Shaun Newman Podcast - SNP Archives #15 - Bernard & Mona Payne

Episode Date: March 3, 2021

Both born in 1936, they've been married for 60+ years and share about their lives growing up on farms near Lloydminster. From $5/day thrashing to 30 kids in a one room school house (21 of them Paynes... thats a whole lot of pain) Sit back and hear some stories from days past. Let me know what you think Text me! 587-217-8500

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Man, the week is just cruising by. I don't know where the days are going. All I can think is spring, hopefully, is getting an awfully lot closer. Today we got the House of Pain in studio, so I hope you'll kick back and relax and enjoy some stories from the past. But before we get there, let's get to today's episode sponsors. Jen Gilbert and team for over 40 years since 1976, the dedicated realtors of Coldwell Banker,

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but I want to shine a light on what they do behind the scenes for our community. Now Heath and Tracy continue to give to projects. Whether we're talking, yours truly, the podcast, the Health Foundation, minor hockey, or other community initiatives, crude master, they're always thinking community first. SMP billboard across from the UFA is just one of the things that read and write is done for me. If you've been in the studio or seen some pictures of the quote on the wall, the Joe Rogan quote, the SMP logo, or if you go down to, I don't know, factory sports and see the cardboard cut out now of me sitting beside. That's right. Some SMP hats and sweaters sitting at factory sports. You can now get some gear.

But that all comes from reading and write the images and the artwork. And I've got to give huge props to Mrs. Deanna Wanler for her hard work and dealing with my brain and how I am. Gartner Management. They're a Lloydminster-based company specializing in all types of rental properties to help meet your needs, whether you're looking for a small office or a 6,000 square foot commercial space. give Wade Gartner a call 780808 5025 and if you head into any of these businesses let them know you heard about them here all right here is your t bar one tale of the tape both born in 1936 they've been married for over 60 years proud parents community members and avid farmers

i'm talking about bernard and mona pain so buckle up because here we go It is August 9th, 2020. Today I'm joined by Bernard and Mona Payne. So first off, thanks for coming in. You're welcome. Now, I guess you're both born in 1936. What are some of the things you remember when you were first growing up? One thing I remember was going back to the war as my uncle was, Byrne Younger, was called into the war. So that's the part I remember about it. You remember him actually being called to the war? No, in the war, I should say.

Yeah, because he was called in 40. So I would only be four. Only four, yeah, yeah. Did he survive? Yeah. And what part of the, what was he called? What part Navy, Air Force? Army.

Army. Yeah. Did he ever talk about it? A little bit, not over. Frank Creech talked a little bit more about it than him at the exhibition meetings. Odd time we'd be into a conversation. Maybe it was just hard times they talked about.

What do you think about the times we're currently in? Not good. You ever seen anything? You both are 84, correct? Yeah. No. Yeah. Yeah, I'm 80th for in November. Isn't that right? I shouldn't be talking.

Yeah, you were born, yeah. So in your lives, have you ever seen anything quite like what we're going through? No, I'd have to say this is hard. I've actually very hard times, yeah. And we're not through with it, yeah. It's the problem. I don't remember much about my early years, just mom worrying about the war.

I can remember when her son was born. She's, oh, my goodness, now I might lose my boy to fight. But that's the only thing. There would have been back then, you wouldn't have had a TV out on the farmsteads. No. You wouldn't have had a radio. You would have had a radio, I assume.

Right. Yeah. Do you remember listening to the radio for reports? Anything along that lines? Not much. We used to listen to Fibber McGee and Molly. Listen to what now? Fibber McGee and Molly.

Isn't that it? Right, I don't know. The Lone Ranger in Toronto. Right. Mom and Dad didn't talk about it much. I don't remember. Adjusting. So was on the radio then that was the, just like a little almost skit?

Mm-hmm. Yeah, half an hour. Whereabouts do both you grow up? I assume, Bernard, you were out in Greenwood? Yeah. And I was in the Durness District in Alberta. And where boats would that be? That's just two miles west of the TV tower.

Oh, okay, yeah. And what was life for a kid like back then? It was just fun as what I remember horseback riding and planting a garden. And we have garden clubs. We were in 4-H garden club. I'm not sure it was called 4-H then. But... I don't think so.

For the kids, I think we didn't. We just grew. We had chores. You remember what some of the chores you had to do was? Get the wood in for the fire and feed the chickens, gather the eggs. What do you think of kids today? They have life pretty easy. They have life easy, but they're life easy,

but they're very, and they're a lot smarter than we were somehow. Do you think so? Well, in a different way. How so? I guess it's all the technician they have stuff, stuff to work with, like adding machines and cell phones, and you can't stump them on a question. So does that make them smarter then, do you think?

Well. It allows them to have a device that makes them. Yeah. Yeah. I listened to some of the chores you're doing and some of the work you would have had to do and the stuff you would have known manual labor-wise and how to milk cows and that's right. We milk cows.

Put in the fields and harvest the fields and pull that all out. Yeah. We were girls, two girls, and we learned to stook. stook bales, not bales, but sheaves. Yeah. All I remember mainly the young days is stacking bales. We used to put up 5,000 bales a year. 5,000. Yeah, and that was a lot of bales when you handled everyone. We had the feedlot then. We went through quite a few.

And everybody helped? Yeah. How many siblings did you each have? Two. I have a, I had a brother. and I have my sister still living. Okay. Yeah. How about you, Bernard?

I got two girls. Two sisters. So the each of you came from three. Yeah. Parents knew each other, too, because they used to visit the parents of our parents. They visited them. So when did you guys meet then? When we were about 14?

Well, we knew each other before, but we were. were kids and we didn't know who we, you know, our parents visited. Their grandparents like were from not too far apart and they visited. So we visited with them. I took her out when we were 16 and then we went together to her 21 got married. At 21 you got married. So that would have been 19. 56. You were 20 and I was 19. But we were both. turned to how many years does I put it out? No, I'm doing the math

in my head and I've been very... Sixty-four. We've been married 64 years this last July. So what can you tell me? What words of advice come out of 64 years? Well, I can say that we had hard times and we had some very good times. Seems like the older

we've got, the better the times I've got. Like the last three years, the boys and they've won three trucks with the cattle. Things like that make it very interesting. Where did you get married? St. John's Anglican Church. Just a little closer to the mic there, Mona. St. John's, Anglican Church and Lloydminster.

