Hayley's Interview
Q:
Where were you born?
A:
I
was born in Grahamdale, Manitoba on April 11, 1944. Grahamdale was just a small town with a Nursing Station were
the babies were born at that time.
Q:
Where
was your first house?
A:
I
lived on a farm by Lake Manitoba. We
were about 13 miles from the nearest town so it was quite isolated at that time.
Q:
Which school did you go to?
A:
I went to school at a little country school called New Scotland.
It was a 1-room school house with grades 1 to 8.
About 15 kids went to that school. Some
of the years I took home schooling because we were about 4 ½ miles from the
school and especially in winter there was too much snow & too hard to get
there.
Q:
Who were your friends?
A:
One of my closest friends was Margaret Atkin & she is still a good
friend today. She only lives about
5 miles away from me now. There was also some other girls named Shirley Atkin, Donna
Meisner & Shirley Tiemer.
Q:
What games did you play at your school?
A:
They games we played were outdoor games because the school was just small
so there really was no room inside to play.
We played baseball, anti-I-over, football, all pretty much outside stuff.
Q:
Did you have any sisters or brothers, & what were they like?
A:
I had 3 sisters. 1 older
named Esther & I have 2 younger sister named Mabel and Linda.
We all sort of played together because we lived quite far away from
anyone else. My sisters were my
playmates.
Q:
Did you have any pets?
A:
We always had pets. I
remember my cat was Cloudy and he was a big, fat, grey cat.
And through the years we also had various dogs.
One of them was Buster and one was Sandy.
We also had other farm animals around such as lambs too.
Q:
Which pet did you like the most?
A:
The cat Cloudy was my favourite pet.
MIDDLE
YEARS
Q:
Which school did you go to?
A:
I
continued going to the same school until I was grade 8.
Then I took what was called correspondence & I went to school at the
same school at the same time for 2 years. Then
I went to Steep Rock.
Q:
Who
were your favorite friends when you were older?
A:
Let
me think. I had 2 friends named
Irene & Verna Leon. They are
friends that still remain my friends. They
were the long ones.
Q:
Did you usually stay home or did you go out at night?
A:
No we stayed at home pretty much.
Q:
What was your favourite food?
A:
Any and everything. I
enjoyed all kinds of food especially the fresh garden vegetables.
Q:
abDid you spend most of your time inside or outside?
A:
abWe spent most of our time outside.
Being on a farm, we were expected to help out with the chores, so we were
outside a good part of the time.
Q:
What were your talents?
A:
My talents were very limited. I
did learn how to knit & other than cooking.
I never did play any musical instruments.
Q:
Did you usually invite friends over to play?
A:
Not very often because our friends lived quit a ways away and the roads
were usually very bad. In the
winter they were full of snow and in the summer they were muddy because they
didn’t have no gravel on them at that time.
Q:
How did you get around?
A:
Quite often we went by horseback. Ester
& I went on horseback to visit the neighbors.
(Hayley: You’re lucky.) We
did have a car though but we only went out when the road was dry.
Q:
Did you enjoy school?
A:
When I think back, I have good memories of school.
But like most kids, at that time I probably thought it was a drag.
LATER
YEARS
Q:
Was it
easy leaving home?
A:
I
didn’t find it too hard because I would only be gone 5 days & come home on
the weekend
Q:
Were did you and grandpa meet?
A:
We always knew each other because we only lived about 6 miles apart.
We did go to school together so we always knew each other.
Q:
Why did you choose each other?
A:
Well, I guess we sort of fell in love with each other, that’s why we
choose each other.
We didn’t plan anything, it just happened.
Q:
Which church were you married at?
A:
We were married in a small Lutheran church called the St. Thomas Lutheran
Church. Gordon went there with his
family all his life. The church was
already closed at that time but we used it that day for our wedding.
Q:
When is your anniversary?
A:
Our anniversary is on May 19th,
1962 we got married so this year will be our 40th
anniversary. (Hayley: whoa)
Q:
Were was your first house that you had when you were married?
A:
When we were first married, we lived in Winnipeg.
A rented apartment, in a house, on the 3rd floor at 429
Furby St.. I often wonder if that
house is still standing but it must be very old by now.
Q:
Were your kids good kids?
A:
Oh sure. Parents always think your kids are good kids.
Yah, they were.
Q:
What kind of work did you do?
A:
When
we were first married, I was working at a bank in Winnipeg.
But after Bradley was born, I quit work & became a full-time mother.
In 1965 we moved out to the farm and I farmed & looked after the
house and done stuff like that.
Q:
Did you do lots of chores?
A:
Oh, yeah. When I think back I wonder how I ever did it with 2 small
kids in tow, but it got done. Gordon worked out at a local Lime Plant so he
needed a lot of help. Somehow we
done it.
Q:
Did you have any pets?
A:
We’ve always had a dog. As
long as we have ever been on the farm, we’ve had a dog.
For a while I did have 2 rabbits. That
would be about the extent of it.
Q:
What was your address?
A:
Our address is Post Office Box 62, Moosehorn, Manitoba.
We have to go to town to the Post Office to pick up our mail from the
Post Office Box.
Q:
What was your job?
A:
My job was always farming. Since
we’ve lived out here, I’ve never worked out anywhere.
So I was just a Mother and a Farmer.