriage. We invited Allan & Laura Schiedel to go along because Guernsey had been her home too. Beatrice was pregnant and one

thing we remember was that Allan Schiedel liked ice cream and would buy it for all of us on many occasions. One time it was warm and raining but here he came, smiling away, with four cones dripping ice cream. Poor Beatrice could hardly look at ice cream any more, especially in her condition. We had a nice vacation and when we got back we started to seriously look for other accommodation. There was a real shortage of housing at this time but one day we checked at a site where they were finishing some apartments on Rosedale Avenue in Kitchener, on the corner of Rosedale & Ottawa streets, not too far from the Kitchener auditorium. We talked with Mr. Hummel who was the builder and owner and were fortunate to get an apartment that was just being finished. What a pleasant change! We really liked this brand new suite with our own bathroom and privacy. We rented a garage next door for our car and I continued working at Burns but soon got off the night shift which was really nice. Allan was born on December 4, 1952 and changes took place, including many diaper changes. John Hummel was so thrilled that our baby was the first born in his apartment and that it was a boy and they presented us with a gift. Beatrice's brother, Don, came down East that winter and stayed with us and worked at Bauer in Waterloo. He has not been down East since that time. The rent we were paying was quite high and, while we really liked the apartment, we were driving to St. Jacobs for church. In fact, Paul Swarr asked me to teach Sunday School and I was getting more involved with church activities and still liked ball and hockey and Beatrice was quite isolated so we started thinking about moving back to St. Jacobs. We found out that John Warkentin might be interested in selling his house which had an extra lot facing Queen Street. It was a small house with small bedrooms and only had two closets in the whole house and there was no bathroom but we were young and had to make our own decisions and we

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decided to buy it. The house was close to church and school and we had good neighbours and we stayed in this house until March 1962 when we moved into our present house which we had built by Menno S Martin on the lot that was our garden. But back to our little compact house. Having to deal with an outhouse was a challenge especially in the winter. I usually emptied the pail under cover of darkness and was fortunate we had a big garden in the back where I could dig a big hole. Somehow or other we still managed to do our share of entertaining and I remember one time we had Paul Lederach, a young, prominent minister from the States as a special speaker at our church and we had him as an overnight guest. I cringed as he made quite a few trips to our little outhouse in our back shanty. I also felt sorry for Beatrice who had to do the washing downstairs but had to carry the hot water down from upstairs and also had to hang all the wash outside, even in the winter. Just before Phil was born in 1956 we got a bathroom installed halfway upstairs above the back shanty and we really appreciated this addition with a bathtub and hot water. We had a big garden but gradually we began to increase the size of our lawn and decrease our garden. There was so much work and we were busy with our various activities. After I finally quit playing ball and hockey, I got into coaching both of these and I often took the boys along. We had a cherry tree out front which really produced until we chopped it down and we had four apple trees which meant a lot of work until I cut two of them down to enlarge my lawn. It was easier to mow lawn than it was to pick and process fruit. One year I thought I could raise pigs so I rented space in the barn at Emerson

Martin’s and bought some sows and they had their litters. This project became a real chore and didn't really fit in with my office work and this barn is where we discovered Phil had an asthmatic problem. After about a year I sold the sows and probably did not make a profit but it was a learning experience. One other project I tried was selling cheese for Freeman Gingrich at the Guelph market. Freeman's health was not too good so I got to drive his big black Packard with a load of cheese and I would pick up Menno Horst at 6 a.m. and go to the market and come home about 2 p.m. I would be tired but then we still had to shop or do outside work or both and probably study Sunday School lessons late at night and teach the next day. Both Phil and Steve were born while we lived at the small house and as they got bigger we realized we would need more space. We did a lot of thinking and planning on how we could expand our house but we were limited pretty well on all sides. It was a deep but narrow lot and we finally decided we had to move.

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Memories 22 I want to relate a few incidents relating to our sons while we were living in the small house. Allan didn't talk until he was two years old except for two words... “whas da?” meaning “what's that?” But when he was two the words and questions just flowed. When Allan was about one and a half he fell or climbed out of his crib onto his bottle. He cut himself and was all bloody and needed many stitches. Not too long after he was asked to come over to Ray Brubacher’s to play with their older children and didn't he fall again on the cement steps, requiring a few more stitches. Allan and Gerald (Jerry Sauder) were great pals and would play by the hour from early childhood. Jerry would be at our place early in the morning, go home for meals and be back until Allan had to go to bed, even staying to listen to the bed time stories Beatrice read to them and then pitter patter up the sidewalk to their house at the end of the block. I remember one trip we took to Pennsylvania with Lloyd & Gladys & Ron who was about four and Allan who was two years old. We were invited to a retired professor's place who never had any children and everything was so proper. It was a very hot day and the dining room was set up so nice and neat and the boys always wanted a drink out of the beautiful glassware. We really didn’t relax until we were on the road again. One time we were at Chesley Lake with Lloyd & Gladys and after the service in the Chapel one Sunday morning we went down to the lake on the dock at Ray Brubacher’s and Allan, all dressed up, just kept walking and, of course, fell into the water and got a real soaking. I mentioned before when I was raising pigs down at Emerson Martin's barn and Phil started wheezing and we realized he was asthmatic. This was