Talk straight at the mic. Oh, did I talk away from it? Say it again? No, all good. Did you have a big wedding? Well, to us it was a big wedding. We got married and then had a lunch on our farm in Alberta. Let's see, 150.

And then we went on a short honeymoon. Where'd you go? To Banff, down to, actually to Jasper and then down to Banff, right? Yeah. And then back home. What were you driving back then? 52. GMC after with an old camper, a wooden camper on the back.

So you guys capped? Yeah. What did you guys think? Through the Jasper Banff Trail, what was that road like back then? It was pretty good, yeah. The rest of the rain come in the sides of the camper and everything was wet. Came in the sides of the camper, what do you mean? Well.

No, no, in the roof bump. It was leaking through the roof. Oh, wait. I don't know. On the corner of the roof. It would leak a little. Yeah. Stopped to go to bed and the bed was wet.

She wasn't too rosy. A little different compared to these days where you... Oh, well, night and day difference. You know, these days, for a honeymoon, well, I just, take myself. We went to Mexico. And I, well, we don't, we don't have a camper. We just, you know, if we're going to go, we either tent or you hotel it. That's kind of the thing. But growing up, always growing up, we had a camper in the back of the truck. And you roll out to the mountains and nobody ever really thought about going too much further than that.

No. How about school? When you were growing up, what, I assume, the ones, room schoolhouse? Yeah, both of us in a one room. Yeah. I was 30 children at Greenwood. 30 children at Greenwood. And 21 of us were cousins.

Cains. So nothing's changed. No. When you look back at the one room schoolhouse, what's some things you stick out or you can tell the listener about? You go ahead. Well, it's pretty interesting. We all had a friend, usually in your grade, and we didn't have as a big, I think we had about 18 at Durness.

We had a picnic every year. We always looked at at a Christmas concert. Then we worked for the month of December on the concert. We loved that. We didn't have any schoolwork. Then we had asked every parent to come. and then the picnic was at the end of the school year. And just the wean arose, nothing extravagant but enjoyable.

We rode horse back to school, two and a half miles. One way? One way. Do you remember what time school started back then? Well, I think it was nine o'clock. Nine o'clock. How about electricity? Did you have anything?

Not until 1950. Not until 1951? No. At our place. Some other people had electricity. But then I think the big signing up was at 51. In Alberta, we were 53. So what was the, what did you think when you got electricity?

Well, all you needed was one plug-in was the best thing. And now these houses all got one plug-in. you haven't gotten enough plug-ins. Is it? We needed one for an iron and one for a kettle. And that, Mom thought that was wonderful. That was the first electrical things was an iron and a kettle.

Yeah. What about discipline in the school? Did you ever get the strap or the, well, do share. Yeah, I got it once. I got it once too for something I didn't do, but so I didn't like to teach her very well. But they did get the strap,

and it never hurt us, I don't think. Some kids got it quite a few times. Slow learners. Well, yeah. Yeah. When you see how far we've come now with discipline and not being able to leave and pretty much touch a kid. What are your guys' thoughts on that?

It's good in one way, and I bothers me in another way, I think. Maybe gone just a little too far. I kind of feel sorry for the teachers at times. Well, I can just imagine 21 pains in a school and try not to... How about growing up with sports? sports. Did you dabble in playing anything growing up? Did you have hobbies that way? Yeah, we had a sports day that we, our each school would get together and compete once a year in June, first of June. So did we have a sports day. We went to Streamstown, and before we went there,

we had to pick the best, do the things that you're doing, and take just the first and seconds. everybody got to go. And we had a ball team. We played some of the neighbors in schools. But just competition, there was nothing, big prizes or anything. The honor was a red ribbon. Wintertime was just skating on a slew and we'd get together for wienerose and that. other than that Christmas was a big deal when you got together everybody got together

your family yeah I feel like when I when I talk to the generations before me if there's one day that sticks out it was Christmas time out in the out in the country all the family would pile into a little two-bedroom house

and get cozy and laughter and smiles and everything else is there a Christmas that sticks out to either of you? That was enjoyable for different reasons or? No, all in the worry because we looked forward. The dads got up and

did the Irish polka and everybody did all of, you know, until we were to grade 9 and then we went to, we went from our school to Kitt Scottie to a dormitory and stayed there the week and then went home on Friday

and then we went back Monday morning. We worked with the two of the neighbors, two of the neighbors, six of us, they would go. And that was good. I've heard Shepard telling me about where you boarded and Kid Scotty. Yeah, the girl's dorm and the boy storm. The second year I was there there was too many girls

so the upstairs in the boys' dorm became the grade 11 girls' dorm. That was a bit of a handful for the matron. A little late night shenanigans going on?

Yeah, a little bit. What did you think of going essentially boarding away from your parents? Did you enjoy that? a big thing. If we didn't get home on a weekend, we were just done up. And I was rushing home to see him because he was my boyfriend then. Do you remember what your first date was? Yeah, we went to the theater, held hands. And mom and dad, they waited in the car, so the show was over and we came home. He went home with his parents and I went on with ours.

Mine. Do you remember what movie you went to? Probably Randolph Scott. Western movie, anyway. Was it a drive-in? No, it was in the Empress. Empress, the old Rio. And then the Rio Theater opened up, too.

And you're right, we did go to the drive-in-two after, when Bernie got old enough to drive. What was your first car, Bernie? 28 Shev. I bought it after thrashing with my wages. How much were you earning thrashing? And I had to get my dad to drive at home and we took her home and then I went home. I was a month, I think, or two months off, 16. We made $5 a day thrashing.

Was that a good wage? Well, I guess then it was. How much did you pay for it? The 28th chef. $200. It's a fair amount of days. It was quite a bit then. Yeah.

Because I took all my thrashing ranges. I know that. Then we drove it and then I bought a 38 chef. How about gas? How expensive was gas back then? Well, if I remember right, it was in that 30 bracket. 32, 34 cents. A gallon, not a...

A gallon, not a liter. Yeah. You talk about thrashing. you've in your lifetime I've seen on the farming side a crazy amount of change in size of units cost of units

I mean the ability to just farm more land as a single farm than ever before what what piece of machinery came out and you were like oh that is a godsend or That is amazing.

