Various of our forebears have written histories of their families, of how we all came to where we are. While much has been told of where our antecedents came from, including stories by my father, mother and others, nothing has been put down relating to the time Carman Britton came to the Grandview area, so I have endeavoured to put some of this in context from what I have been told and what I remember. It is my hope that it will inspire my brothers and sisters to put in words some of their stories and some of what they have been told. In this way we may have something for our children and grandchildren.
Dad was the oldest member of the family born to Helah and John Britton on May 29, 1900 at Dublin, Ontario (Hibbert Township). I suppose there were several reason for his choosing Grandview as the place he was to spend the rest of his life. First, it seems that Southern Ontario farming area was becoming densely populated and, as there were three sons in the family, it seemed the thing to do was for one of them to go out West.
According to my cousin, Ken, Grandpa had visited Grandview in 1912 and 1913 on one of his horse-buying trips and bought land, and it was on this land that Dad settled.
As well, Grandfather Britton, being a farmer had brought carloads of horses out to the young farmers and already knew the potential. As well his first cousins, William, John, Tom and Jabez Britton had come to the Grandview area directly from England, and so the young bachelor son would be not completely alone on the venture.
Besides, I believe Dad had already had a taste of the “West”, having come out on a “Harvest Excursion” to help relatives with their harvest at Colonsay, Sask. at the time of the Spanish Flu which he contracted, and he always said it was only due to the great care his Aunt Bessie Moore that he survived (a snapshot he had of her makes this remark on the back of it).
So it was that he first came to Grandview in 1919 (this date is not confirmed) Aunt Bertie has sent me a picture of the family seeing Dad off on the train — she being a little girl of three years dressed in a white fur coat. The trunk he brought his possession in is still in my possession over eighty years later. One other item he was given was a wooden tool chest complete with tools for cabinet making. This was always a thing of fascination for me because of the possibilities all those planes could make. Dad was never a carpenter, but it was always a thing of pride to him, as it had been given to him from his Grandfather Britton, who was a carpenter. This chest is now in the hands of his grandson, Kelly Britton.
He was settled on the farm formerly owned by William Cords, (a brother of Grandma Stubbs) on SE quarter Section 27, Township 24, Range 25 situated on the Pleasant Valley Creek, a real asset for new settlers. One of the quarters was called the Diamond Quarter, and I believe the other was the Kitching Quarter.
Aunt Bertie relates that Grandma Britton and she came out to help cook for the harvest in 1920. Then in 1921 Aunt Myra and Uncle Vern came, and in 1922 Grandma and Aunt Bertie came back again.
I guess he was on his own from then on. His Britton relatives and also the Oliver Harris family treated him as family and there are pictures to prove this. This close relationship remained throughout their lifetimes.
I am not sure how Mother and Dad’s courtship started, but I would imagine it would be through the Church. Both the Stubbs and Brittons were staunch Methodists and at that time church was held in the Halton School. Mother had been born in the Halton District on SE Section 30, Township 24, Range -24. and attended Halton school for all her education.
They were married on January 31, 1924 on Mother’s nineteenth birthday. Thus began their over 62 years of married life together — all of which was spent in the Grandview area. The following is the wedding write-up which appeared in the Grandview Exponent at that time
Britton -Stubbs
The home of Mr and Mrs Thomas Stubbs, Halton District, Grandview, Manitoba, was the scene of a very pretty wedding when their youngest daughter Bertha Sophia was united in marriage to Mr George Carman Britton, eldest son of Mr and Mrs. J. W. Britton of near Mitchell, Ontario. The bride looked charming in her beautiful attire of white silk crystal crepe as she entered the altar leaning on the arm of her father, while Miss Effie Britton, cousin of the groom played the wedding march. Miss Annie Britton, also cousin of the groom, acted as bridesmaid, while Mr. Herbert Stubbs, brother of the bride, was groomsman. Rev. J.J. Stewart, of Tamarisk circuit, officiated.
At 5:30 the happy couple sat down to a sumptuous repast. After a short social intercourse in the home, the friends retired to the Ottawa Hall where a grand reception was given. The numerous presents and showers of rice bestowed on the bride and groom bespoke the high esteem in which they are held in the community. The following evening the happy couple left for a short trip visiting friends at Winnipeg, southern Manitoba and Brandon, after which they took up their duties on Pleasant Valley Farm, where Mr Britton has lived for the past four years. The many friends wish Mr and Mrs Britton every happiness in their married life.”
I am still in possession of the wedding dress which was made by a Mrs. Lou Allen, a very capable seamstress.
