The McLeod family relocated to Canada from the town of Kilmuir, Isle of Skye, Scotland, around 1821.
Upon arrival, my great-great-grandfather William, with his wife and two sons, Harold and great-grandfather Roderick (Rory), settled in Prince Edward Island. Following the death of William, the family moved to Big Intervale, Margaret Valley, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.
My great-grandfather Roderick (born 1821) married Mary Ann Ross (born 1824) in Forest Glen, Cape Breton Island, and together raised a family of four girls and six boys.
My grandfather, William Robert (1852-1937), born at Little Narrows, Cape Breton Island, married Mary Beaton (1863-1950) in 1881 (The Beaton family had emigrated to Canada in the year 1801 from Lochaber, Isle Skye, Scotland) from Little Judique, Cape Breton Island, N.S., and took up residence in Springhill, N.S., where my father William Joseph (Bill) and his five brothers and two sisters were born.
The eldest of William and Mary, (my uncle) Murdock Joseph (1881-1965), spent time in Canmore and is the only person I have known to have worked on the railway line that was placed from the “Little Engine Bridge” to Georgetown, around 1912. He had led a very interesting life, having served with the NWMP in Dawson City (Yukon), prospected for gold in the Yukon, served in World War I, worked on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway line, operated a trap line at Eddy in northern British Columbia for most of his life, and served as a member of the Canadian Home Guards during World War II as a guard at the concentration camps at Kananaskis, Ozada and other camps through Alberta and British Columbia. Uncle Murdock is laid to rest beside my dad in the Canmore cemetery.
My dad (1885-1967), living in Springhill with his parents, attended school to age twelve and then started working in the coal mines with his father. The working days were long and the work week stretched for six days, so any spare time was reserved for the favourite pastime in those years – BASEBALL! He related many stories of semi-pro games between his local team and teams from as far away as the northern United States.
Dad and Mother, Annie, (Whittle, 1891-1943, also from Springhill) married in Springhill in the spring of 1912. Three children were born in the local Springhill hospital: Mary Anne, Joseph Alexander (Sandy) and Agnes Henrietta (Ash).
Dad was a member of the area Militia and then, as a member of the 40th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, 2nd Division, in 1915, was shipped to the battles in Europe, along with his four brothers, all returning after the war except brother John, killed in action at Amiens, France, in 1918. The Vimy Ridge offensive was just one of the major engagements his battalion was engaged in during his tenure.
During the time Dad spent serving overseas with the military (1915-1919), Mom moved with the three children, her parents, Thomas and Mary Whittle, and her brothers and sister to the Drumheller area, settling in Midlandvale. Upon discharge from the armed services in 1919, Dad returned to Midlandvale to work in the coal mines of that district.
During Dad’s absence overseas, Grandmother McLeod moved west to Calgary in 1914 and then, in 1919, she and my uncles Roderick, Sandy and Ambrose, and aunts, Kate and Mamie, all located to Canmore where her brothers spent time working in the coal mines. Uncle Rod had previously worked in the mines in Georgetown and Bankhead and I was told he was one of the first to enlist from this district for service in WW I (Uncle John, in 1902, had worked at the #6 coal mine in Lethbridge). While in Canmore, Mamie married Peter Tompkins where their first child, Kenneth, was born. Kate married Sidney March and their son, John Leo, was delivered at the Canmore hospital. Later, the Tompkins left to reside in Vancouver while the March family relocated to Calgary.
In 1921, while working in Drumheller, a long term Strike was in progress, so Uncle Rod called Dad to Canmore to work in the mines and play baseball for the local team. Baseball was very prominent in the lives of all Nova Scotians and Dad had made his reputation early in his life as a very good pitcher playing ball for the Colts, a semi-professional baseball team in Springhill.
With Dad living in Canmore and employed at the mines digging coal, he and Mom were strong supporters of the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church. Mom spent many hours assisting in all the church events such as bazaars and bake sales and any other church duties that were in need of help. Beside her involvement with the church, Mom enjoyed all the reading material available from the local library and always surrounded the home with her singing and love for music.