We couldn't have dreamt that up, but I'm glad we got it. Well, to me, it was the combine to get away from thrashing. Could you talk about thrashing? You know, out on the Newman Farm, we have a thrashing machine just kind of sitting there on a hill. And as a kid, I've probably driven by it, climbed on it, everything a million times. But to see one live and working out on the field, maybe you could walk us through a little bit of that. Yeah, well, my dad owned a thrash, and we thrashed about 10 neighbors.

And there was eight teams with haul bundles like, for to the side. And it was a field pitcher to help speed it up. So would you, would you fork everything onto it then? Yeah. Everything was done with a fork, loading on. How many people would it take to do a field? To, like, thrash a field, like fork it along? Well, there would be the eight teams like men,

and a field pitcher, nine people. Nine people. Then the fellow running the machine and the separator, two people. So 11 people? 11 people would be, yeah. Yeah. That is an operation. Yeah.

It was a fairly big thrash machine. It was smaller ones that took four people. Did you enjoy those days? Yeah, you did because you got together with everyone. In the morning it was early. You had to get up and get your horses ready and six o'clock because you had to be ready to have breakfast at seven and go to the field at eight.

Was it pulled then by horses, a thrashing machine? No, a tractor. A tractor? Yeah. And how long would you work for? How long would a day be? If you're out there for eight and... Six o'clock a night.

In the evening. So 10 hours of... Eight, no, we didn't start thrash until 8. Eight. So it would be to 6. An hour for dinner. Did you ever take afternoon naps of that? You didn't get much of a chance.

The odd place where we went, we had to sleep in a barn in a loft in the barn, two farms. Because a distance away from home it was? Yeah. Do you remember the day that you got your first combine? Pretty well, yeah. And what did you think of that? Like, to just be like, well, we don't have to hire back 12 guys this year. Well, we started with a small one, so we did half combine and half thrashing.

and then we got a large drone and we run away with the thrash machine. Did you think you'd pick the short straw when you got put on the thrashing crew and not on the combine? I made you wonder. I did the combine most of the time, but I guess I was spoiled probably.

How about you guys, you get married, you go on your honeymoon, and then you decide to have six boys. Did you always want a large family? No. I was going to have a perfect family, a boy and a girl. You just wanted two? Yeah.

Quite a difference. That's quite a difference. But we've enjoyed them all. Our thrashing and that was much the same as theirs. Only we were small, did it as a smaller operation like it. They did most of it themselves. They didn't go around and do that. And the women were always busy because they took out dinner to the field

and lunch to the field. And they pack it up. Arboros would now would turn their nose up. You landed in the field with a big box, the sandwiches, and you dig in. They would wonder how you eat it. You know, they're picky. They're picky to sandwiches? Well, it's everybody all over dust and grain and they're all eaten out of the...

But it was good. You know, one of my fondest memories of a kid growing up was harvest time when mom would bring us out supper and it'd all be... I don't know. I always think mushed together and just way you go. I don't know, what was about that, but I always thought that was awesome as a kid. Yeah. We did that for a long time. too after me. I don't know why our crew

we shut down and went into the house for supper. Well, probably proximity. Yeah. Maybe? It was a lot easier for the women to have it in the house and pack it out to the field. They brought lunches out morning and afternoon. Yeah.

Did you keep mixed farm? Did you have lots of animals? Yeah, we had cattle. Well, not, you know. Not many had them. You're dad, pigs? Pigs, ducks, geese, and chickens. And when they're thrashing, the wife is meant to look after all that.

Men have no time. They swear, we remember doing that. I remember with mom she milk cows. My sister had a thing of fainting every time something went wrong. So she had to put her in the manger so if she hadn't fall off anything. Yeah. And then it gradually got so that you didn't have to milk cows. You bought your milk.

But those were good days when you think back on them. You weren't worrying about going somewhere that you didn't need to really. nowadays you've got to take part. I think it's one of the interesting things that happened. I'll even put my hand up with the COVID lockdown that happened where nobody could go anywhere and no sports could happen and no school could go on and no work could happen and everybody just got locked in their house.

Don't go see anybody else but your own family. And you realize geez, don't mind this too much. Just being around my family is quite enjoyable. Although there was probably other people who went, man, I can't stand this. I need to get out of here. But a lot of people realized pretty quick that,

you know, the little place where we hang our hat at night, it ain't so bad, and we don't need to be going 100 miles an hour. No, that's straight. What I felt the worst was coming in for coffee, I missed my coffee and visiting with the good boys. Yeah, because you're out. older and got so he could go and do you go and do that he did miss it he had to coffee with me all day where do you go for coffee a quop a co-op guy oh a co-op guy okay and what time in the

morning are you up for that no i went in the afternoon oh you're an afternoon coffier yeah yeah since his health got poor he's not an early riser because he doesn't sleep good. I have to ask in your coffee row, what are the conversations of, what's the topic of conversations most days? That's hard to believe. You never know what might come out. Do you guys talk about the old days a lot or you talk? More and more of what's happening. Now. Now, odd time old days, if something comes up, somebody's sick, you know, and then you get talking about their family or something. Hmm. Yeah. But you never know what's going to. come out. You know, I'll probably repeat this phrase a thousand times in the next hour, but over

to the span of 84 years, I was thinking, you know, you had the radio, and the television comes out, and you have the paper, that's how you find your news, and then the television kind of, you know, you got the evening news. Can you wrap your head around what we got right now with the ability to have a phone that can just basically connect you with anywhere in the world. And, you know, as soon as anything happens, it immediately beeps your hand. And is that a good thing or a bad thing? Oh, it's definitely a good thing, I think. Yeah.

But we look back, though, and we wonder, what did we do every day? All winter long, you know, it's dark. And you just sit in the house. well, I know we didn't get the television right away, but how could you manage without now?

You know, what do you do? You watch television. Well, back then we played guards most of the time. A lot of cards. We did too. What was the game of choice back then in cards?

Klasta was one of the main ones and a crib for two people. There were different kinds of games, too, that other people had that. Yeah. There was a bridge cop, pardon. Yeah, bridge. Yeah.

Well, I, sorry. Those kids with their, I think they're, I'm not sure these phones are so great when they just sit there, come in here and they're click, click, click. You're way too far away. Oh, sorry. I haven't said anything. I can't enjoy this. Yeah, it's interesting. They don't know how to sit and have a conversation.

We haven't got one. We haven't got a. A new phone? No. You're better for, I don't know. I think you're better for it. It becomes a real... Emergency.