confirmed when we had Mike, a beautiful Springer Spaniel that I got from a fellow worker at Burns. Mike was well trained and a great dog but Phil's asthma just did not let us keep him in the house so reluctantly we had to give him to someone else. When Phil was quite young, he and Allan were downstairs after Beatrice was doing the laundry and Allan lifted the hose with hot water and unfortunately Phil was right there and got badly scalded on the chest. It was a bad burn and created problems and scars for a long time. While we were building our new house and the cribbing had been taken off the foundation, I had Phil with me and was talking to Dan Kramer when Phil fell off the wall and hit his arm on a wooden crosspiece and broke his arm. I rushed him to the hospital and the arm was put into a cast and was checked after three weeks only to discover it was healing crooked necessitating the doctor to rebreak and reset it again. The arm never was quite the same as the other one although it did not prevent him from being very involved in sports. Steve was also born while we were in the small house although he was only a year and a half when we moved into the big house. In fact, on moving day, Lorraine Martin, now Mrs. Roy Bauman, did the babysitting for him that day. Steve, at a very early age, took a great interest in animals which is reflected today in his farm with ponies, sheep, lamb, chicks and kittens. He could happily occupy himself by the hour playing with his animals and using his imagination. The boys all had their friends and once they started school, it was close by and we also had it very handy to go to church. These were busy years and Beatrice had her hands full looking after the three boys and not having all the modern conveniences that we have today: Washer & Dryer, Freezer, Microwave and TV. We still did quite a bit of entertaining and often Bea's parents would be down for quite a length of time and other times her Dad would come down, often times

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unannounced. With our busy schedules of work and church and school and community our days were very busy. We also were invited out quite a bit and enjoyed the fellowship of friends. I got quite involved in church activities and before I was thirty I was teaching Sunday School, served as S.S. Superintendent, was Chairman of Men's Fellowship, served a number of years on Church Council and was involved in other committees. Later, I served a term on the Home & School Association and also a term as School Trustee on the Woolwich Board during the time additions were being put on a number of schools, including the St. Jacobs School. These meetings, both church and community, were quite demanding both in time and energy because I still was teaching S.S. on a regular basis and had my regular job to do as well as the outside work around the house. We were busy but occasionally we could enjoy little trips and outings. We sometimes just had a little picnic on a blanket by the riverside or took a drive in the country. The times were different because we felt quite comfortable to let the boys wander around town or back to the bush. At a fairly early age Allan & Jerry would go down to the flats and come home with a pail full of frogs or some other interesting creatures. Later they also went to the bush and worked on building a fort back there. The boys would carve their initials on trees and much later in life revisit these spots. St. Jacobs still had its factories operating, never dreaming of becoming the tourist village that it is today. There was a lot of freedom for the children and they played in great numbers. It

was not unusual to see a dozen children in our back yard and it didn't matter what season it was. It could be building a snow fort, going to the maple sugar bush, hide & seek, biking, roller skating, flying a kite, fishing or collecting insects. In October of 1961 excavation took place in our back garden for the house we now live in. We had a contract price of $15,000 from Menno S Martin to build a four bedroom house. It was a winter project and by March 1962 we were ready to move in and we stayed within the price although there were a few items we had to finish later. For awhile we used an old rabbit pen for our back porch. We did not have a cement floor in the garage nor sidewalks and the room painting had to be done later too. We did have space, lots of it, and lots of closets. We were overwhelmed by the space and it took us a year to adjust even though we just moved to our back garden. We questioned whether we should have moved. We liked our little house so much and we asked ourselves whether it was good stewardship to have such a nice big house with one and a half baths and mahogany trim. We gradually did get acclimatized.

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Killaloe Fishing Trip – L-R Merv Shantz, Lewis Sauder, Cleason Horst, myself. Host was Nels Getz who took the picture

My staff at Burns Meats

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Memories 23 Today is August 4, 1997, Civic Holiday. I have not written anything for several months because the summer has been very busy. Aaron Michael, born May 13 this year, gave us the opportunity to be out in Ottawa for almost two weeks and then the Ruby family also has been in here twice keeping us all busy. This morning I went for an early morning bike ride and got inspired to start writing again. It was a beautiful morning, a little cool but quite refreshing. Peter Brubacher has a field of mixed grain all stooked by fork, Melvin Martin has a young colt cavorting about in the pasture field and also a big bunch of ducks getting fattened up ready for Thanksgiving. The corn is really growing and starting to get tassels at the top. The woodpiles are ready and the flowers are really colourful. All this reminds us that the summer is moving on and soon the autumn season will be here. I biked to the Heidelberg road and then back the Mill Race seeing some of the regular walkers, Elmer Hills, Ross Shantz, Oscar Martin and Norman Martin plus a few others. I was back by 10 a.m. but then I had a problem getting into the Word Perfect program on my computer. I called Allan but he was not at home and Phil tried to help over the phone and his one idea of a list on the Windows program helped. I punched in the accessories item and got Word Perfect. I talked about moving into our new house in March 1962. We did all our own landscaping and gradually over the years we got the painting done and a cement floor in the garage, steps at the back and sidewalk slabs put in. We had a small garden and planted flowers and shrubs and trees and we started to feel more at home. Linda Susan was born on June 1O, 1963.

We had her name picked out before the boys were born. She was named after her two Grandmas, Melinda and Susannah. We were very happy to welcome a pretty little girl into our family, a sister to her three handsome brothers. We had a picnic along with Lloyd, Gladys and family in Waterloo Park and Orville & Mabel Snyder were there too with their little baby girl, Bonnie, six weeks old. In August of that year, one day Allan & Jerry came to the door with the news that Orville was tragically killed in a threshing accident. It was a real shock as I had grown up with Orville, same age, S.S., Church, good friends. By the way, Linda was born the day after the picnic. Linda grew and did quite well although she was subject to throat and fever problems. One time she got a high fever and our Dr. Voelker was on vacation. The substitute doctor gave a prescription that didn't bring the fever down. We got very anxious and worried. We had a very sick baby. Finally we talked to Agnes Eby, a nurse, and she came and we bathed Linda in cold water and did a lot of praying and checked to see if our doctor was home. Finally we got Dr. Voelker to answer late at night. I rushed down to pick up the medication and soon Linda was on the mend. The night Agnes was there I don't think we slept a wink. Our prayers were answered and we thanked God. Linda had problems with high fevers later too but never quite like that one time.