I was born in September, 1925 in the little rustic shanty roofed place (one bedroom for the family, one for hired help and a good sized kitchen) with an attached outside shed for wood and washing in the summer time. There was a trap door to the dug-out storing place for vegetables and canned goods. An ice house kept the cream cold and sweet until it was delivered to the creameries. I am not sure whether a doctor was in attendance, but I do know Mrs. George Carnochan was there along with Dora Fisher. Mrs Carnochan was the local mid-wife and “Aunt Dora” as she was known was always on hand to “nurse” as she had always wanted to be a nurse.
I have no recollection of it, but as a toddler I was feeding our dog and apparently he was on the scene before me and somehow was jealous and attacked me. I have scars on my face to this day and had a fear of all strange dogs well on into adult hood. Dogs knew it as I can recall at least four times if was bitten before I was through school.
I have looked at the pictures we have of this era and along with my recollections, my memory brings back things I remember.
In spite of the times, my mother always had stylish clothes, perhaps because her sisters, Emily and Ethel, had gone to the city and worked for Eatons, perhaps it was the Batons Catalogue. Also both mother and Grandma Stubbs were excellent seamstresses.
I remember when Donnie was born March, 1929, she took over the crib, which also is still in the family (my daughter, Lynn, has it in her possession) Donnie was born in the new Grandview Hospital and delivered by Dr. Shortreed. I remember mother being in the hospital for eleven days – a far cry from the short stay of new mothers today
I remember the hired hands we had in the summer. During this period young “raw” Englishmen would emigrate and work for a pittance ($5.00 per month and board, I believe) for the summer then report back to the city never to be heard of again. I often wondered whatever became of them. They certainly had no farm training, and it must have been terribly difficult for them. The first one, Sidney Bishop, I do not remember, but can still hear Mother laughing over her experiences with him. Ronald Phillips came next and perhaps fit in best, I liked him and can remember when we had our pictures taken with the calf with the frozen ears, and with our new dog, Sport, of whom I was not afraid, but loved.
It must have been 1929 at this same time, Uncle Vern, now a banker in Saskatchewan came to visit and thus began my fondness for my favorite Uncle.
The first birthday I remember was my fourth birthday when my Dad took me for a ride around the field on a hot fall day on the binder. My birthday present was a pair of “overalls” which later got me into trouble — the only spanking I can remember. Donnie was just learning to walk and I stood on a chair a swung them around hitting her in the face. Mother was not amused.
I remember us going to Dauphin to have our portrait taken at Smordin’s. I would be five and Donnie one and a half. I was so proud of my yellow Fuji silk dress with the organza collar that mother had made, and I believe mother told me that the dress Donnie wore was one loaned from a cousin, Annie Mitchell.
It was about this time the depression hit and we find there is a lack of family pictures – or perhaps the old box camera went on the fritz.
Christmas 1931!!! Uncle Vern was going home to Ontario for Christmas and he offered to take me to spend Christmas and meet my Grandparents and eastern Aunts and Uncles for the first time. I do not remember being frightened leaving my parents for the first time, but only remember it as a great adventure. The problem was I had to meet Uncle Vern in Winnipeg. The only way to do that was to travel by train. The train for Winnipeg came through Grandview at midnight. I can still remember my Dad handing me over to the conductor’s care for the overnight trip to Winnipeg, whereupon Uncle Harry Cutter met me on the platform and took me to Aunt Emily and Uncle Art Farrier’s. There Uncle Vern met me and took me on.
My Grandparent Britton’s home sticks out in my mind as being so large and wonderful: two-story; two stairways; and all those bedrooms! Great-Grandmother now ninety-eight years old. She was deaf and senile and I was scared of her. The real wonder was the Great- Grandparent’s parlor with its special furniture. My Aunt Bertie, being only nine years older than me, was my special companion and remained so. It was my only meeting with Aunt Myra who was not well. I shall never forget my first encounter with oyster soup. My Grandparents were in the custom of celebrating their wedding anniversary on the 29th of December, by going, I believe to Stratford, to pick-up this delicacy. The look of this soup to a prairie girl, who had perhaps never tasted any cream soup at that point, was positively revolting. I could not down it. Of course, there were all the other Aunts and Uncles to make a fuss over me, as I was the first grandchild/niece in the family. No wonder I was not lonesome for home.
