Memories

(from Wayne’s Storyworth memories) These events happened a lot on our farm in the 60’s. Mom was terrified of them. She would get us all out of bed and down to the living room. Often the power was out so we all sat in the dark till it has over. In the dark you could look out the window and watch the lightning racing across the sky. You would often see Beatrice, Melvin and Randy Sullivan driving around in the middle of the night. Beatrice was so afraid she wouldn’t even stay in the house. The belief was that… Read more: Thunderstorms and Lightning

(Wayne’s Storyworth) Before the government decided that only their supporters could sell milk , farmers had a way of making a few dollars by selling milk, cream and butter.(More on this in a future story about Chester). We had many chores on the farm in the 60’s . I was six years old in 1960 and was expected to contribute to the vast enterprise of dads farm when I was able to walk and carry something. Often what I had gladly done to be more like dad quickly turned into something that I wished I had never learned how… Read more: Making Butter

Answering the question, “What motivated you to go to graduate school?” Well it is the 60’s . It’s Christmas. I wake up and wait for dad to light the fire in the wood stoves. There was one in the kitchen and one in the living room . An annex and a box stove. After the down stairs warmed up a bit we were allowed down stairs to see what Santa had brought. Dad had to wait for Santa to come down the chimney before he lit the stoves or Santa wouldn’t come. There it was – an electric train… Read more: Higher Education (Wayne’s Storyworth)

Answering the question “Have you ver feared for your life?” Dads tractor had no brakes among other broken stuff . Learning to drive this way was truly dangerous. Its funny how it became normal to expect things to suddenly go from boring to near death in a few seconds on the farm.  We were haying in the back field which required going over a hill to get to and from the field.  The normal setup was Dad on the tractor pulling the baler with Emmett on the wagon behind the baler stacking the bales. The second tractor sat idle.… Read more: Flying Emmett (Wayne’s Storyworth)

Lets see. Getting my Electric Train. Getting my Mold Master. Using Wendy’s Easy Bake Oven. Getting my Red Tractor when I was two(That I still have) Christmas in General Phillip coming for a visit in the summer (we built the tree house together) The sound of rain on the roof (I could sleep in, didn’t have to work) Hiding in my tree house (having a smoke). Building the tree house. Learning to drive the tractor ( I was about 5 ) Going swimming at Joe and Jake’s Going swimming at Edna and Cliff’s Going swimming at Champlain park and… Read more: Favourite Childhood Memories

My bedroom from when I can remember till we moved away from Rutherglen when I was 13 in 1967. It was on the second floor north-east corner of the old farm house. Part of the ceiling was slanted to match the roof of the house. It had one window facing east. Had bunk beds with wagon wheels on them on the North side. Had a tall dresser on the south-west corner. Book shelf on north-east corner. Closet with a door north-west corner.  I can remember catching fire flies and letting them go in my room at night. I could… Read more: My Childhood Bedroom

Oh yes . I was there several times. I can remember four.  It was a 20 mile drive from Rutherglen to the Civic Hospital in North Bay Ontario. Once for stitches on my right knee. Caused by a peace of glass on the ground and wearing short pants .  Once to get a sliver ( it was very large ) removed from beside my right eye. Caused by following Buster under a spruce tree without paying attention. Once to get a burn on my back bandaged up. Caused by reaching across the kitchen table and bumping moms arm that… Read more: My Hospital Adventures

In the beginning I tried to take piano lessons from Aunt Edna. This didn’t work out. I couldn’t sit still long enough. Music was all around me however when I was little.  Uncle Emmett was an excellent fiddle player . He competed in fiddle contests in Mattawa and won a few. He also played at square dances . Its a shame he didn’t make use of this skill when he retired. I think he tried giving some lessons .I guess living in Rutherglen wasn’t a great place for a music teacher. Elmo’s wife Marie was a fiddle player too.… Read more: Music in My Life

Yes we moved in 1968. I Was 13 and living in Rutherglen ,Ontario GPS co-ordinates 46.256409, -79.080538. Dad and his brother Emmett ran 400 acres as partners . Dad also drove school bus to make ends meet. Dad slipped a disk in his back throwing hay ,around the summer of 1966. The building they where putting the hay into was an old brick school house. It was never intended to store hay in . The windows where too small and too high off the ground. They should have knocked a bigger hole in the school house. It was difficult… Read more: Childhood Moves

The best Christmas we had was when I rented the chalet on Sylvan Lake in Alberta. But I already told that story. Most Christmas’s we managed to get together some where. Red Deer , Bentwood Bay, Saskatoon . It depends a lot on the weather . Last year 2023 was great there was no snow believe it or not. We drove to Red Deer no problem. I can remember when we lived in Blind River we would load the kids into the car and head for Timmins then load them up again and head from Timmins to North Bay.… Read more: Christmases

I grew up on a farm so my world was full of animals. Not many were considered pets however ,even my dog Buster had a job to do . We had 1 dog, 13 cats , 20 cows , 1 bull, 2 horses , 50 chickens , 1 rooster, 20 sheep and  1 pig. Busters was the same age as me and was sort of my brother. He was a white and orange border coley(Heinz 57) .His job was to bark like crazy if any wild animals came around . He saved my life once by attacking the bull… Read more: Pets I Had