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Memories 24 I want to reflect back on the childhood of our children. This will not necessarily be in chronological order and will no doubt move from one to the other and back again. I already mentioned that we were living at Rosedale Ave. in Kitchener when Allan was born and a year later we moved to St. Jacobs. Both Allan and Phil were born about three weeks before Christmas, although four years apart. At Rosedale, Beatrice had the modern conveniences which really helped with a newborn but we went to St. Jacobs since our church and most of our friends were up in St. Jacobs and I used the car to go to work. Allan didn't talk until he was two years old but then all the stored up information and questions started to come. He was very active and was a big boy and we probably expected too much of him at too early an age because he was big and seemed so mature. His mother tied him to the wash line for outdoor play and also for his protection. Probably today she would be charged with child abuse but he really enjoyed himself out there in the back yard. It wasn't very long before Jerry, his cousin down the block, started to come around and they spent hours playing from morning to night except for sleep and meals. As they got bigger they started making things. Allan often had the scientific ideas and Jerry had the engineering skills. Later on, Allan got interested in Chemistry and I brought some chemical apparatus home from our laboratory at Burns and Allan transformed a room upstairs into a Science Lab. We had fears that the house might blow up someday. One day, Steve swallowed some solution from Allan's laboratory and we became quite alarmed but after consulting with the doctor we discovered it was quite harmless.

In those years the boys did a lot of roving around the countryside and we felt comfortable about it. Whether it was going down to the Flats, to catch frogs and bring them home or whether it was carving initials on trees out in the bush or building a tree house back by the race, we let them enjoy this freedom but at the same time taught them safety and caution. Beatrice liked to dress up our children and many snaps were taken of them in their finery. Most of the early pictures were in black and white. I think when Linda was born we started to use colour. My folks bought Allan a nice sailor suit and I think all the boys wore it. When Allan was still in the crib for his afternoon nap he must have got up one day and climbed or fell out of the crib holding his glass milk bottle. The bottle of course smashed and Allan got cut in the forehead requiring many stitches. A few weeks later, Ray Brubacher's girls wanted him over there and didn't he fall again on the cement steps and cut his forehead, which meant more stitches. What can I say after all my early escapades and accidents? We sometimes used baby sitters but not that often because we usually took our children along whether it was church or visiting. In those years we often had company or went visiting. We were together with Lloyd and Gladys quite often, on picnics, trips or to each other's place. Ron was two years older than Allan but they did play together. Phillip was born four years after Allan and three weeks before Christmas which made it very hectic and strenuous, especially for Bea. We were thankful that we had been able to install a bathroom in our house shortly before Phil was born. This was especially so because we had two boys now and also we never knew when Bea's parents, or at least her Dad, might pop in unannounced sometimes. It soon became clear that Phil was a very social individual. He was happiest having people around and

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it didn't matter whether they were boys or girls.

One day I came home with a dog, Mike, which I got from a fellow employee at Burns. Mike was a purebred Springer Spaniel and well trained. Phil, however, really was allergic to Mike and we had to get rid of the dog. I think we already knew that Phil was asthmatic because he really reacted to the barn and pigs when he went with me to do chores when I had the sow and piglet project at Emmerson Martin's. Several times we had to take Phil to the hospital to get him relief from an asthma attack. Phil really liked to play with kids and we sometimes had over a dozen kids in our yard playing games. It soon became apparent that Phil loved sports and as the years went on he got quite involved with sports like ball and hockey. By the time Phil was born I was thinking about retiring from ball and hockey, although it took another year or so before I really could do it because I enjoyed it so much. I took on the role of coaching both ball and hockey and took the boys to many of the games even up until the time that Phil started playing Church League.

I realize now that I'm repeating some information on the boys. That is probably a result of not having written for so long. We were busy in the years when our children were growing up. I was busy at Burns, at home, church, and in the community and Beatrice had a heavy load at home with no help other than what I could do.

Steve was born almost four years after Phil and he was probably the most content baby of our family which was a real help for Bea. It soon became apparent that Steve enjoyed playing by himself with his imagination and interests. He loved to play with

animals, especially horses. He could spend hours by himself, enjoying, pretending, making animal noises, and getting great satisfaction from make believe. We are not surprised that he is on a farm with animals and three ponies for his three daughters.

Steve liked to go to his Grandpa Sauder’s to see and ride the pony or cart that Grandpa had for a number of years. This now was the real thing. Steve and Grandpa, on at least one occasion, went on a train trip. I believe it was to Sudbury. This was a real highlight for both of them.

When it came time for Steve to start school he was not all that anxious to go. He would have rather stayed home playing with his animals. We were glad that the school and church were so close to where we lived. The children could come home for lunch and we did not have to send any of them on a bus. All our children went through the eight grades at St. Jacobs Public School although Linda was the only one able to benefit with the Kindergarten as it just started when she was five.

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Memories 25

My three sons were awaiting the birth of another baby in June of 1963. We were very happy and excited when Linda was born, a sister to three brothers. I think the boys were quite excited too although when we brought our new baby home from the hospital Allan and Gerry were almost more interested in showing off the start of their tree house in the apple tree. After a quick peak at the new baby, Allan said “Mom, come out and look at our tree house.” We were now quite well settled in our new house and so we had good facilities for our four children. We were very busy and sometimes visited friends and relatives or had them to our house. We of course enjoyed dressing up our baby girl and as she grew we used the colour pink a lot. I have already mentioned her health problems, especially throat related ones, and this has continued into her adult years. Linda liked people and at a young age played with Mark Brubacher, Marcia Bauman, Bonnie Snyder and others. Our children all liked to play outside and quite often we would have a dozen or more children playing in our back yard.

I'm writing this page close to Hallowe'en time and I remember when our children would get their costumes together and go out ‘trick or treating’ and come home with piles of sweets. We often took pictures of the kids just as they were heading out to make the rounds.