After his arrival in Canmore, Dad found time to get down to the Bow River to continue his mastery of catching “grayling and trout”, with the occasional hiking trip up to the Spray Lakes for “cutthroat”. I don’t think there was any part of the Bow that he hadn’t fished at one time or another, from Duthill to Exshaw, using his sixteen-foot bamboo pole. He broke his employment with the mines to enlist and serve in the Canadian Veterans Home Guards in 1941 and was stationed as a guard at the German internment camps at Ozada, Kananaskis, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Moose Jaw and various locations in British Columbia. It was while Dad was stationed in Medicine Hat with the Guards (1943) that Mom suddenly passed away. On a bitterly cold February day, she was laid to rest in the Canmore Cemetery beside her daughter, Jean Collette.
Following this period of military service, Dad returned to Canmore but was considered too old to be re-employed by the mines and spent the remainder of his work life at various jobs around Canmore. An operation to repair a broken hip at the Colonel Belcher Hospital in Calgary was unsuccessful and he passed away. He is laid to rest beside his brother, Murdock, in the Canmore Cemetery.
My sister, Mary Ann (1912-1973), following her schooling in Canmore, attended nursing courses at the Holy Cross Hospital in Calgary, graduating in 1938. In 1939, she married James Archibald, an oil worker from Turner Valley, and returned to that town where daughter Marguerite Anne (1939) and daughter Marilyn Lynne (1942) and son Ian Guy (1943) were born. Mary passed away while living in Calgary and is laid to rest beside her sister Margaret in the family plot in the Canmore Cemetery.
Brother Joseph Alexander (1914-1984), better known as Sandy, upon his leaving the school system in Canmore in 1930, began working in the Canmore Coal Mine and worked there to the year 1940, when he volunteered for active service in WW II at Calgary. He spent five years overseas and saw action in Italy and later on the Continent in Holland and Belgium.
He returned to the Canmore Mines after the war and was again employed by the mine until leaving with brother Rod for a work stint in England that lasted until 1959, returning to Calgary where he retired from work with the C.P.R. During his stay in England, Sandy married Freda Brown and they had children William Frederick (Bill) and Margaret Anne. All who knew Sandy can relate to the appreciation he had for music and his efforts to master the guitar, mouth organ, and to reach all the deep notes with his bass voice. Following his death in the Colonel Belcher Hospital in Calgary, Sandy’s ashes were placed in the grave with his mother Annie and sister Collette in the Canmore Cemetery.
My sister Agnes (1915 -) and her brother Sandy, during the childhood days in Midlandvale, accidentally set the kitchen curtains on fire, and to escape the flames, crawled under the table. They were rescued with no burns but the house was a loss and they were soon off to their new home in Canmore.
During her school years in Canmore, Ash was an excellent student and won the R.B. Bennett medal for Scholastic Endeavours while her grade twelve examinations were highlighted by receiving a score of 100% on the final history exam, under teacher Munro MacLeod.
Early days in Canmore were quiet and memorable and one special time is remembered for the occasion she and brother Sandy picked a collection of tiger lilies with the intent of selling them to travellers on the #1 highway to Banff for twenty five cents a bundle. Needless to say, they never enjoyed an abundance of sales!
Canmore, in those days, had a history of many floods and the waters caused log jams at the bridges and along the banks. Other children, as well as Ash and Sandy, played on these piles and the wonder is, no one drowned. Other favourite pastimes included picking wild strawberries and the popular hikes up to Twin Lakes and the Spray Valley on Sunday afternoons.
After completing her grade schooling, Ash entered the Holy Cross School for Nursing in Calgary, graduating in 1937, and then went on to an active career of nursing throughout Alberta and British Columbia.
Ash married Jim Allon and together they ran the “Allon & McLeod” general store in Champion, Alberta, from 1950 to 1963. During this time, they raised their daughter, Patricia Anne, and sons, Peter Michael and James Francis, while Ash was working at the Carmangay Hospital.
Ash belonged to the Women’s Institute and sang in the church choir. Jim passed away in Carmangay in 1963 and is buried in Canmore. During their residence in Champion, Jim was a member of Town Council, on the Board of Directors of the Municipal Hospital and deeply involved in the new hospital completed in 1960.
After 1963, Ash moved to Calgary and nursed until age sixty-five, retiring from the last sixteen years of service as an R.N. in the Colonel Belcher Hospital, Calgary. Following this period, she was able to travel with daughter Pat and visit the Caribbean, England, Scotland, France, Germany, Switzerland, New Zealand, Hawaii and Mexico. During her 1983 trip to Belgium, Ash was able to visit the grave of brother John who had been killed during military service with the RCAF during WW II.