By this time sister Helen joined our family and we remember that she not as healthy a baby as Donnie or me. Mother luckily had a “hired Girl” at this time. Her name was Pearl Allin (Harris). Over the years she had help in the summer. Some I remember were Agnes Rae (Powell) Hazel Evans (Legros) and the Kalechyn girls
Normally, one would have thought I would have started school as soon as I became six in the fall. Because I was three miles from school and because it was quite common for “beginners” to start school in the spring to have better weather, I did not start until the spring of 1932. That spring term I lived with my Grandma and Grandpa Stubbs during the week, as by this time they had retired, having sold their original farm, and were now living about a mile and half from the school on “Murray Gordon” farm. So this was within walking distance for me. My Grandfather drove me to school the first day in the buggy with his horse, Rock.
I guess I was lonely, as when school started in the fall I went from home. Dad made arrangements with the Fisher boys, Charlie and Al. I would walk the half mile to the corner and they would drive me to school that fall and winter. My first teacher was Doris Rankin.
That fall, at harvest time, we had an Indian chap stooking for us and, as was not uncommon, he polluted us with lice. Mother kept me home for a week to decontaminate me, and when I went back to school rather than be asked why I was absent in front of the whole class at roll call time, I walked up to her desk and announced,” If you want to know why I was not at school I was lousy.”
The big event of the school year was the Christmas concert, and, after the Pleasant Valley Hall was built in 1929, it was held there. We had to go there for practices. That was a real excursion! Mother was one of the few people who could play the organ/piano in the district and for a number of years was the accompanist for the choruses, marches, drills we used to perform.
The Pleasant Valley Hall was built by volunteer community labour and was opened in 1929 with a stage, small kitchen and cloak room. My Dad was only one of the founding directors and it was a nostalgic day, fifty years later, when we were all able to come home and help celebrate its anniversary. By that time Dad was the only one of the few originals there to celebrate. It is a credit to the Pleasant Valley Community that the club is still active and the hall, I believe, is the only one still in existence from that era in the Grandview area. The dance floor was always recognized, and still is, as one of the best in the area, because of the special construction. Some twenty years after the hall celebrated its 50th Anniversary Dad’s grandson, Kelly, took his turn as President of the Club his Grandfather had been involved in at the beginning.
The first event I remember was an Elocution Contest, at which I was the youngest participant and received a little leather Birthday Book which I still have. The first 50th Wedding Anniversary was for a Mr and Mrs Lou James. They sat on rocking chairs on the stage all evening while the evening’s proceedings took place.
Our first experience of a Fish Pond took place as a fund raiser at one of social occasions at the hall. This was a disaster for Donnie. She had spent her five cents and proceeded to find out what a wonderful surprise she would get. I wondered where she had disappeared to, and found her in the bottom bunk of the cloak room coughing and spitting. She had chosen what turned out to be a bag of fresh whole nutmegs, and thought they were edible nuts.
Of course, Friday night dances throughout the winter were a must. If those walls could talk, there would be many a tale to tell. The music was usually played by local musicians, many of them members of the Fisher family and Les Orr.
In the early days a group would put on a one-act play each season, and Mother was always a willing participant in these productions some of the other actors in these productions were Clark Cowling, Dora Fisher, Dick Fisher and Winnie Fisher, as I remember. They were usually invited to put the play on at other locations – sometimes in Grandview where other communities would compete. The one I remember was “For Pete’s Sake.”
I believe it was on one of these occasions we were returning from a practice that we saw the most spectacular meteor shower. It was every bit as spectacular as the one that occurred in the fall of 2001. Riding home in a horse and buggy on a dark August night before electricity graced the countryside made it all the more eerie.
Miss Rankin left Halton at the end of June that first year and Florence Campbell (Cowling) came. She must have taken a liking to me and I suppose I was a bit precocious, and by her standards, must have found me hard to keep busy. So before I knew it, by June 1934, I was promoted to Grade 5.
My last winter at Halton (1934) was one to remember. By this time, Mom and Dad thought I was old enough to ride horseback to school on the placid old roan named Bella. That winter I was plagued with a rash of boils on my seat. Suffice is to say, I could not go to school every day, because they were so painful and they had the strange habit of a new one sprouting up during the day, and I can remember riding with one leg raised up on my old Rogers Syrup lunch pail to relieve the pressure on my poor bottom.
The depression had taken its toll and Dad had had to borrow money to carry on his farming. There was no way he seemed to be able to get ahead. So he decided (or it was decided for him) that he would give up the Pleasant Valley site (a very hard thing to do, and one which displeased his father much). He had taken a patent on a homestead located on NW 32/24/25 and decided to start over again.