Grandma Biehn came down from the West in May to help with the arrival of a new baby but then Linda was not born until June 10 and on that day Grandma was out visiting with her brother and so did not get here for a day or two. Grandma had diabetes and had lost weight and did not have the vitality she used to have so it was a real effort for

her to help much with the work. The next year she got sick with stomach problems and had no appetite and first it was diagnosed as the flu but it got no better. In the summer of 1964 Bea and the four children went out West by train and Bea did most of the work out there plus looking after the children. Allan by now was eleven and he was a big boy and helped a lot with the luggage and with Linda on the train but it still was a big undertaking. I went out later in the summer to join them and we all came back by train. By now Grandma was quite sick and we knew it was cancer and she was deteriorating rapidly.

In the summer of 1964 Steve was almost four years old and he just loved to wander around playing and pretending. There was so much space and so much to do and his mother was so busy that she couldn't keep her eye on him all the time. He had several close mishaps. One time Grandpa Biehn almost drove over him with a big stoneboat but just saw him in time. Steve also liked to play with the chains that the cows were tied up with at milking time. We feared he would choke himself. There was an old well and the dug-out we had to worry about. The tractor and animals also caused worries for his mother. Steve just loved the wide open spaces of the prairies and so it is not too surprising that he and his family have settled on a hundred acre farm with animals and lots of space to relive his childhood through his children.

We were just home for five weeks when we got word that Grandma Biehn had passed away. We were in the midst of an airline strike and so had to check on rail service. Bea and Steve left by train for the funeral. Allan & Phil were in school and Pearl came to look after Linda and the house while I worked. Aunt Serena went along out for the funeral too and they just got there on the morning of the funeral and stayed about a week and then came home, stopping off in Brandon, Manitoba to visit Uncle Floyd.

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We started family camping in 1966 with the families of Lloyd Martin, Curt Martin, Maynard Bauman and Cleason Horst. Those were good times and we carried on for many years and we and our children have fond memories of these family camping trips. The women would get together to plan the menu. I think it was about three hours of visiting and maybe a half hour to plan the menu. I usually had to supply the meat, cottage rolls and bacon. In the early days we had a large blue and orange tent and soon got air mattresses which was quite a luxury and we used sleeping bags. A few years later we bought Lloyd's tent trailer for $2OO and used it for many years.

All our children learned to water ski thanks to the fact that Cleason had a large boat with a big motor and Cleason's patience in helping each one to get on the skis. What a great feeling to get on water skis for the very first time and having all the family members clapping and joining in the excitement. Who can forget the campfires, the jokes, the kidding, the fun, the games and Lloyd leading in singing ‘There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea.’ Who can forget Lloyd and Gladys forgetting their extra clothes and having to wear the same ones? I always got teased for my skinny legs and my challenge walking barefoot over stones. Who can forget the heat, the sunburns, or all getting together in one trailer one time

when it rained? We usually camped in a different place every year.

We also did a lot of camping on our own while the children were young. I think most of the children joined in for family camping but by this time Allan was working at Home Hardware and could not always join our own family. Early in our camping days I found out about Bon Echo and we returned many times to this place because we all really liked it with its good swimming, hiking, amphitheatre, scenery, etc. Our friends liked it too and we went there for family camping too. Even today, our kids still get back there once in awhile.

We as a family took a number of major camping trips. One of the early ones was to Cape Cod. We had no reservations but were extremely fortunate to get one site. We travelled around the Cape taking in various sights, stopping at one place where fresh fish were being unloaded in a harbour into a fish factory. We enjoyed the trip but were travelling on very poor tires and after getting one flat ended up buying three new ones and we had a hard time convincing the customs officer that we needed three new tires. We stopped at Plymouth Rock on our way home and heard about the Martha's Vineyard incident involving the drowning of Ted Kennedy's girl friend. We travelled on and saw a sign with the number 3OO on it. We discovered it was 3OO miles to the border. We kept going, arriving home at 3 in the morning, tired but glad to be home.

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Our children – L-R Steve, Allan, holding Linda & Phillip

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Memories 26 One weekend we took our camping trailer up to Lions Head to visit Jim & Edith Hill and family. A bunch of the kids slept in the trailer and I think Linda was about 4 years old. The kids were trying to settle down for the night when Linda made a remark Jim's kids still remember: “Jeepers Creepers, Mom forgot my bokle!” It seems Linda still occasionally used her bottle of milk to go to sleep. We had a good time up there and went to the church service at the Missionary church. After dinner Jim remembered that it was the day for the Chi Chimaun's maiden voyage from Manitoulin Island. We hopped in his car and took the back roads up to Tobermory and I think Jim disregarded the speed limits. It was a breezy day and the ship's captain had some difficulty docking the big boat. In fact, I believe some of the nice new paint was scraped off. In 1974 we took the trailer for a trip out West. I believe it was on this trip that we stopped one night and the mosquitoes were very bad. In fact, they were so bad we had to take our food inside the trailer to eat. Of course, a few mosquitoes always get in and we had quite the time swatting them and later during the night there were still a few strays around. Phil did a good job of sound effects by imitating the actions of them and also the flies that buzzed around. I think this also was the trip we had a flat tire on the trailer near Minot, North Dakota around midnight. We did get to Guernsey and the children had quite the reaction. They had fun and still remember the wide main street, wide enough to play ball, the lack of traffic and lack of people. We camped a few miles from Guernsey and after a few days we headed towards Banff. We drove north of Banff and saw the Columbia ice