Her home is in Calgary and she is enjoying good health and proud to state, that after fifty-five years, she had broken the smoking habit “cold turkey”!
After Mom and Dad’s arrival in Canmore in 1921, the second group of children began to arrive, starting with brother John William (1924-1945).
My brother John’s youth was spent in Canmore where he received his education at the local school. During his youth, Canmore had an active soccer organization, coached by Jimmy Gilson, with John participating as a team member. Since the home heating depended on coal or wood, he spent hours in the bush recovering dead fall to take home to saw and chop for firewood. Fishing with his dad was a constant occurrence, with trips up and down both sides of the Bow River, from Georgetown down to his own famous “McLeod’s” Jamb, otherwise known as The Big Timber, resulting in plenty of fish for the supper table.
John left for Vancouver in 1939 to work in the shipyards and 1943 found him joining up for service with the Royal Canadian Air Force, serving with the 115th Squadron flying out of England. Following completion of nineteen successful bombing raids over Germany as a “rear-gunner” , his plane was shot down over Emmes, Belgium, and we were informed, at twenty years of age, John had been “Killed in Action”. John is laid to rest in the military cemetery at Leopoldsburg, Belgium.
Brother Roderick Thomas (Roddy) (1926-1995), was schooled in Canmore and in 1942, like many other young Canmore boys during the war years, left school to work in the Canmore coal mines.
Although of small stature, Rod was strong and extremely brave and his years at the mine were spent at the “tipple”, working with close friend, Johnny Piper, uncoupling and coupling coal cars that reached that area to be dumped and returned down the mine shaft. The work required nimbleness and a complete concentration to have the task performed without being “squashed” or ‘pinched” by the two-ton coal cars as they advanced to the dumping station where they were weighed and check weighed.
Rod’s call up for military service arrived in 1943, and like all other mine employees, he was not allowed to leave the mines after being classified as an “essential worker” for the war effort.
A very talented musician, Roddy spent time playing trumpet with brother Jim and other members of the Canmore Band, fishing and following any and every opportunity he had to be around horses, making fishing and wrangling trips up to the Spray Lakes with friends, Wes Latham, and very special friend, Henry “Bussy” Sherwood. The trips made to Old Bow Fort during the summer school break were occasions where lessons in swimming, carving and other nature instructions were provided and left lasting memories, along with the hand-carved knickknacks stored in their “camp boxes”.
During his younger years, there was always occasion to have Roddy play the harmonica, which he had learned at age six, or to use the wonderful singing voice that prompted everyone in his presence to join in. Along with his music, there was nothing to compare with his infectious laugh that would cause the same reaction whenever it was heard! He had the trumpet, mouth organ, saxophone, clarinet, and accordion always close at hand and ready to be played.
Roddy continued his work at the “tipple” until 1955 when he left with brother Sandy for a work period in England that lasted until 1959. After returning from England, he worked for Engineered Homes in Calgary for the next twenty years, following up at another firm in Calgary when Engineered closed their doors in 1981. Roddy married (1965) Patricia Helen Pierpont, of Fernie, becoming the parents of two sons, Murray John and Colin Roderick. Roddy died in the General Hospital in Calgary and is buried in the family plot in Canmore beside his wife Patricia (1937 – 1991).
My brother, James Patrick (Jim) (1927 -) was an exceptional student and winner of the 1938 R.B. Bennett Medal for general proficiency during classes at the Canmore Public School. Jim is always reminded of the days as a five-year-old when he caused major concerns by inserting a “stove poker” into the electrical plug-in, setting a “wire snare” for the hornet that had bitten him on the nose, and for cutting off his long beautiful blond locks because he thought they were “girlish looking”
As a youth, he spent time swimming in the Bow River, building cabins with brother Rod and Chuck Whalen, fishing, making and shooting slingshots, making and riding “stick” horses and skating. He also executed his other obligations as altar boy (under the guidance of Father Holland) for the Roman Catholic Church and duties as secretary for the Canmore Ski Club. The Ski Club and all the members cleared the forested area above the present Olympic site on Mount Rundle and constructed a ski hill and cabin known as the “L”.