With out a doubt it was CJ97. Thanks to the support from companies like Esso , Flint , etc. in Whitecourt we raised $30,000 selling sand bags to the oil patch. We rented a grey hound bus and sold the empty seats to other scout troops (Kitscotty , Marthorp ) . We took 30 kids from Whitecourt. The Jamboree went off without a hitch thanks to the premium planning by scouters and Thunder Bay city officials, and countless helping citizens. Over 13,000 scouts, parents, volunteers, and leaders made this event into one that is still remembered fondly today, and… Read more: Favourite Scouting Memory

Start with Amy .. watching her  and her friends jumping around in the wreck room dancing to “Girls Just Want to have Fun”. Joey .. Having the doctor wrap his whole head in a bandage after he burned his face with gun powder in Powell River. Thank god he had his glasses on. He went trick or treating with the bandage on that night. He didn’t really need the bandage. It was a joke between me and the doctor.  Darren .. tracking him down at CJ93 in Kananaskis Alberta. It took me a while to find him. He was… Read more: My Children

Dad was a farmer who quit farming when he was 50 because he hurt his back. To go from farming to being an hourly paid employee took a lot of courage. With some help from his friends he pulled it off.  One of dads sayings was “If you can’t say anything good about somebody don’t say anything at all” . Dad was a past master of the Mattawa Masonic Lodge 268. Much of what dad did was because he was a Mason. I know they helped many people that were in trouble. Dad was a supporter of the United… Read more: Admiration for My Dad

Helmcken Falls, in Wells Grey Provincial Park in BC.  Desolation Sound Marine Park , Lund , BC. I’ve been to Europe , Australia , Arizona  all over Canada but the two above are pretty unbelievable. To see Wells Grey properly you need a canoe and tent . You can see the falls with a car but not the volcanoes and true wilderness of the park .  Candle Lake Sask .. Northern Lights Candle Lake Sask .. 50 teenage Canada Geese with 5 mothers all in one flock on the beach. The mothers were watching me very carefully but they… Read more: Most Beautiful Places

What was my mom like? My mom was awesome. She always had my back . Even made my sisters angry because she spoiled me so much.  She was a city girl who had to become a farmers wife and she did most things better than the farm girls like. Knitting , CREWEL EMBROIDERY, CROCHET, QUILTING , SMOCKING , she made shirts and pants too. I learned knitting , embroidery and sewing from her. She was into many crafts too like copper tooling, paint by numbers. Mom was a leader / member of the 4H , UCW(United Church Women) and… Read more: What was Mom like (from Wayne)

A drink of iced water. When doing hard work like loading and unloading wagons full of hay-bales on a hot summers day there’s nothing better. Camping . watching the fire burn and tending it. Going for a bike ride through the camp ground. Meeting different people at the camp ground. They all seem to have interesting stories about why they are at the camp ground. Like: just got divorced. Looking for a job in Alberta (They were from New Brunswick). Installing wind turbines in the summer and living in Florida in the winter. Watching the wild life .  The… Read more: Simple Pleasures

My favorite store was “The Joke Shop” on main street in North Bay , Ontario. Why? You could buy itching powder and little fire crackers to put in cigarettes. The itching powder was sprinkled down my sisters back . The little fire crackers were pushed into the end of a cigarette . When somebody bummed a smoke you would give him the one with a fire cracker in it. When you lit the smoke for him it would blow up. The smoke ended up looking like a peeled banana.  The store had many neat things in it. (Originally written… Read more: Wayne’s Favourite Childhood Store

There’s a few things to point out in this picture. Dad had a push-lawnmower that he obviously hadn’t used in awhile. The tub was our “swimming pool”. My memories of it were very exciting. As you can see by my face I was totally happy. The “playhouse” is behind us. I’m told, it used to be the chicken coop and it was in a different location. But Dad moved it here for us to use as a playhouse. It also was very exciting. And then there’s Buster!! Our fantastic, great dog. Half collie, half husky. The best dog ever.… Read more: Random Memories of Wayne and Wendy

This picture is one that I had developed from a box of negatives that I found in the old Pennell home in Rutherglen.  This clothesline stand is a big memory for me and was still there beside the porch door when we moved from house in 1968.  Although I can’t make out her face well, I’m assuming this is my grandmother, Alice Pennell. This stand was Buster’s (our family dog) summer home.  Off to the left, you can see someone on a ladder, likely picking apples from the small crab apple tree that was beside the house.  It was… Read more: The Clothes Line Stand

We moved from the farm in 1968.  Its hard to believe I was close to being 12 years old – I seemed so much younger. This is my “childhood” memory of the layout of the farm.  Aunt Liza’s (Eliza Pennell) house is no longer there and our house burnt to the ground some years after we moved.  The “Pioneer Baby Graves” (“Indian Baby Graves”) were not graves – that’s just what Dad said they were.  They were just different shaped mounds.   Wayne built a fabulous tree house in the Forest (bottom right).  The “Lamb Pasture Hill” (bottom centre) was… Read more: Our Farm

Introductory Memory from Wayne of the fields in front of the house: I can close my eyes and visualize just about any part of the farm. Its all still there. Getting a little foggy but still in pretty good shape. So let’s take a look at the front fields… On the left I see hay which also called timothy. It blows in the wind like waves on the ocean. In the middle on the field there was a rock with a sharp edge on the top of it. Dad had Fielding McLaren dig it out one year. There is… Read more: Living in Rutherglen