I was born in 1926 in Canmore. Dr. Worthington was the doctor. My mother, Mary, was Ukrainian and my father, John, Polish. We lived in a mine house, with two storeys, up towards the mine. We had backhouse out back. The kids would push it down at Halloween. My dad was in it when it was pushed over one time.
Dad worked in Drumheller, when he married, then moved to Canmore. They had two boys both born in Canmore. My parents were divorced in 1939. My dad brought my brother and me up. He worked underground in the mine. We didn’t have much money but Dad made sure we had good skates. He ordered hand-made speed skates for me from the U.S.A. Wes Latham coached me in speed skating and I won several Alberta championships in the late 1930’s and 1940’s. My brother, Joe, and I played hockey on the Junior Legionnaires team, then on the Briquetteers. We won the Alberta championship with the Briquetteers. I also liked to curl.
When I was seventeen, I quit school to work in the mine. I worked underground until my sinuses got so bad I had to quit. I was manager of the old “Y” next to Rundle Mt. Trading Co., for a good many years. It was a rooming house for miners.
My Aunt Stella came to live with us and finished her high school in Canmore. She helped out at home after school. She later married George Cristou from Banff.
I liked to fish and spent a lot of time up at Spray Lakes and Lake Minnewanka, fishing and hiking.
We skated a lot on a pond behind Kamenka’s and spent a lot of time with Leonard and Lud Kamenka and their dad who lived across the road from us.
The only Christmas gift we got was from the Union party in the old Union Hall. The school classes would put on a program first, then Santa would come and give out presents.
In the early days we had no car. Near Christmas, my brother and I took our sleigh to the C.P.R. station and picked up a forty-four pound turkey my uncle sent from Winnipeg. It took all day to cook it.
I was married to Isabel Rennie in 1949. The minister was Dr. MacKinnon of the United Church. We were married in her parent’s home in the large living room with a picture window overlooking the Bow River and the Rocky Mountains. What a lovely location! Norman Witham played the wedding music on his piano on the porch.
We had two boys and two girls. They were always busy and loved Canmore. The boys played hockey in the winter and fished all summer. The boys were in Cubs and Scouts. The girls were in Brownies, then Guides. One day we took the back seat of our car out and collected bottles for these organizations.
Bill Walker, who lived down the road at Katie Antanuk’s, was like a second dad to our kids. He was so good with them and took them fishing and camping.
We moved to Camrose in 1969 as there was no work in Canmore. Our son, Grant, and wife, Ursula, and two girls live in Canmore so we like to come back to the mountains and visit them. Canmore has grown too much and is getting like Banff as a tourist resort. Property is so expensive.
I was a volunteer for the Olympics in 1988 and really enjoyed it. We saw some of the cross-country skiing in Canmore but I was with the speed skating in Calgary.
My dad, John Sawchuk, died in Canmore in 1955. My mother, who married Leslie Hill, died in 1998.
Our four children, Grant, Blair, Beverly, and Andrea are all married. Grant and Ursula and two girls live in Canmore. Blair, Cynthia and Kyle live in Calgary. Beverly, Ken and Shawna Knudson live on an acreage outside of Sherwood Park. Andrea, Jerry, Michael, Melissa and Martina Rurka live in Lloydminster, Alberta.
In Canmore Seniors at the Summit, ed. Canmore Seniors Association, 2000, p. 253-254.