Skating became his major interest and in the year 1939, he became a member of the Canmore Speedskating Team, which included coach, Wes Latham, and members, Thelma Anderson, Stan Sawchuck and Phyllis Bobyk. In Banff, 1939, Jim placed second in both the 220 yards and 440 yards Midget Provincial Outdoor Competition, followed by a third, again in Banff, in the Juvenile 440 yards Provincial Outdoor race. 1941 was the year when he enjoyed the title as “Champion” in the JuvenileProvincial Outdoor with seconds in the 440 yards and 880 yards. In 1942, he received a third in the Banff Junior Boys Provincial 880 yards and 1943 produced a third in the Edmonton Junior Boys Provincial in the 220 yards. He was declared winner in the Edmonton Intermediate Men’s in 1946 and enjoyed an interview by Don McKay, the future mayor of Calgary. He closed the year placing third in both the Men’s 880 yards and the Men’s One Mile Banff Provincial Competition.
In 1944, Jim was employed driving a team of horses making home delivery of “store orders” for the Rundle Mountain Trading Company, under the managership of A.B. Latimer, and then in 1945, began work at the Canmore Mines, starting in the “tipple” and the “sawmill”, then in 1946, underground as a “rope rider” and “timberman”.
After a very good friend was killed in the mine, Jim left Canmore for Calgary and worked for Calgary Motor Products and a number of companies in the construction trade, but an injury in 1950 resulted in a recuperation period in the Banff Mineral Springs Hospital. Following work at Seebe bridge building and clearing brush over Wind Mountain, a return to the mines began again in 1951. In 1957, he started as a contract miner which lasted until 1969 when Jim left the mines for Calgary where he worked for Neonex and Revelstoke Lumber until retirement.
Together with brother Rod, Jim played the trumpet and alto horn with the Canmore Band, performing at the July 1st parades and other gatherings and continues his association with music and skating while now residing in Calgary.
Sister Margaret Theresa (1929-1990), spent all her years in Canmore until leaving for Edmonton in 1950 where she completed her schooling and became a librarian. During her youth, she was noted as an excellent student and exceptional friend and confidante. Among her many friends, she had special pals: Laura Louhella, Frances Lakusta, Julia Stec, Marian Michaluk and Ilene Sakaluk with whom she made an extra effort to spend time. Her love of music and fine voice were present during all the Masses and Benedictions, conducted by the Roman Catholic Church, always making her way to the services regardless of any type of weather to sing the solo parts in the choir for Midnight Mass.
Upon the death of her mother, Annie, in 1943, Margaret, at the age of thirteen, took over the role of running the household and all the duties that were required to keep the home together: preparing meals, washing clothes, cleaning house, guiding the two younger brothers in their school work, and tending to the lunches and meals for the two older brothers employed by the mines, all while attending school herself – a feat that is impossible to comprehend.
Prior to her departure to Edmonton in 1950, Margaret was employed at the Canmore Hospital, working with Dr. Fulton. The work was extensive and included all the record recording, appointment scheduling, food, material and equipment ordering, as well as all secretarial duties related to the daily operation of the hospital. A period where she performed these duties, wearing a cast for a broken leg she received while playing baseball, was extra difficult.
Margaret met and married Anthony Pomahac in 1953, supporting his education as a Doctor of Medicine during their stay in Windsor, Ontario. Upon completion of his degree and after the arrival of sons Francis Gregg and Guy Anthony, they returned to Alberta where daughter, Andrea Julia, sons, Blair Vincent and Neil John, and daughter, Monica Lynne were born. Margaret and Tony settled in Lethbridge and she resided there until 1988.
In 1988, Margaret moved to Calgary where she continued with her desire for education by attending classes at the Mount Royal College, but before she was able to complete her studies, she became very ill in April of 1990 and passed away in Calgary Rocky View Hospital. Margaret’s ashes are placed beside her sister, Mary Anne, in the family plot in Canmore Cemetery.
My brother, Francis Murdoch (Fran) was born in Canmore (1931) and spent all his youth here where he attended the Canmore Public School. Among the early memories he recalls are the move up the “Store Hill” from “Overtown” and the day sister Ash carried him up to the hospital on her back after he broke his leg. During his younger years, there were not too many times an “alley” game with, on occasion, a “Thousand Up”, ended up that Fran didn’t walk away with all the winnings! These games were conducted as soon as there was some bare earth showing down by the mine office or behind the pool hall following spring melt. Many times, there were games in progress in various locations and the need to move around and play at each game took many hours. I remember our dad looking down the hill from where we lived, watching the darkness approaching and wondering where Fran had been for hours after school had ended. His winnings of hundreds of “alleys” didn’t seem to impress Dad a great deal!