I do not ever recall the feeling of being poor or deprived. We always had food on the table, our own meat and good old salt pork in the summer, along with fowl and canned chicken; and always fresh beef and pork in the winter. My mother was always able to have us well dressed and warmly dressed in the winter (which was not the case for some of our school mates) One thing I have noted from pictures is that the white faux coat I had as a toddler also served Donnie and Helen. There were other hand-me-downs we were lucky enough to receive from various relatives.
A sad event happened at this time. Dad’s sister Myra, who had been ill off and on for several years, passed away, so, for the first time since coming west in 1919, he returned to his home and it was Donnie’s turn to meet all the eastern relatives. She would have been five at that time and has her memories of that special visit.
When school was out in June, 1934 we moved the 5 1/2 miles to our new home in Rose Ridge. I believe Dad had acquired the homestead in 1929. By this time Dad had even had to give up driving the Model T. The day of the final move was made with Mom, Donnie, Helen and I driving the horse and buggy – along with our cat Georgie, who did not take to the new life and somehow found his way back to the old farm and lived out his days with the tenants who took over the place — the Steinwandts. But a cat who had been somewhat of a pest at the Pleasant Valley Farm had been taken to the homestead the previous winter to control the mice in the barn and granaries that dad already had on the homestead, suddenly appeared again, with the tips of her ears off from frost over the winter.
Dad had a fair amount of land broken on our quarter, and had a log horse barn, and the land had been fenced, so the cattle could pasture. I believe we had about six horses and a number of milk cows and calves. The cream, which was separated after each milking, was picked up regularly and delivered either to Gilbert Plains or Dauphin Creameries. At first we had to take it to Norman Watson’s for pick up. The “corduroy” over the muskeg east of our place became impossible when it rained. The money gained from selling cream, and the sale of eggs was the source of our food, clothing and sometimes the pay for the hired girl.
Talking about horses, one of Dad’s original horses “Old Bill,” a quiet old white horse lived out his retirement years on the new home. He was 21 years old when he died.
That summer we lived in two granaries, while our new house was being built. The local contractor, C.V. Harrison, poured the basement (which proved to be of very poor quality cement and caused no end of problems over the years). Rutledge Clark was the carpenter, who was also a local farmer, managed to make it possible for us to move in the day of the first snow (I believe, September 29). I cannot remember the state of the house but it was a vast improvement over the granaries (one of which was still in existence on the farm in 2000, being used by Kelly as a sheep shed and we told him some or our experiences).
I do remember that Dad and Mom acquired their first bedroom suite from the Eaton’s catalogue at this time. We kids still had straw ticks, which were forever ripping and what a mess they made.
That summer was another hot one and there was a series of violent electric storms. We had always been warned to stay away from fences during an electric storm. I can still recall counting the gates Dad had to come through with his horses from the fields and breathing a sigh of relief when he appeared safely. I believe one of the neighbors had been killed by lightning, so this was impressed on us. Another time, Mother had left me looking after Donnie and Helen while she went wild strawberry picking (a real delicacy) and a terrible electric storm and wind came up. We were terrified. The big black poplar trees from our yard had not yet been cleared and I watched as one fell on one of our cows – what a relief when she crawled out from the tree unhurt, and an even greater relief when Mom, who had become somewhat lost, finally reached the fence line and followed it home.
In the fall I started off to school on my own. Donnie would have started the next spring after she reached the ripe age of six. With only a mile to go to school it was a piece of cake to walk. Other than the Brooks, we had the shortest distance to go. We walked that mile even on the coldest days, though on the very coldest Dad did take us. We were all bundled up in our long underwear, hand knit stockings that Grandma Stubbs had made us, Indian Moccasins and scarves.
My first teacher at Rose Ridge was Beatrice Powell. I still remember her beautiful handwriting. Next year came Miss Meldrum who was my teacher the rest of my rural school days. There were eight grades in a one room school (as had been the case at Halton). By this time I was in Grade 5. Our extra activities always stood out.
1935 was a banner year. We welcomed Aunt Marie and Uncle King Salton for an early summer visit. They arrived by car and as owners of a pharmacy they brought us a great amount of treats. The one I remember most was a full box of spearmint gum (perhaps 24 packages) and I stole into the pantry many times a day and helped myself until they were gone.