It's a habit. In the back of your brain, you're constantly checking it and just looking and you can't, even when you want to, unless you physically put it away, Well, we've got two grandsons in the yard, both with good ones, and their mother has one. You know, there's four of those phones in the yard. So Bernie and I said, we don't really need one. Surely somebody would be handy.

Boy, some people look at you and think, what the hell's wrong if you not have a phone? Yeah. We have two, three phones in the house. Oh, yeah, but that's... Can we talk about you guys having six boys in a two-bedroom house? Yeah. It doesn't matter to us.

As long as they were boys, it was fine. We started out with the... Burn and I, and the first baby were all in a little room. And then there was just a room with... as the kitchen and dining room all in one. Then we built on a... The second boy came along, we built on a piece that was quite a bit bigger.

We had a living room and a big bedroom. So that bedroom, we had the... All the boys were in one big room, and we were in the little room. And it worked because we had two sets of bunks. One bunk set was a wide one. And there was two on the bottom and two on top.

And the other bunk set was narrow, so there was just one on each. And that makes the six boys. That's how we managed. And no bathroom. That is something that's the best thing that you could have. And no port. wintertime.

The bathroom was the big thing. Yeah. Going to that outside toilet was, in the winter, it was kind of cool. All the daughter-in-laws just shake their head. Oh, dear. But we managed fine. But every move up was very well accepted. So you had an outhouse for a bathroom?

Yeah. Old Eaton's catalog for toilet paper. Eaton's catalog for toilet paper? Yeah, and when it was 30 below them paper, eaten catalog got pretty stiff. We didn't have that a lot. We saved all the apple papers and the Christmas oranges.

Orn't paper that they were nice. That was a treat. Yeah. So was toilet paper too expensive back then? I don't know why. I can't answer that because you're going around to the neighbors and they're like nobody had toilet paper, hey? So I don't know why. So none of the neighbors had toilet paper.

But that's quite a long time. Yeah, that's back, you know, way back. That's even back before our kids came. Yeah. We had toilet paper when our kids came. Yeah, I mean, 50. I'd see about 50 the toilet paper come. Geez, they talk about the COVID toilet paper crisis.

Back then, it would have been Eaton's catalog. Make sure you don't let anybody steal that on you. Yeah. What would you wash your dishes in? Did you have a kitchen sink? No, a dish pan. A dish pan. Oh, yeah, Grandma had one of those back in the day.

Yeah. So you'd fill it up with water. You had a well then? Yeah. A lot of people had a pump in a cistern. Underneath the house. Yeah, they caught that. But we didn't have that.

We did. Yeah, your mom and dad did. So was the cistern just an open pit? Oh, no. It's under the kitchen floor. Right under the house, see? Yeah. Yeah.

We went right up to the floor. Yeah. It's made the cement, isn't it? Yeah, cement. To get water out of the cistern, though, would you pail it? No, it had a pump. It had a pump on it, too. Yeah, a little hand pump.

The big thing with those, you had to really watch, when it's sorry to get full. I get a heavy rain run over in your basement. That's when you really had to watch. Well, you had a basement, but my mom had a cellar, so you sure didn't want the cistern to run over because it was dirt. I take it from time to time the cistern ran over. Yes, you forgot to unhook it.

It rained so much that night. So was it hooked up then somehow to the roof? Roof water? Yeah. Yeah. That's the way it went in, yeah. Do you remember just off the eaves troughs somehow? You had a piping that just ran it down to the...

That's right. ...into the cistering, yeah. Did you drink that water, the cistern water? No. No? No. You hauled your water with a pail for drinking. You just get clean water.

Pump it up from the well. How about... I'm forgetting the word right now. Well, actually sellers. To keep your canned goods for the year. I'd had Tom Hoffman on, and he'd talked about hauling ice up from the river and putting it down in... That's what you did as well? We called it an ice house.

An ice house. A hole in the ground and packed full of ice and sawdust. So would you go to the river then and haul up ice? ice too? No, from a slew south of a three weeks. Oh yeah, duh, you got water around, yeah. So you chop up ice in the wintertime? It feels like life back then, you always had

a job to do to ensure that life was, well, lived. That's true, yeah. You're always doing some kind of a job. Yeah. And cut wood you know, for the

stoves? For the stoves? That was a big job. cutting wood getting wood in yeah for speaking of wood for Christmas would you cut down your own trees did you have a Christmas tree no we used to go up north

and my uncle used to go up and get a load and bring them down and sell them from up north like you're talking just straight across the river straight across the river hewitz landing they called it yeah he was landing so you go across the the ferry and and chop down a bunch of trees

bring them back and sell them yeah we never did that how did dad just bought one usually didn't he yeah in Lloyd they still did that and sold them in Lloyd

and sold them in Lloyd and sold them in Lloyd they didn't get a whole bunch and sell when you used to get together with a group of your friends what did you I'm curious

did you talk about the days happenings where you'd all concerned about politics or um the goings-on of the world or were you just, you know,

we got the field to bring in here this fall and after that it's going to be wood and after that it's going to be this. Did you ever sit and just talk about some issues? My grandmother used to be a bad, I call it a bad one for politics and she'd end up in an argument. So politics did come up then. Oh yeah. She was a strong CCF and the rest of the family who was against CCF, so they had their rumbles.

And CCF is? Was it now? NDP now? Yeah. Bernie's family was so much bigger than ours. Like, my dad didn't have no brothers and sisters. And my mom had just two sisters and a brother. And so we didn't have big families.

gatherings very often. She, her mother's side was the man, she'd know them. Yes, absolutely, yeah. Yeah. We both originate from Barkholness, though. Do you remember the Bar Colmast? Do you remember your, that would be your grandparents then, correct?

Yeah. We had both of mine. We even kept my grandpa when we moved down with the other house. well really did he ever did they ever talk about the travel across the trek to lloyd minster

anything like that oh a little bit I know we didn't I believe myself for not wanting to listen I think he would my grandpa would have definitely he liked to talk

he passed away what two years after we were married right yeah 58 and my grandmother she was of our call them. And she did tell us a few stories. Mom told us a lot of stories that she had told her. They had it rough, though. I don't know how they run out of money. The quarter of land that they

homesteaded on was $10, and he only had $5 to put down on it. So he had to work and pay it off the next year. And that year they lived on Jack Rabbitson, per year. chickens. And their house, they started building a log house with a floor and three logs and then put a tent inside it for the winter. And then put a tent inside of it? Yeah, that was, they didn't get any more logs because they had to bring the logs down in the river, right?