fields and the kids made a few snowballs. We did not go up to Jasper but headed south to Banff. We actually had a little snow in July because of the elevation. We also enjoyed the hot baths outside and we only kept our heads out of the water. The drive from Banff to Radium Hot Springs was a beautiful scenic drive and we saw lots of wild animals. We have photos of this trip. The pool at Radium City was very hot. We headed for Creston, Montana where we spent a little time with Wayne & Mary Lapp enjoying a picnic and times of visiting. We then headed for Yellowstone National Park, saw Old Faithful (the geyser) and travelled the winding, steep roads, more snow way up high. This I believe was also the trip of the famous ‘Red Light’. This started early in our trip. The red light, indicating a hot engine, would go on every once in awhile. We stopped at garages and thought we had the problem resolved but sure enough the light would come on again. On this trip Phil did some driving and we would hear him say “Oh no! The red light's on again.” We were tempted to cover it so we wouldn't see it. We had five people in the car pulling a trailer up mountains so the engine was really pushed but we made sure we had enough water in the radiator. We kept plugging along heading towards Chicago where we had difficulty finding a camping area. Finally, late at night, we got one and it seemed to be run and occupied by all blacks but they welcomed us and with some misgivings we set up the trailer. Early in the morning there was lots of talking and activity. It seems many of the family members from the Chicago area were joining their families at the campground. We hastily took our

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trailer down and made our exit. As we were leaving we discovered we had camped in the completely black section while nearby was the white section. We were treated well but it was an experience. Remember, this was 1974 and there still were many racial problems. This was a weekend and Phil was due back at Home Hardware for the night shift, I believe, on Sunday night so we kept driving, red light and all. It was a long drive from Chicago but we arrived home safely and breathed a sigh of relief when the car managed to hold out. The car, however, did not last long after this long, hard trip. Allan did not go on this trip because he was at the other side of the world in Australia and New Zealand and then traveling through other countries on his way home. He was gone a year and spent some of his time working in Australia and New Zealand. We also took a camping trip to the Maritimes. This time only Steve and Linda went with us. We travelled through the Gaspe and then to the Maritimes, seeing the common tourist attractions like Peggy's Cove, the Magnetic Hill, etc. We took the ferry to P.E.I. and went to Charlottetown, saw Anne of Green Gables, did some swimming and had a good camp site. Steve, Linda and I went deep sea fishing. Mother preferred staying at the campsite rather than get on the fishing boat. We caught about 25 fish with Steve getting the most and then Linda, followed by me with only 2 or 3 fish. The ship’s crew would spot a school of fish and direct us to it and when we caught a fish we would fling it into a barrel in the middle of the boat. The ship’s owners filleted the fish and asked how many we wanted. We took enough for three big fish meals. It was a good trip and we especially liked P.E.I. and I always said I'd like to go back and now with the new bridge to

the mainland it would take less time to cross than by ferry. I must go back now to 1967 the year of Expo. Allan had started to work for Home Hardware even though only 14 but he was a big boy and even stayed home alone. We camped at Mel Horst's yard and would go in every day to Montreal to visit Expo. It was a very good experience to see Expo with all the exhibits, sights and sounds. The spot for our trailer was close to the chicken house and this was not good for Phil's allergies. It was another good trip we enjoyed.

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Memories 27 The longer I worked at Burns Meats the more holidays I got until eventually I was getting 6 weeks every year. This gave us the opportunity to generally plan one family trip in addition to the one weekend of family camping. We also went church camping a few times. Areas we covered in our various camping experiences were Lake Simcoe, Miller Lake, Rondeau Park, Bon Echo, Ottawa, Silent Valley, etc. We have slides of many of these trips giving the date or year of the trip. Camping was the cheapest way for us to travel and enjoy a holiday with family and sometimes with our friends. We still refer to Cleasons, Lloyds, Maynards, Curts and Elmers as the ‘family camping’ group. In the 7O’s and early 8O’s we enjoyed a lot of good camping experiences. I must write about our Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington trip in 1971. Phil, Steve & Linda were along on this trip and we still had the famous blue and orange tent. We learned a lot and saw a lot on this trip. We travelled the beautiful road overlooking the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia and never did get the name of the place figured out at the entrance. Was it Front Royal or Royal Front? A bit like on another trip when we couldn't always remember the name Outlet Provincial Park which sometimes took on the name of ‘Outhouse’. We camped about an hour’s drive outside of Washington for safety reasons and then went in to see some of the tourist attractions such as the Museum, the Eternal Flame and a memorial to John F. Kennedy. We enjoyed the day and when we headed out towards our campsite we got caught on the ring road and went round and round. I think it was raining and Linda was crying in the back seat and we were praying and stopped to ask for directions which

really helped and we got to our tent. But, as I said, it had rained and rained and the tent did not look like a tent. It was really flat. We did survive and jotted it down as another experience. Beatrice and I hosted three students from Uganda, East Africa, who were taking the Business Administration course at the University of Waterloo. They were all married with families back home and we had them in our home for meals, took them to church and to other places of interest like the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto. We had Martin Luther Galiwango and David Mugango here in 197O-71 and Christopher Mukaso in 1972. It was a good experience for us and for them. I kept contact with Martin until the Idi Amin regime took over in Uganda and ended all contact. This year I gave the names and addresses of these men to Bob Veitch from our church who was going to Uganda and he gave the info to the M.C.C. director in Uganda. The long and short of this story is that contact has been made and once again, after all these years, I am in contact with Martin. For many years Beatrice had a pen pal from England. Her name was Margaret, she was married to Eric Smith and they had one son. In 1973 they came to Canada and stayed at our place for 2 weeks. We had a good time and took them to visit Lloyd & Gladys in Grand Bend which they really enjoyed. We had to get used to a few things like hearing “You alright?”, meaning ‘Hello’ or ‘Good Morning’, and always being ready to eat before the table was set. Two weeks was long enough.