I did not realize (we were really naive those days) that my mother was very pregnant at this time. These were the days of mud roads and when it rained they were almost impassable until you hit the gravel road at “Alexander’s Corner.” Doctor Shortreed had brought Donnie and Helen into the world, but by this time there was a new doctor in town and so brother Jack had decided to come on a rainy wet August 2, 1935, and somehow Dad managed to get to Norman Watson’s to phone the doctor and cousin Dora Fisher – the one who had always wanted to be a nurse. Dr. Peacock and Nurse Caroline Clay arrived in time. As we all sat around having breakfast Dad told us very proudly we had a new baby brother, and he had a son.
In the summers, from then on, we seemed to have visits from aunts, uncles and cousins. I loved those times and was always sad when it came time for them to leave. In 1936 Aunt Emily and Eileen came to visit and timid little Eileen was introduced to farm life, and came back several times after that.
By this time things were improving on the farm and Dad was able to add a new hip roof barn to the yard. Donnie and I (myself at ten and eleven) were enlisted to help with many things, picking scrub from newly broken land, tramping hay, and milking. One job Dad finally gave up on asking me to help with shingling the bar. I was so terrified! On reading this paragraph Jack reminded me of how he had been told Donnie had no fear of the heights as I had, and Mom nearly had a heart attack to look out and see her walking around on the top of the hip roof. She was warned in no uncertain terms to stay still till Dad went up and brought her down. This reminds me of another Donnie story. In the fall of the year I started high school Dad had come to town with a load of grain by horses, when he received an SOS phone call that a prairie fire was threatening the farm. He was able to get a ride out by truck, along with me. (I think it was Ted Clegg’s Truck). By the time we got there a number of other neighbors had come and were busy building fire breaks and gathering water as best they could. It was terribly windy and the fire was running fast. Donnie was given the job of standing on top of the sod roofed pig pen to watch for sparks landing when a terrible wind – almost a cyclone – came up. I was in the house and was terrified and screamed at her to get down — which she did. Then a miracle happened. The wind suddenly changed direction and burned away from the farm site. Of course there were still hot spots, but everyone counted their blessing.
So time marched on. The summers were a busy time on the farm. We had little time to go on holidays but welcomed our city relatives. We again had a playhouse. Dad managed to latch on to a caboose that the local wood-cutter had left behind one spring, and it was set up between the garage and the lumber pile, which, much to our consternation, sometimes harbored the odd snake. Helen was absolutely terrified of them and on one occasion went into hysterics
Summer Sundays were often times of entertaining or visiting the cousins in the area: The Mitchells, Jabez Brittons, and the Harrises. These days always included a trip to the garden to see how things were doing and comparing notes. Many a time there was a ball game among all ages.
Our raspberry picking excursions into “Old Tom Hays” place were an experience in itself. It was a weary group that came home at night, and faced the next day with canning our reapings. There were no freezers in those days — no electric lights nor running water either. It was a time of canning vegetables (peas, corn, and beans) for winter use. To keep us interested, we had races to see who could pod peas the fastest. Picking potatoes was usually reserved for Thanksgiving week-end – earlier if the weather seemed to be closing in. They had been planted on Victoria Day, May 24th.
Somewhere in here Dad acquired a new car – a 1927 or 28 Chevrolet and we always went to the usual summer activities like the Tamarisk Picnic, the Gilbert Plains Fair, and the big excursion of the year was the Dauphin Fair.
Roads were not kept open for car travel in the winter, so our means of travel was a horse driven “van” with a heater inside to keep us warm. Unfortunately, I tended to get sick in this vehicle and we would just be making good time when I would moan, “I’m sick” upon which they would open the door and put me there with my head out. It chilled everyone else off. If that did not work, I would get out and walk behind for a while. Eventually we got to our destination.
Mother and Dad still maintained their strong affiliation with the Pleasant Valley Community, and all its activities. Church in the summer with Student Ministers was a regular (Mother often played for the Sunday Services). She had a few lessons, but was mostly self -taught. She was a charter member of the Pleasant Valley “Busy Bees” which later became the Women’s Institute. We look back now and think of Mom as one of the first liberated women in the community. She was one of the very few women who drove a car and was counted on to chauffeur district women everywhere. For Dad it was never too much bother to keep the younger children while she was attending a Busy Bee meeting. If he had to work in the field, he just took the wagon out and let us play in it.
The fall harvest was an exciting time when the cutting and stooking was being done, and later the threshing gang arrived. Mother usually had hired help. The lunches to be taken to the field for the workers and all the meals had to be prepared because, if the weather was good, it was non-stop work.