Imagine how cold that was. So, the two families in there, too. Yeah. Sure makes you think when somebody goes, I got friends like this, you'll hear it probably I'll hear it all the time is, you know, I just need a bigger house. And all I got to do is sit and listen to that story and go, man, they would have, you could have had 10 families in the houses we have now. Yeah, yeah.

And now we're starting to hear the odd ones saying, I wish I hadn't built such a big house. Oh, now I've got a lot of housework. Yeah. You've got to watch that way. Yeah. The change in the system, you have bigger the house, and it becomes too much work.

everybody wants an easy life not everybody I guess but a lot of people because they're involved in they get involved in so many things Bernie gets involved in too many things I was going to say you guys were involved in quite a bit I wasn't a lot

I had six to look after that's involved in quite a bit well they were good boys I had a belt Did you have to use the belt on the boys? No, just give a squat on there. And do you want that? She had the belt above the fridge, and if he was going for the fridge,

they'd just straighten up right now. Then he'd come in and spoil everything because he hadn't had to play with them. Oh, so it's Bernard's fault. Yeah. Do you think everybody wanting an easy life breeds, problems? It must do somewhere because there's still

work to be done. It's funny how brothers are so different though too in our family, like in their ways and what they like and what they want to do. We got the two grandchildren there and now Scott's two boys. They're not going to leave the farm, they say.

Raising six children, what were the things you worried about? and when it comes to mind right now drugs is pretty prevalent drinking and driving is pretty prevalent getting tied up in the wrong friend group I guess I would say and them leading you down a dark path that kind of thing

or just well and honestly and now you start to hear more and more about oh kids being molested or things like that, growing with your children growing up, what were some of the things at that time and age that you worried about or were there many things you worried about with them? Oh, definitely.

I worried about drugs because everybody said when they went to junior high, that's when they become involved in them. But I haven't had any trouble, never had any trouble with drugs. You used to worry about it, though. Oh, yeah. Because we had a two or three of the neighbors' kids quite bad in them,

and that makes it a little harder. Was there anything you did to try and steer them away from it? Keep them busy. I mean, there's lots of work to do on a farm, usually anything. High school, too, making sure they didn't go to school with too much money. Because that way they could buy the drugs, eh? And usually if they had very little money, they didn't bother them for drugs. see? Yeah.

And a few things went on that we never knew that nowadays we've heard them tell the little things that... Well, kids are pretty good. I'm sure you two had something you hid from your parents for a long time. Speaking of which, what did you do for mischief back in the day? What was your way of breaking the rules with your parents? I didn't break the rules. Oh, I see. My problem was with my mother. I... I used to seek the odd drink and buy the odd bottle, and she didn't think much of that when I was 14.

What was the drink back then? Was it beer? Or was it something else? Beer and wine. And wine. You could buy a bottle of wine for 60 cents. 60 cents. Yeah.

And we could afford that. And from Lloyd? Or was there a place out? No, Lloyd. From Lloyd. Yeah. And I was never had run into that drinking. We never had no home brew in our area.

It was north. Had to get up around Jumble Hill to get into the home brew. They had school district dances that we all went to. And people got high there, but they didn't bother us because we were young and thought they were funny. For smoking weed. Or whatever they were doing. Fair. Yeah.

That used to be a big thing. Your beer dances in those days would freeze in the sleigh box or the cutter or the back of the truck. He was the one that got into trouble, not me. Yeah. And my oldest kids were pretty good, really. They were all good. They've all had their little missed accidents and ups and downs. and we lost our oldest son.

We only have five left. Mm-hmm. And he left us with a son and three boys. The girl remarried. Kevin and his two brothers. Kevin's a ardent ball player and sports fan. And they seem to be doing pretty good. And he married an ace girl.

He plays with the radiant twins. Okay. I think there's nothing worse than losing a child, even if he was a man. I assume then that was probably one of the toughest days. Yep. You know, you bring up sports. All your kids, I believe, were pretty active into sports. Were they not?

Yeah. Was hockey as big as it is now back then? Or were there? School hockey then, eh? And Lloyd Lake here in local teams. seems like. Yeah. I coached them for nine years.

You coached your kids for nine years. Did you have a line of pains? How close were they all? How close were all six of them? Well, just about average two years apart, right? We had six kids in ten years. Maybe the last two.

It's 1964 and 1974. 1974. You got no running water. You got six kids in a two-bedroom house. You guys should win about 12 awards. It would be about four kids then. We got the water. Yeah, no, we got running water in 63 when Rocky was born.

Except before. How excited were you when you got running water? Oh, it was just great. I could just throw it out the door and to not have to go and carry it up. But we mold a lot of ice lake and that. we always had for washing like we would melt ice

about 100 yards to the well from our house to haul the water how many times a day would you do that oh we were pretty scaringful with it twice a day we're pretty stingy with the water nobody wasted any does it pain you today then to see how much water

is wasted? It's terrible turn a tap on we've got to get it cold and the water's running out that I've given my kids heck come on now you don't need it I'll put a there's an ice jug in the fridge it's hard though when when you don't remember those times right when you turn on the faucet and it just runs yeah and now they got things that make it instantly hot right and just you just you know you have a hard time understanding what some people well, what time before this was like. And we're all terrible in the fact that if it was bad five years ago,

you slowly forget the bad years. Yeah, I can't even remember how I bathed all the kids. It was such a zoo. Did you, with six kids, did you have diapers? Did you do cloth diapers? What did you do? You did cloth diapers. Cloth diapers.

Because you couldn't afford to do you the others. buy like those at least we couldn't wash diapers every day or every two days when you didn't have a dryer you froze them and hope they'd freeze good then lift the thing out

and let them freeze and then lift it back in with the diapers on usually always have diapers in the front room hanging and drying clothes rack stuck in the middle of floor nobody comes so it didn't matter. I'd just love to see these kids try and do what we used to carry out the ashes and keep the fire going.

58 we had a bunch of steers and the cattle went, I forget it was a mad cow disease or something. We lost the, we had tough here two years after that damn dear lost the farm over it, you know? When you say you almost lost the farm What were some of the things going on that Food was scarce? Obviously money was scarce Can't say we ever went hungry Well that's one thing being on a farm

You always got something to eat You don't Big gardens Big garden, yeah She had a big garden Yeah The deep freeze is a wonderful thing. I canned a lot, but it wasn't very enjoyable canning.