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Memories 28 Allan does a lot of travelling with M.E.D.A. and he already had seen quite a bit of the world before he got married. After graduating from E.D.S.S. he travelled in Europe for a month on a Euro-Rail ticket and visited a number of countries. He worked at Home Hardware and went to U.W. but in 1974 he decided to travel to New Zealand and Australia, working his way through. He saw many other countries in south-east Asia and was in Laos the time the border was closed. He visited the Scandinavian countries on his way back. When he appeared at our door he surprised us and we noticed he had lost weight, was tired and needed rest and good home cooking. While he was deciding on future plans he said he would be willing to renovate our family room downstairs for which we were very grateful. It was a big job, well done, and we were very happy to buy the material and give him room & board for doing this. Before he was finished, Home Hardware wanted him to work for them which he did for awhile but then went back to U.W. and graduated in Science in 1977. He had been going steady with Donna Snyder, who graduated from Guelph University. Allan began his M.B.A. course in Sept. 1977 and he & Donna got married Dec. 3O of that year and lived in London. After getting his degree, Allan & Donna left for Bangladesh for three years with M.C.C. I must go back one year to 1976 when Beatrice and I celebrated our Silver Wedding anniversary. We had at least 2 surprises for that occasion. Lloyd & Gladys and Beatrice & I planned a trip to Frankenmuth, Michigan. We got to our motel and rested awhile and there was a knock on the door. To our great surprise, here were some of our friends outside, Jim Cathreas, Ray Brubachers, Mel & Leeta and I think

Merv & Grace. We had a great weekend. Later that year our family took us out for dinner and when we came home the lights came on and a bunch of our friends were there and, in fact, had installed a nice diningroom lighting fixture which we still are using. That was another great highlight for us. In 1977 Joey came to live with us. Over the previous years Beatrice had taken in a number of young children for the Children's Aid and for a number of years she looked after the Ali children while the parents worked. It was quite a chore involving 3 children at a time and providing meals. She had started working for the Stone Crock when she was asked if we could take Joey for 2 weeks. This went on and on and Joey became Joe Van Der Veen and he now is 26, is living in Toronto and still calls this home. We are happy to include him in our family. He is in sales for a firm dealing in packaging, supplies, etc. for businesses. Joe came to us with a background of emotional turmoil. His mother died when he was three and his father remarried but his mother did not accept Joey. We had some challenges along the way, especially during public school, but he got good help in High School and then went on to Seneca College from which he graduated. We phone occasionally and he likes to come home for Bea's home cooking, especially the mashed potatoes, gravy and stuffing. He changed his name to Van Der Veen but he is still a Sauder. He gave Bea a nice lamp and me a new fishing reel for Christmas 1997 which was very nice.

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Joey – now Joe, our foster son

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Memories 29 Our trip to visit Allan & Donna in Bangladesh in 1981 was a great experience and a real highlight. It also was an opportunity to visit our first grandchild, Joya. It was a thrill to see this little baby that Allan's had adopted when she was three weeks old. They brought her home directly from an orphanage in Chittagong and she was very small and in a delicate state. It was very commendable for Allan & Donna to care for and provide a home and show love for Joya. It has paid dividends and Joya is now an attractive, congenial and happy sixteen year old. This trip was our first ride on a big plane and we looked forward to this trip with some trepidation. British Airways looked after our needs real well and we actually began to relax and enjoy the flight. After a stop-over in London, we flew for many hours, refueling in Dubai and Calcutta. Our first impression of Bangladesh was that it seemed like a flat green delta, with rivers running south towards the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. Getting off the plane, we soon saw Allan and Donna holding baby Joya. It was great to see them and to spend some time with them at their place and take in the sights, sounds and smells of Bangladesh with Allan as our tour guide. I could probably write a long story on our experiences on this trip but a lot is recorded on slides, snaps, cards, etc. It was very interesting to see the Self Help spots where things were being made by the local people. The jute mill, wheat straw cards, coconuts dried, leather goods, etc. all increased our knowledge. Our trip to Chittagong to see the orphanage where Joya came from was an eye opener. The trip gave us the opportunity to be involved with a

different culture, different (hot, spicy) food, language, religion, meeting new creatures, sleeping with mosquito nettings around our beds, rickshaws, heat, power outages, beggars, dogs, call to worship five times every day, bolts on doors & windows, guards, ferry crossings, driving where the horn is the most used part of the vehicle. We were whites, the stared at minority. We were glad to go and glad to come home. On our way back we stopped in England to visit Eric & Margaret Smith in Yorkshire. Beatrice & Margaret were pen pals since they were young. I still remember the feeling driving up to Yorkshire, being able to read the English signs, enjoying a familiar breakfast and seeing the late blooming roses. We had a few interesting days with the Smiths seeing the heather on the hills, the Border collies directing the sheep, eating roast beef & Yorkshire pudding, eating fish & chips with newspaper for our dish, lots of tea and the trip back to London on a double-decker bus. We then had a great two days in London. One day we took a guided tour of London, seeing all the familiar tourist sights such as Buckingham Palace, the Mint, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, etc. I am convinced that one of the best ways to get around and see interesting places is to take guided tours which include meals and knowledgeable guides. It was a great trip but we were very happy when we touched down in Toronto to be greeted by family members. I think a trip like we took leaves a lasting impression and I don't think a person can be quite the same after being in a third world country.