Later in the summer months, Fran was always called for his excellence at the baseball diamond and filled in many times with the senior team. For a period of time, the gym was made available in the basement of the “Y” and gym teacher Lud Shellian considered Fran one of his top athletes in the tumbling and rings. Basketball was also played in the “Y “and Fran made many a score while playing with the members of the local team.
From 1946 to 1948, Fran was employed with the Canadian Pacific Railway repairing tracks and roadbeds with fellow worker Ron (Doctor) Grainger at Duthill and Anthracite. The days were hot and long, but to fill the long evenings, the crew was requested by the Sun Greenhouse, located nearby, to provide help in the weeding of their very large vegetable gardens. These and the following years provided the opportunity for Fran to hone his skills to become one of the better pool players at the tables in the rear of the barber shop operated by Jack Breen. Fran’s mining career started in August of 1949, working on the “tipple” and then transferring underground in 1950 as a “rope rider”, motorman, timbering for the company, track laying and loading coal in the #4 mine and the Wilson seam. Fran holds the record for the number of trips in one shift as a “hoistman” in the bottom gangway of Wilson seam.
Fran left the mines and worked for a time with Bob Davis Construction, engaged in jobs around Canmore, but moved to Calgary in 1969 where he spent time in the hospital for major stomach surgery. Following his recovery in 1970, he was employed by Simpson Sears (Calgary), the City of Calgary in their Senior Citizens Help Program, and finally for the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1974, when he completed his work career. Fran resides in Calgary and enjoys the downtown location of the six-story building where he lives, and maintains in partnership with brother Jim.
Sister Jean Collette (November 1933-December 1934)
Alan
I was the last child to be born (1935) to Bill and Annie McLeod and had the privilege of having many brothers and sisters. My parents were living “Overtown” at the time of my birth, in the centre of a three-unit apartment, located next to the old hospital at the end of Main Street.
In 1936, my dad was allotted a single family house with three bedrooms that was located up the Store Hill on the road that led to the new hospital located on the very top of the hill overlooking the entire town. The early recollections I have are the neighbours that were living along this road at that time: Carmichaels, Eliuk, Whalen, Louhela, Haimila, Bell, Anderson, Evans, Stroud, Johns, Grassi, Stasiuk and Kubicek.
The hill was a community of its own and everybody there felt it was the best place in town to live. In winter, where else could you go down to Mac Beeche’s house and get the extra-long bobsled that would hold up to ten riders, haul it up the hill as far as possible and ride as far as the show hall or even to the mine office tracks if the conditions allowed? Finding and keeping a spot on the sled was always a struggle and during the trip down the hill, there was never a guarantee that you could stay on until the end of the ride! The ride would always have to be aborted as soon as the yell “Car Car C-A-R” was shouted which meant that one of the two cars on the hill, Young’s or Dr. Gelfand’s, was either coming up or down at a rapid pace. Dr. Gelfand had a beautiful 1941 Packard Coupe and generally had it moving very fast, creating doubt that he would make it around the corner by the show hall.
Winter was a great time of year and at a very early age, everybody had to learn to skate. The water of Canmore Creek created a large skating area located behind Kamenkas and below the old works of #1 mine. This was a major gathering place for skating by the light of burning old car tires or a wood bonfire, making skating after dark a real occasion. The pond, “back of Canmore”, provided another area to learn the skill of skating, as well as the back water beside the Reinikka house where there was the ever present danger of open water nearby. When we weren’t on the ice surfaces, we were in the covered rink, skating to all the Strauss Waltzes, but this was only available when there were no hockey games in progress.
Summer, it seemed, was always hot right through to September, and July and August were the months for hiking up to Twin Lakes, Sulphur Springs, Georgetown, or up behind the hoodoos. There were always some strawberries to pick and the bitter taste left from eating saskatoons, all the while picking tiger lilies, shooting stars or lady slippers, or mixing up soap berries. If hiking wasn’t on tap, swimming in the Bow back of Mallabone’s at Cochrane Mines would be the place to cool down on a hot summer day. If those two routines didn’t offer the fun we were looking for, Sidney Scott and I would get on our stick horses and ride for miles or until our stick horses got tired and we had to take them back to the hitching rail and pick up a new, fresh “horse” to ride!