You know, I'm reading a book right now about Jim Patterson, and he talks about Saskatoon during the dirty 30s and tent cities and people being broke and not having a job and starving. And Saskatoon gave everybody, Everybody that was unemployed, I can't remember the exact word now. I'm going to screw it up. But it was either unemployed or gave everyone in town a garden plot because they needed a way for them to feed themselves. Wasn't that good?

Like Trudeau to dish in out money. It's a dip. You know what you think about it, it sounds like a long time ago because it's 100 years, right? 100 years sounds like an awful long time. But realistically, that's one person's lifetime. That's the difference they've seen. Well, in the stuff. Summer you pick berries just like everything.

Well, one of my fondest memories growing up was Grandma would take us up Saskatoon berry picking. I mean, pale and pale and pale. Yeah, my mom was a great berry picker. I was terrible. I didn't like berry picking very well. I liked eating them.

Yeah, that's... They used to go up to old Bill Lindsay's there in the hills there, picking them all the time. Well, you wouldn't be that for, far from there. No. No. It's funny because now, you know,

we rely so much on that grocery store to be fully stocked and to have everything. Because, like, in my lifetime, we used to, well, Mom still does, still does raspberry jam and things like that. Yeah. Picks tons of raspberries and freezes them. It picks tons of everything and freezes them. So I still remember doing that, but my kids, you know, unless you, teach them that. We'll never, I mean, unless things go sideways, we'll never have to worry about

that because now you get strawberries year-round. You get raspberries year-round. You get anything year-round. What were some of the things that you were come summertime, maybe? Was there a special treat or a special fruit or food that came into the grocery store that only came in a certain part of the year that you were like excited to have? One I can remember quite quick is pineapple, you think that was quite a treat. Mom had raspberries and she had strawberries and she picked everything and made jam and fruit. And then once the freezer, she froze it and that was easier too and better. One of the biggest things for the ladies, I think, come out in the power was deep freezes.

Get away from your ice house and all that. I mean, it sure helps. Well, now you're not chopping ice all winter long. Yeah. That had to have been hard work. It wasn't that bad. We had an ice saw. You saw blocks of ice like.

Yeah? Then you stacked them in the ice house. Yeah. I used to kind of enjoy that. Especially when we dropped the truck through the water. You dropped a truck through the water. Yeah. Anybody get hurt?

No. It was only about four feet deep of water, but it was a headache to get it out, though. How did you get it out? Did you a tractor to come in? Well, we had to unload the ice for the stock. The back of it was full of ice. Yeah. Then get a pole and blocks and lifted it up and leveled it so we could drive it off, hey?

How cold and wet You couldn't pull it with a tractor Because you drag it against the ice left Yeah You had to lift it up so that it would get out of the water And then pull it back Yeah How

So you were in the water then? Yeah It was It was a little chilly Yeah I was That was before my time Oh yeah

You know we've talked I was about 10 I guess We've talked quite a while now And I haven't brought up cattle or I haven't really brought up cattle. You're known for your purebred. Was that a family thing, or was that a conscious choice at some point? No, that was pretty well.

My own choice. The limousine. Yeah, limousine? Started out. When I started, Dad was commercial. I had two different breeds. But then when I got involved in the farm when I was 16, I started with Angus.

and I got to build the herd up to 120 head of commercial. And then I sold down 100 and bought 10 limousine cows with the money. Everybody thought I was crazy, even the banker. So why did you do it? Oh, I just, we got a four-each calf, parked limousine calf, and it done so good that kind of turned me on the limousine. Well, that was in 73. Yeah, that was late.

like I'm building this up. Yeah. Yeah. But everybody thought you're crazy for doing it. Well, when I sold a hundred cows and bought ten limousine. I thought we were going to go broke. You thought he was crazy too? Yeah.

I said, I don't know how we're going to do it. We've got four cows and we had 40. But the gamble paid off. Yeah. Yeah, it sure has. The last few years, we've won a truck each year for the best. bull and female in Evanton. And now the grandsons have gone into Aberdeen Angus again,

and they got themselves about 60 headed purebreds. So that's working out real good. Why purebred? Was there other than just how well it did? Was there anything else that attracted you? Or was it something, you know, growing up, you thought, gee, we should get into that? I don't know whether I was lucky or what, but in the limousine,

the purebred just seemed to, like you'd. double their triple the money per animal. Yeah. So it kind of turned you on. Yeah. And I always, my life was cattle. Like, I just grew up with cattle. I started showing cattle when I was 12 years old.

Yeah. So there was never anything else for you, don't think. It was, when you were in school, you're like, I'm going to be a farmer. I'm going to be a cattleman. Yeah. Yes, he wasn't a scholar. No. I got out of school as soon as I could.

Did you graduate? No. What grades did you go to? Seven. Seven. What did you go to? She went through school. I graduated.

You graduated? And then I went to Miller's... I can't think what they called it, but it was before... Business college wasn't. In Lloyd here? In Lloyd? Yeah. And then I got married.

Then I got married. Then I got married. taken care of six children. Growing up, what did you want to do? Oh, I was going to be a nurse for a long while, and that took four years, and I thought, we can't wait four years

before we get married. I didn't want to lose them. Love does strange things to you. It certainly does. So, I got Scatterbrain right now, and now I'm popping back to this. With six children in a two-bedroom

house, if you just needed some time to yourselves to just do whatever. How did you get away from six children? Did you have a babysitter? Could you get a babysitter? Oh, they'd go to school. We'd had them. They went bed at nine o'clock, eh?

Eight o'clock. Eight, even some of them. And then my kids went to bed. None of that running back and forth. They were very good that way. I guess I was pretty grumpy. but I don't think I hurt them then we'd visit after that

or play a game of cards between us past the time go to bed about 11 o'clock get to 11 o'clock news and then go to bed then we went bowling once a week for a couple years and the neighbor boy as long as I had them in bed he would come down

and sit an hour for 50 cents or two hours because the time you get in there and get out and get back. It was really reasonable and very kind of him and just sit with them till and then Bernie'd run them home or if he hadn't a vehicle

or he couldn't really leave six of them alone because they're all brothers and they all thought they were the boss. Mom said I'm boss tonight so the bigger ones would say no you're not, you're little turkey. That wasn't

their words either. Oh, dear. Greg was very good, though. He helped me a lot. That was actually the only entertaining we did once a week was come in and bowl three games for something to do. I'd come in once a week and buy my groceries from Mathesons. Okay.