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Memories 30 In the winter of 1982 Steve also decided to go for a trip to Bangladesh to visit Allan & Donna and baby Joya. He also wanted to do some travelling on his own. We were a little uneasy seeing him do this on his own and it is just as well we didn't know all the hazards and dangers he encountered, especially travelling through Nepal and India with the poor conditions everywhere: bus, train, lodging, health problems, political situations, language, etc. We were glad he could visit Allans where we knew he would have a built-in travel guide. It was a very educational and informative trip to these three countries and the experiences will be riveted in his mind. He had stories to tell us about the food, climate, scenery, people and accommodation. He also brought pictures and mementos home for all to share. We were very happy when he arrived home and we know a special girl from the London area also anxiously awaited his return. Now, just to digress a bit. Yesterday, Feb. 22 1998, we celebrated five February birthdays and as usual we often reminisce. We got talking about button bones. Well I hadn't thought or even dreamt about button bones for maybe 3O years. I do recall bringing them home from Burns because they were very cheap and we really had to pinch our pennies with a growing family. Of course, there were those around the table yesterday who had no idea what button bones were. We also talked about powdered skim milk and other cost saving items made necessary by a tight budget. At other times our family has talked about the lights, or lack thereof, in the big room downstairs where we play ping pong. Many remarks have been made, all in jest and fun, about this big

room with 2 little light bulbs, often blaming our score on the lights. We keep saying that one of these times we will change them. But change does not come too readily in our household. We have to think and make sure and have patience before we change. Quite a number of years ago Pearl gave us a roll of Christmas toilet paper and every year Beatrice would put it in the bathroom on top of the tank either for decoration or use. Well, it seems nobody ever used it but, finally, Christmas of 1996 saw the end of the roll and the end of a Christmas ritual. Speaking of Christmas, we also for many years used the same artificial Christmas tree. We kept saying, maybe next year. Our kids would kid us about our tree and the traditional ornaments. Year after year we would look at the ads for trees and finally in 1995 we replaced our tree with another artificial one although retaining most of our ornaments, supplemented by many new home-made ones given to us by our grandchildren. We visited an antique shop recently and discovered some of our ornaments are indeed antiques and valuable. Sometimes, while out walking, I remember something from the past that I forgot to write about, so while I am digressing I should talk about learning to ride a bike. I still remember the thrill of being able to balance on a bike for just a short distance. I drove my first bike at uncle Ezra's lane. I think I was about 13 years old and was working at Sydney Martin (Sr) for $1 a day when I got my first second-hand bike from Vern Martin for $12.

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Memories 31 I was browsing through some papers the other day and noticed an official announcement of my appointment in 1977 as the Customer Sales Supervisor at Burns Meats. Ab Hainsworth had retired a few months earlier and I just more or less kept the department going. It felt good to accept this role which I kept until the business closed in 1984. I just assumed I would be at Burns until I decided to retire but the Union pushed their luck too far and management decided to close the Kitchener plant as they had done with other Burns branches. During the last year or two at Burns we were getting introduced to the computer age. I was the Supervisor and became a little familiar with these new monsters but really relied on my staff to operate the machines and get me the information and also to process the customer orders. As mentioned before, sometimes I digress. It seems memories keep coming back. Perhaps I should call them flashbacks. Here are a few more. I don’t know if I fell asleep in church very often but I do remember one time when I was quite young, maybe about 4, on a Sunday evening, I fell sound asleep and the service had ended and my Dad was holding me in his arms and Lewis Sauder came along grinning at me when I woke up. Speaking of Lewis, I remember a time when he was a young boy, maybe eight or nine, when he had a terrible earache. In those days we didn't have the antibiotics that we have now. Sometimes a drop or two of warm olive oil was put in the ear and a cloth would be held to the ear. I remember that for some reason he stayed at my grandfather's place in St. Jacobs when he had this earache. One other flashback concerns being a

literary critic. The youth in our local area Mennonite churches had a Literary Society where young people could exercise their skills in public speaking, playing musical instruments, engage in debates, prepare the "newspaper" which had local and national news, or lead the meeting. To join the society, new members had to pay a membership fee of 25 cents and repeat the motto which was Colossians 3:17. For some reason I never did join Literary although I attended regularly. I guess High School kept me busy and many of our young people did not go to High School in those years. At the end of the evening's activities the last item was the critic's report and the participants used to dread this moment because usually a critic was an experienced speaker or leader. I was out of High School when I was asked one time to be the critic. I was honoured but at the same time found it ironic to be asked to do this since I had never been a member of the Keystone Literary Society. A year or two ago the Adult Fellowship at our church went back in time and put on an old time Literary using people who were active or attended years ago. Bea and I had to perform as new members joining for the first time. So maybe now we are bona fide members of the Keystone Literary Society. It was a fun night. I mentioned computers before and I think it is interesting to compare them with the human brain. Just when we may think we have drained the brain of memories and flashbacks, we are reminded of new ones and I think it is good to remember.

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Memories 32 I have written about Bea's mother passing away in 1964. In 1969 my parents celebrated their 5Oth wedding anniversary. They were still living in the bungalow that they built about a year after our marriage. They were both in reasonably good health but, soon after, Mom started to have some health problems resulting in breast surgery. She was quite well for a little while but the cancer reappeared and she died Nov. 27, 1971 just about two weeks short of her 8Oth birthday. She was always quiet but did enjoy seeing the grandchildren. It was really nice that she could enjoy the comforts of a more modern house and conveniences for almost 2O years. My dad continued living by himself and still worked at Home Hardware until he was 82 years old and then enjoyed the garden and outside activities for almost another 1O years. Grandpa Sauder did get to both Allan and Phil's weddings. We have a picture of Grandpa at the reception room of Conrad Grebel College, sitting with little Joey who was six years old. Grandpa also was able to go with us to Toronto for Phil & Julia's wedding on Nov.13, 1982 although he was 9O years old and was showing signs of deterioration in his health. He was spending the winters with Pearl in Elmira and found a new interest close to her place on First Street in Elmira. He watched the bowlers and got interested to the point of trying it himself and really got to enjoy bowling. One other interest for him for many years after he had television was to watch the wrestling matches on Saturday afternoons. He got quite excited and used to go through the actions and ended up talking to himself. Pearl's first husband, Nelson

Schneider, was a very heavy man and worked for Bauer in Waterloo for a number of years. He had a heart attack and was in hospital only a few days before he died on Jan. 3O 1983. It was good that my dad could be up there with Pearl for awhile until we got a room for him at Heritage Home which he liked but his emphysema was getting worse and we had to rush him to KW hospital by ambulance. I didn't think that he would last the night but slowly he regained some strength and with the help of oxygen he lived until April 24, 1986. We had sold the house a few years earlier to Maynard Weber and dad was so happy that the house went to someone he knew. The sale was a little hard on him but it was time to sell. One compensation for him was the sale of a little pitcher for about $11OO dollars. He couldn't believe it and neither could we. I guess it was an antique and the buyers knew it. One other notable happening at my dad's sale was our introduction to Cobina Gooyers who now is Steve's wife. Both were students at Fanshawe College in London and discovered mutual interests. Cobina started to work for Wildwood Conservation Authority and then helped Steve get a job there a year later too. London Ontario must have been a magnet for relationships because Phil also met Julia Seward there. Both were going to university aspiring to become teachers. The first time Julia was at our place, I can still see her kneeling on the floor with Joey interesting him in play and talk, already practicing her future career.