Life in those days was pretty basic and the mine houses didn’t offer too many niceties. The “outhouse” was located well behind the residence and the coal and wood stoves required a constant supply of kindling, logs, coal or briquettes. Hauling logs out of the bush was a tough exercise and sawing the logs with a six-foot saw into stove-size lengths is a job I don’t want to remember. Those were the times when older brothers came in very handy. The house was supplied with cold water only, so heating a good supply of hot water used plenty of fuel. Bathing was always a major undertaking and the use of the shower located in the basement of the “Y” was a godsend for the males.
The coal ordered from the mine office was delivered by the ton, and if I remember correctly, cost about six dollars. It was delivered by horse and wagon, driven with old Bob Towers pulling on the reins. It was a marvel to see him back up the pair of heavy duty horses, uphill, to get to the coal shed located between the houses. Unlike the coal delivery, the store wagon was pulled by a team of high spirited horses and it was a good idea to keep out of the way (little did I know at that time I would be delivering groceries for the Company Store using a 1951 one ton flat deck Chevrolet truck!).
Fishing was one thing we all enjoyed and I can’t remember the first time I fished. I must have been very young but I do know I was scared to death that I would fall through the railroad ties while with my dad or brothers, walking across the little and big engine bridges, heading out for the grayling catch.
At that time, the “Y” was a residence for single miners and on the days the mine was idle, you would find the gentlemen, like Jack Blake, Gordon Heathfield and others, sitting on the front balcony, visiting and waiting for the cafe run by Sammy and Lee to prepare their suppers and next day lunches.
The “Y” had a large hall that was used for bazaars and weddings and also had a rear reading room with a library attached, a fine place to read or select the books for home reading. Later, this room would provide a meeting place for the Canmore Band to brush up on the technique of interpreting the score and playing the parts relegated to their particular instruments. It was a good feeling to see and listen to my brothers, Rod and Jim, playing along with John Byers, Mr. Strauss, Mr. Giovanetti, Connel Marra, Vic Lewis and others preparing for the march from the “Y” to the school grounds for the July 1st parade.
1939 saw quite a change in our home as brother Sandy left for Calgary to join the military and then was off to other parts of Canada for training before continuing to Europe for involvement in the WW II conflict. The 23rd Anti-Tank Regiment he was attached to continued on to Italy where the second front was established. My brother, John, also left home for work in Vancouver and eventually went into service with the RCAF, ending with his death in 1945 after his aircraft was shot down following a bombing run into Germany.
In 1941, my dad left the mine to become a member of the Canadian Veterans Home Guard in their role as keepers of the occupants of the prisoners of war at internment camps located through Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan.
In 1942, life in Canmore continued on in the same old fashion with only some slight indications that there was a war on. The radio kept us informed of happenings but they were in far-off places with strange names. Brother John and Dad made it home on occasion but brother Sandy seemed to be gone forever. We still carried on with our hikes, fishing, swimming and attending garden parties that were held at the Dewis residence where you could throw balls at three phony birds that were impossible to knock down. July 1st was still a day we lined up at the “Y” and received a ten cent coin and three tickets for ice cream and pop when we arrived at the school grounds following the band and displaying the dressed up bikes we all rode.
The year 1943 was burned into my memory due to the passing of my mother. She was a wonderful person and a leading member of the community. I can still recall her working with all the other women, setting up and operating the bazaar that was held in the big Catholic hall that was located on Main Street. As a seven-year-old, death was hard to understand and the loss of the centre of our home cannot be described. My sister, Margaret, at thirteen, took the reins and together with the older brother and the help of the older sisters who left their own families for short periods of time, we were able to stay together. The adjustments were difficult but with the help of friends, the Catholic Nuns, the Catholic Women’s Group and the kind and encouraging school teachers, our home remained intact and our school education continued. It wasn’t long after that Rod and Jim were at the mines, providing the funds needed to run the house and allow Margaret, Francis and me to remain in school.