And I could leave two kids in the car right outside the door so I could see them practically. and then two could come in and then maybe two would stay with his mom so nobody got hurt too mad until you look out the window and yeah I couldn't sit hold it mom I had to go to the bathroom

nowadays it would be a yeah you can do that anymore could you? No no George Matheson was very good to me he would let me run out and tell us something they might buy they'd get a treat too if they were good And like treats weren't very plentiful when you had to buy six of them.

The old treat thing seems to work even now these days with children. Well, back in those days, did your mother buy in Green Streets? No, Hillmont? We had the Hillmont store, but I believe, well, no, Mom always went to Lloyd and got everything. If we needed some milk or eggs, we'd go to the Hillmont store. but there wasn't a whole lot by the time I was, well, in my memory, there wasn't a whole lot. There was, in Green Street, by the time I can remember, there was the auto body shop is where we'd go to get some trucks fixed and minor, minor things. Everything else was Lloyd.

Yeah. And once I went to school, I could go, like, didn't have so many to take with me. But now if I bought that box of groceries, it would cost me double three times of amount. You know, what do you pay now for the groceries? Well, the last two months, groceries have gone terrible. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we discussed cattle a little bit, and I've kind of been hopping all over the place on you.

I apologize for that. My brain, I don't know what's up with it today. but you worked in Lloyd X for 37 years? Yeah, I worked the first two years, got paid, and after 35 years I volunteered. And then for 35 years he volunteered. Yeah. What is it about the Lloyd X?

And I don't know, I've lost count on how many people, now that I've sat with, have been people inducted in the Hall of Fame or worked there. what is it about the Lloyd X that keeps people, like 35 years, 37 years, two years, it's a long time. Yeah. What was it about the Lloyd X? Well, first of all, it was 24 directors, eh? And if it was a good group of directors, you got along good in that house.

Sure, you know, made a difference. And there was so many committees, there was always something a little different. You could get on a different committee next year, like. and that Yeah Well you could sure tell the ones that got on there that didn't enjoy it And they got off the next year

Not only did Byrne do that Though in the other bit of his spare time He was Running the community center When they took the bus Away Then they put Greenwood into a community center And had to make money for that

And he worked the bingoes in Lloyd all the time for money and so he was always involved he belonged to the Elks and he won the Lions Award that one year

because he but so I wonder the way time I was away so wonder we had six children because I was away a lot of time

and then he took the Canadian he had to go on Livison and he had to go away for a week at the time. Good, you didn't hear that.

Oh, well. It was all worthwhile. That was interesting on the Canadian limousine with the cattle. So where did you say, so where did you have to go for that? Regina. Okay. And we're Calgary for Alberta.

They had to either place. They said we could go to Alberta because we were right on the border. Okay. It was so far to go in Saskatchew. They were kind of slow Saskatchewan wasn't catching on. They weren't really many members. In Alberta, we had more people with big money.

Yeah. They went over faster. There was a lot of money spent in those days on cattle. We didn't have a free time in the summer because we were doing that. Summer shows and that. And the fall is terrible. terrible. Some years we took in 12 shows, exhibitions. Do you still get to all the shows? Some of the shows? Myself? I haven't the last year. Do you miss that? I do, yeah. He wishes he could get there in a day and come home.

They're getting so big now, so much walking like Edmonton and Regina. That his health doesn't allow them to. enjoy them the same. He's too played out. That's when we're not a good thing to give you a good interview because we're old and forgotten. I think it's fantastic. You've given me plenty. I'm thoroughly enjoying myself,

so I don't think you have to worry about me one iota. That's good. I have to ask, Bernie about selling milk around town. I was talking to a couple of your sons. And something about with an uncle, you go around Lloyd selling milk. Yeah, just up by the big husky building,

the block this way. Okay. That's where he lived, and he milk cows there. On the outskirts of Lloyd? No, right in Lloyd. Milk cows right in Lloyd. Yeah. Yeah, it'd be a block and a half west of A&W.

Okay. Right on the highway. Right. Yeah. So you'd have milk cows there? Yeah. Milk them? Yeah, and take them out and pasture them right across the highway from Husky.

And then you were his hired help, come in and help me sell some milk? 12 years old. I was, he's spoiled brat. He had no children. I have him. life when I was young I grew up, oh, not a half, a quarter. I grew up with him. Go live there for the summer, you mean? Yeah. Holidays, I'd go for the summer, yeah. And a little carton like that with six jars of milk in. Okay. You'd walk around, pedal at around town.

And how much would you sell one of those for? To be at 25 cents. Have any issues selling them? Pardon? Did you have any issues selling them? Or did you, did they, go like hot cakes. Oh, yeah. You had your customers. Yeah. Yeah.

Same customers all the time. And then he was also the delivery guy in Lloyd, delivered all the food and that food around town to the stores. Okay. Cafes, team of horses in the flat dray wagon. That was, you know, I always enjoyed that. That was what I looked forward for my summer holidays. And then he got killed. in 56.

I don't know. Sorry, 40, 45. Just two miles north of town in the garage. They were starting a tractor and the door blew shut. So that was the end of that. Starting a tractor and the door blew shut. And what happened? He got gas, gas fumes.

Yeah. The tractor backfiring trying to start, like. And they both got gassed. That quick? Yeah. That quick? off a tractor just trying to fire up? Yeah. He was on the seat.

He died right on the seat, never even got off it. And the fellow cranked in the tractor, he got to the door, but never got out. So it's that quick, like you say. Holy man. So it had to be quite a few gas fumes, you know. Absolutely. 46? 45.

You were only nine years old. Yeah. Ten years old. Yeah. How about? The red waddle pigs. That I thought was a joke. That all happened.

I was the president at the time of the exhibition. Closer to the bike. And Don Bazzenkowski and his wife, we had supper together. We were around touring the exhibition, and here we come across these two red waddles on display. And Marie says, you know, I'd sure like to get into them. And I thought, you? And, of course, Ray, he liked money, eh?

So we got talking, and the women, I forget how much they give me. I think they give me $10,000 each. And that night they decided to be my partners, the two women. Start buying red wattles, went down to Minnesota and all over hell. You drove down to Minnesota to look at red waddle pigs? Well, actually, I was in Ontario at a cattle sale, and I flew over there and met a fella from up north. He liked money, too, both of the three of them. But, you know, that was something that they didn't have big litters.