So it was on a clear September 3 morning in 1939 Clarence Squance arrived to start threshing and announced that war been declared. By this time I was in High School. We were fifteen miles from town. There were no school buses then. So I was fortunate that Grandma and Grandpa Stubbs had moved to town by this time and I was able to stay with them. So in essence from that day on, at the age of thirteen, I was only home a very few week-ends and on Christmas, Easter and Summer Holidays. In fact, Bertie was not born until I was in Grade Eleven. Mother made sure the same thing did not happen as it did with Jack and she stayed in town a few days in advance, and Bertie was born in the hospital in August, 1941. You can see I missed most of Bertie’s growing up. The times I did get home were always precious to be with my family.
High School saw many of our classmates, both male and female, join the services. Luckily most of them came back. These were happy years in spite of the war and, on graduation from Grade 12, there was a shortage of teachers and graduates were allowed to teach on “permit”. That first while, to be guaranteed of a job immediately upon graduation you took a six weeks course at the Normal School in Winnipeg. Larissa Demchuk and I decided to take the course. In retrospect it was one of least happy experiences of my life. I was sick with a severe case of laryngitis that just hung on. I stayed with my Aunt Emily and Uncle Art Farrier, and mostly walked to and from Aubrey Street to William Avenue. The old Normal School was a decrepit old building, the heat was unbearable, and to this day I do not remember anything that was applicable to the adventure I was to be on.
In a way I was lucky to be given Mountain Gap School, which was adjacent district to Rose Ridge, and fortunately, or unfortunately, I knew most of the children, one of whom was older than me. I guess I felt ill prepared to cope with eight grades and a grade-nine student taking his Correspondence Course. I really wonder how much they really learned that year. In any event, I had been persuaded by Dad to give it a try and at the end of year I had decided that teaching was not for me. My salary of $720 for the year did enable me to acquire a reasonable wardrobe and save a little for my next step. I decided to take a Business Course at the Angus School of Commerce. I thoroughly enjoyed it, with the exception of shorthand – a skill I never did achieve to my satisfaction. I had completed all the course, except the shorthand, and was offered an assistant’s job in the book-keeping department in the second season and allowed to take the Shorthand Courses at night. In the spring of 1945 I went out into the business world, first working for a public relations venture, then a plumbing and heating firm. Finally, in 1947, I worked with Toledo Scale Company, where I met my future husband, Bill. By October, 1947, we were married and off on a new venture, because he was transferred to Thunder Bay immediately after we were married.
We were married at Grandview United Church, with the reception held at the farm, with only close friends and relatives present. The usual custom would have been to have a wedding dance at Pleasant Valley Hall, but due to Bill having to be on his new job on Monday, there was no time for such frivolities.
Here I leave the story for other members of the family who were still in Grandview, to relate their stories of growing up in Grandview. Donnie in High School, Helen and Jack at Rose Ridge and Bertie just about to begin.
Briefly, within a few years prosperity returned.
When their 60th Anniversary rolled around, we decided to try and get the family all together at Christmas 1983, just prior to the actual date, when we all congregated at Elkhorn Ranch at Clear Lake (all except Tracy and Dave Taylor, as she was awaiting the arrival of Katey and Robin and family were unable to come from Invermere) Each family had a Chalet and we celebrated a catered dinner one night and otherwise took turns making meals. It was quite a crowd on Christmas morning as we all gathered in Jack and Veronica’s chalet to open presents Christmas morning. The Britton Family certainly proved their hardiness as we all drove through a blinding blizzard to get there. Bill had to turn around and drive back to Brandon to pick up the Swiss Family who were determined to be there, even though Lynn and Jim had to take Shane out of hospital to come (he survived it all well). Our greatest relief was when the Roome family finally arrived from Fort Saskatchewan late Christmas eve. By the next morning it was still bitterly cold, but the snow had quit, and Dad was eager to go on a sleigh ride with all his kids, grandchildren and great grandchildren. We all have happy memories of that get-together.
For their community celebration, they asked that their 60th be celebrated by a gift of the community of a plaque to recognize Rose Ridge School, which like all country schools, had been removed from the site. Many former students and teachers were able to be present, along with local dignitaries. This was followed by a community celebration at the Pleasant Valley Hall. It was a really fun event with a program being contributed by the friends in the community. Mother had been Secretary Treasurer of the school district for 27 years until its closing in 1964, when the school district was consolidated and all children were bussed to Grandview.
Their last anniversary of 62 years was a get-together at Bertie and Fred’s, which also recognized Mom’s Birthday, which was the same as their anniversary.
Thus closed the book on two lives lived to the full — having spent over 62 years of life together.