In 1944, I remember buying small amount war bonds, cleaning the school grounds, gathering aluminum pots and pans, miscellaneous metal, and anything rubber and carting it all over to a large pile that was growing at the school. There was very little left of any items that could be turned in for the war effort. And who could forget their first taste of saccharine, the worst substitute for sugar that can possibly be imagined?
The years 1945 – 1950 started out in the worst possible way when, in January, the news arrived that brother John was missing, then declared dead. I was very young when he left home and my memory of him was only in small fragments. My dad was devastated and, after the death of my mother, John’s death was on his mind everyday for the rest of his life.
When war was declared “over” , there was an enormous amount of carrying on and we had some major bonfires, fires that resembled some that were used for effigy-burning earlier in the war years. The return of Dad and Sandy brought the remainder of the family again under one roof and life once again became routine. Sandy returned to the mines but Dad had to search for other work as his employment at the mines was no longer needed.
During this period, the heavy mechanical equipment moved into Canmore and the road up to the Spray Valley was constructed on the side of Rundle Mountain. The completion of this road was comparative to man walking on the moon and all the youngsters agreed that the impossible just might be happening. Work on the “L” was carried out by clearing brush and shrubs and the occasional sleep-over in the cabin located at the bottom of the run provided the sensation of being on top of the world. For any who wanted, down in the rear of the “Y” basement, a ring had been set up and Jack Slavin Sr. provided instructions to all who were interested in the fight game. I tried a couple of times but any blow to my head caused my eyes to water and after that, I was an easy target! My career as a pugilist was short lived.
All through these years, Canmore struggled with the flooding of the Bow and many times, the passage to the “other” side of town could not be made. Around the entrance to the “horse shoe”, if the water wasn’t too high and you were lucky, you might arrive at the time Dr. Fulton was there to backpack anyone he could over the washouts.
From 1950 – 1960, I left school and Canmore for Vancouver where I met my buddy, Don James, and we headed up to Prince George, B.C. Don stayed there to work but I returned to Vancouver and worked until 1953, when I returned to Canmore. My dad had a very serious chest condition and we were advised his life expectancy was only days. After time spent in the Colonel Belcher Hospital in Calgary, he recovered and returned home to spend another fourteen years fishing on the Bow. I was employed by the Rundle Mountain Trading Company, delivering “store orders” and was watched over by the staff of Charlie Skates, Bill Cherak, John Hrushka, Ed Niskanen, the Fowers brothers and a very special Lena Stec, who made sure I was always treated fairly.
I left the company store to spend about one year at the mines loading coal for shipment to Japan. My crew boss, John Strauss, and I worked many lonely shifts together and the only real fun part of the job was when I would follow the shift of Ivor Rock. You could always tell when Ivor was on duty because the nail pail he needed to do his job spent more time in the air than on the ground as the result of Ivor hitting his finger with the hammer. When he cooled down, Ivor would spend the next hour or so picking up the scattered nails and looking for his hammer, all of which he threw as far as he could.
In about 1954, I left Canmore to join the staff of the Federal Government, working in the Banff Post Office. I worked mainly the afternoon or late evening shift and enjoyed many interruptions in my work as various people from Canmore would drive by, honk, and look in the window for my return wave – great people, these Canmorites.
In 1956, I married Shonna Bayne and in December of that year, our first child, Cindy Gay, was born. Banff, being a very difficult place to obtain residence, even then, caused me to leave the post office and take a job with AGT in Calgary. After five years with the telephone company, and following the birth of our son, Joseph Alan, in 1960, I moved on to employment with Engineered Homes as Transportation and Office Manager, remaining there seventeen years. Our daughter, Teresa Leigh, was born in the Calgary Holy Cross Hospital in 1966.
In 1981, I saw my first year of employment with the Provincial Government as a project manager in charge of construction of Senior Citizens Lodges, seniors’ self-contained dwellings and Assisted Rental Accommodations throughout the southern region of the province.
Now, in the year 2000, on my sixty-fifth birthday, I will leave the project manager position and embark on the retired portion of my life. Both Shonna and I, together with daughter Cindy and grandson Cassidy, son Joseph and wife Rona, and daughter Teresa and husband Kevin, with grandson Shaun, all reside in Calgary and are in constant touch with each other.
In Canmore Seniors at the Summit, ed. Canmore Seniors Association, 2000, p.198-206.