They had about between four and six. But when the first little one would come, you'd say, there's a thousand bucks. Next one, a thousand, every five minutes a thousand bucks. Mark and Scott were just little boys, and he, he, he, he, peddled them so much BS that he had them looking after them and staying up

all night with them. You didn't want to lose them. And they sold like hotcakes. I never put one ad in the paper. So then, make a story short, the Alberta government sent me down to Texas to promote Alberta beef.

So Al Airdry, I don't know you, heard of him. He went, I took him for just a friend. And one day I borrowed, asked the one guy if I got borrowed his car, go out the jungle where these pigs were supposed to be. So he gets out there and here all they're living on. It's just roots, no green at all. That's why they were known for no fat, eh? So once we fed him grain here, they're no different than our pigs, eh? So I couldn't get home quick enough to get out of them, but I sure couldn't get over. I had two brothers come, one behind the other, about five minutes.

And here they're fighting in the pen to who's going to get which pigs. Yeah. And then they came out of that all right, too, Murray and... Lorraine. Lorraine? Yeah, Loreen. I guess the Madison Coastkeys are not feeling that good anymore. Couldn't have better two partners for two ladies.

They never, about long as they got the money, that's all they worried about. I just laughed at them. Oh, dear. He had to clean up his act, though, to go around with those ladies. And, you know, people are funny. With them, too, as partners, like both very well off. People used to think if they're in them, we better get in them, you know. Yeah.

If you could go back to your 20-year-old selves and take a time machine, you get to go back and talk to your 20-year-old self, is there any piece of advice you give them? Well, I think what we went through the big thing is what I'm doing right now is advise them not to go too far in debt. So I think we haven't seen the worst of it yet. I hate to say it, but. No, it certainly feels like it's going to get worse. Mm-hmm.

Oh, what you, Mona? Yeah, I don't like going in debt. Was there ever any tough years where you were in debt and had the creditor calling? No, we were very careful. I say we all pretty near lost the farm twice for, and that's one reason today. I used to rent land instead of buying it, and now I'm kind of kicking myself. I should have been buying some more of my land. Then it was, you know, cheap.

Cheap, yeah. But you didn't know it was going to turn out like this. Like, we could have had quite a bit more land if we didn't know how things are going. We've had some really good years. Yeah. Our kids have a good chance of, if they don't go. wild, but when things come easy, they go easy. In your lifetime, is there an event that sticks out that is like you couldn't believe

happened or surprised you? I guess winning these trucks would be one of the biggest surprises. We hoped that one day we would win a truck. You know, we came close three or four years, maybe more. of, it said that somebody would, one of the boys would win. And then actually Byrne would help them, but they got the trucks. So Burm went and bought a truck just before they won one, so he didn't get a chance to get it.

Boys needed a truck. How about what's the biggest achievement in your life, do you think? If you look back, is there something that sticks out that way? The bingo. The bingo? Yeah. The exhibition board, they didn't want me to get involved in gambling. We had a couple of religious ones on there.

Okay. Anyway, we did. And, oh, I can't say for sure, but we made over $200,000 for own my bingos. And the Greenwood Community Center, we built the hall of the bingos. So that'd have to be two of my big, that turned out very well.

We're very lucky it went off so good because people volunteered to help and we had no problems, no arguments and fights that were worth counting. I guess they'd been the odd disagreement, but we'd never have had that nice hall at the school

if we hadn't had that. I think a lot of areas, Hillmont done good ought to be in go to, I think. It was good for the area. I think when you look at smaller centers, you've got a lot of people who put a lot of hours into volunteering and finding ways to drum up some money so that you can do community projects. Very true.

And it's very cool to have, well, yourselves and everybody who's come before you, and I'm sure to come after you with these archive interviews. You come from a time where everyone, everybody, or at least it feels like a lot of people put a lot of hours into community projects, because back then Lloyd was pretty small. Yeah. How big would a Lloyd been when you were first married and coming in and getting those crazy? When I was those in that milk, that was when I was about 10.

Yeah. I think it was around 2,000 people. Yeah. Yeah. So it's pretty crazy to see how big it's got then. Yeah. Even the last 10 years, the building got crazy there. Yeah.

Well, since our parents have passed away, we just say, my gosh, they would have a bird now trying to drive in Lloydminster. Yeah. How much is the city now? Oh, I was going to say just over 30, but I think that was with surrounding, maybe a little bit of the surrounding area. I'm actually not 100% sure. Mm-hmm. What I thought too. Yeah.

It's definitely, well, I mean, since I was. kid I remember there being really nothing past the old Nelson Lumber and now you got all the way out to Walmart and beyond yeah yeah and like going north we're out to the two-mile road already yeah yeah yeah yeah slow going north hasn't it speeded up the last couple years east and west on the highway I guess yeah well I don't want to hold you here the rest of the afternoon, is there anything else that you'd like to, I mean, I've picked your brains about a lot of things and some things a little bit more than the other. Is there anything that I've maybe skipped over that, maybe, is there any lessons that you learned

growing up that, you know, were memorable? I think so. There's probably times I wish I had got more schooling when I got involved in these big, like in the Canadian limousine, I could use more education in that. Yeah. But it's surprising what you learn after school, too, in these different groups. As long as you like it and take an interest in it, you can learn quite a bit, but it can be slow otherwise. Yeah.

Unless you can think of something, Mom. No, I just I'd like to see Family stick together and keep some old-fashioned ideas Christmas and that Have you got a bathroom here? You betcha

Why don't we leave it there anyways? I thank you guys for coming in and sharing a bit about your life It's been really good I enjoyed talking to you Hey folks, thanks for joining us today If you just stumbled on the show Please click subscribe

then scroll to the bottom and rate and leave a review. I promise it helps. Remember, every Monday and Wednesday, we will have a new guest sitting down to share their story. The Sean Newman podcast is available for free on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever else you get your podcast fix. Until next time. Hey, Keeners, thanks for tuning in to today's archive episode.

I hope you enjoyed it. Look forward to Friday as well. We got another one coming out. Three in a week. It wasn't exactly how I had it planned, but we got one about fantasy hockey coming up here on Friday, and just time sensitive, so we're going to release a third one out. I know if you guys are listening this long, you're probably excited for another one to come out, and if you're the champ and got your feet up on the desk, get back to work.

We'll see you guys Friday, all right? Until then.