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Memories 33 In Feb. 1984 Allan & Donna were living in Ephrata, Pennsylvania and went to Ottawa to buy a house because Allan had procured a job with an International Development Agency in Ottawa. They had just come back to Ephrata when Donna realized that their baby was on its way. Paul arrived on Feb.17, 1984 as a ‘preemie’. He was big enough but his lungs were not fully developed and caused some concern for the first few weeks. You would never realize that big, tall, strapping Paul was a preemie baby. Also in 1984 Steve & Cobina were married on June 3O at Valleyview Mennonite Church in London. The wedding party went to Fanshawe Conservation area for picture taking and then to a reception in a hall in London. We have been happy to welcome all our daughters-in-law and our son-in-law to our family. We warmly welcome the Snyders, the Sewards, the Gooyers and the Rubys. The grandchildren kept coming. Phil & Julia decided to adopt two Korean babies: Ben, born June 1O 1986, came here in Dec. 1986 and Carly, born Sept. 3O 1989, came to Canada in August 199O. Actually, Phil & Julia went to New York for Ben and Phil went to Korea for Carly. There was a lot of red tape involved, especially with Carly, but it all worked out in the end. Steve's first born, Joanna, was born on Feb. 13 1988, Janel on Aug.14 199O and Marlee on Feb. 26 1996. Linda married Phil Ruby Aug. 4 199O and the wedding took place at the Elmira Mennonite Church because the St. Jacobs Church was being renovated. Wedding pictures were taken on the grounds of Jakobstettel house and the reception for almost 2OO guests was at the St. Jacobs

Community Centre. Linda & Phil moved to Ottawa because Phil had a position with Nortel. They now have a family of three children: Laura, born Sept.5 1995, Aaron born May 13 1997 and Emma born Jan.14 2OOO. We now have 1O grandchildren and we love them all very dearly. They all have their individual personalities, gifts and talents and we appreciate them all. Joe lives in Toronto and works in sales at Dover Co. and has a sideline fixing and selling pallets.

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Memories 34 Beatrice retired from the Stone Crock in 1991 after working there for 17 years. I retired from Erb Transport in 1993. We entered a new phase of our life together. Our family has taken many pictures over the years which we have kept in boxes. During the last two years Beatrice has filled at least 13 albums with pictures going back to our childhood and through the years with our children and their families and our grandchildren. Going from black & white to coloured photos gives us an excellent record of our activities - trips - families - friends - pets - holidays - etc. These albums are all separated into categories and will serve as reminders of our lives together. Beatrice still has the albums of our many trips to do. In 1994 I started to keep a Daily Diary which I have maintained on a daily basis. Last year, 2OO1, was the date of our 5Oth Wedding Anniversary and it also was the year that I turned 75 on Sept.12 2001. We did some family celebrating but are holding off the official celebration until Oct.5 & 6 2OO2. Phil, Julia, Ben & Carly left on Dec.29 1999 for Brunei to teach English for two years but decided to stay for one more school term and will

not be back until August 2OO2 and so we decided to have our official Golden Wedding Anniversary Oct.5 & 6, 2OO2. I have not gone into much detail on the years since our children were married because we have the many photos to look at and also I have kept up my daily diary since 1994 but I certainly could write another book on the many experiences, joys, concerns, fulfillment, etc. Just to see our families grow and each family having their own hopes and aspirations realized is very rewarding. I wrote this story basically as my life history but it has become interwoven with Beatrice over 5O years and with our children and their spouses and our grandchildren. Life has been good – yes, there have been ups & downs, unfulfilled dreams, etc. but God has been good to me and much of this is due to my faithful wife who has shown much love and loyalty. I also want to express appreciation to our family, to our friends, to the church and to the community for the help I have received to live a life based on Christian principles.

The Sauder Family

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Memories 35 All of us have become very involved with the Age of Technology. Little did I realize back in the thirties when I was very excited by the function of a little box camera that I would live to see the day that I would be sending e-mails to the far corners of the world. The last decade has brought about so many mind boggling new things that again I wonder what other new things will be seen in the next decades. Retirement can be a good time. Health is a very important factor and I am very grateful that I am quite healthy and even though I am now 75 I was still able to enjoy skating and skiing a few times this winter. Beatrice and I also do a lot of walking and this gives us exercise, fresh air and relaxation. Keeping active and involved is very important at all times. There are many opportunities to help in various volunteer organizations and I have been able to serve in various ways. We also need time to relax and enjoy God's wonderful creation and to communicate with our Maker. The time is here to: Thank God for the Past; Live in the Present; Trust in the Future. Thank you all for your love and may God bless all of you richly. I want to share a verse by Robert F Morrow that I read in my daily diary book ‘Journeying Through the Days’: “God breaks into our lives by so many avenues. Creation is one of them, and St. Paul reminds us that we have no excuse in not knowing God because the Creator is revealed in creation, our task is to pay attention; to see the mountains and oceans, to hear the

infinite longing of the wind, to feel the force of fire, to gaze intently at burning bushes and flowers in crannied walls." God Bless You All. Elmer Sauder, March 2, 2OO2