Shaun Newman Podcast - SNP Archives #27 - Dave McCaw

Episode Date: August 23, 2021

Born in 1937 he was one of 10 kids. His early memories are from Balgonie & Moose Jaw SK. We talk about his life in the funeral home business, marriage, kids, community service & stories from long ago. Let me know what you think Text me 587-217-8500

This is Glenn Healing. Hi, this is Braden Holby. This is Daryl Sutterin. Hi, this is Brian Burke. This is Jordan Tutu. This is Keith Morrison. This is Kelly Rudy. Hi, this is Scott Hartnell.

Hey, everybody. My name is Steele-Fer. This is Tim McAuliffe of Sportsnet, and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the podcast, folks. Hope everybody's having had a great weekend. And we got a little change of pace on a Monday. Normally archive episodes come on Wednesdays, but we push Peter McCullough, Dr. Peter McCullough on for this past Wednesday and have switched it around.

So we got an archive episode today. We got a great one on tap. But before we get there, let's get to today's episode sponsors. First off, Jane Gilbert and team for over 45 years since 1976. The dedicated realtors of Coldwell Banker, Cityside Realty, have served. Lloydminster in the surrounding area. They offer Star Power providing their clients for seven-day-a-week access because they know big life decisions are not made during office hours. And did you know when it comes to rental properties?

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tap, and Kitchen. I see Lori Craven Ball Tournament just happened here in Lloyd. They took part and helped out selling steak dinners by the looks of it. They also got a couple new drinks. Well, first off, shut out to them for getting involved with the Lori Craven.

That has been, I think it's 20 years now. It has been, well, to the group of volunteers that helped put that on, hats off to you, because it's been, you know, COVID year, everything seemed to disappear. But for something to stick around for that many years, that takes a lot of effort by volunteers. And every year it has been a hit. It's one of the most talked about tournaments in town. And for a team like Three Trees to Hop on board, doesn't surprise me with the tournament

or with the group over at Three Trees, Jim Spenderath, always leading the way with community involvement. Now, they got a couple of new drinks on the menu. I mentioned this last time, the poodle shake, which sounds a little more like a dessert, and the Lake Life Caesar, but I was kind of intrigued about the Thunder Allie Pilsner from Redstone Creek. I got to go get me some.

That's as simple as that. I like to point out that you can get your growlers filled there, anything on tap. So, of course, Fourth Meridian or Ribstone Creek, but you can also get, you know, maybe you're in a darker beer. You can get, I don't know, say Guinness on Tap. And if you're taking the misses or mister out for maybe a fancy supper, make sure you book a reservation.

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to help your needs, whether you're looking for a small office or a 6,000 square foot commercial space, give Wade Gartner a call a day, 780808, 50, 25. And if you're heading into any of these businesses, make sure you let them know. You heard about them from the podcast, right? Now let's get on to that T-Barr-1, Tale of the T-Tay. Born in 1937, originally from Belgonia, Saskatchewan. He's a father, husband, business owner, and community pillar. I'm talking about Dave McCaw.

So buckle up. here we go. Okay, it's January 20th. I'm sitting with Mr. Dave Bacott tonight. So first off, thanks for making the trek in to sit down and have a chat. Thank you. Now, what we do here is we're going to, I don't know, talk a little bit about your life, experiences, and we'll just see where it takes us.

That's what I'm here for. Now, you were born in 1937 in Belgonia. That's right. Did you ever play senior hockey there? Never played hockey. Never played any hockey? No. In 1937, you come out of the 1930s.

All my older brothers were all the way working someplace, spending some home so that the rest of the family get something to eat. and my dad lost the farm at Avalee in early 30s and this is why we moved to Belgone on an uncle's farm there that he only too glad to have my mother to keep house and he was really a great influence on our lives

My dad went, was very good with horses, and he had take these horses and break them and then take and sell them. In those days, every city had milk wagons, bread wagons, ice wagons, and so they needed all these horses. He had break these horses and send them down east, go down east and sell them. take them out, drive them on the route so they'd get used to them. And this is how I made 11 when I was, I was six months old before my dad saw me for the second time. I started off with a simple question of hockey and Balgone because I know they have a great senior program there now. But you, let's go back then to, The 30s. You're born, what did I say, 37?

37. What's your first memory? Do you remember growing up in Belgoy? Oh, yes. Yeah, I was there until I was six. I started school there. And I remember we were a mile out of town. I had a little Shetland Pony that was getting up in years then, in those 20 years old. But there was a grad just on the town that sold gas. I knew the fellow very well.

And I come by the cow to school, come by there, and I guess it spooked a dog or something, but he thought he should chase us. So he chased me pretty well away home, riding the pony, and I remember that very well. And how old were you? Well, I would be probably six then. Maybe five.

I'm always interested. Well, I'm fascinated in all of this, but I find it interesting that you're out riding a pony at six years old, I guess, is where my brain goes immediately. You just think of today's world. And I don't think there's too many people letting their five or six-year-old out the door by themselves anymore. Isn't that a sorry thing that this country's come to that?

that we can't trust our neighbors. A storm like we had in the last couple of weeks, I remember two men coming to our door. There had Issaac was all down their face and all down their front. We were back maybe a quarter mile from the road, and they'd seen what lights we had on come in, and they would have been froze to death if they wouldn't have found us. and they came in and got warmed up and probably spent the night I don't know but I remember them coming to the door and looked like Frosty the Snowman.

Can I ask you one favor? Can you move closer to the mic for me? Sure. I know that's going to be tough with that table but if you've got to slide around the corner, you've got a quiet voice. I'm used to hollered. I'll come on a better angle for you, so you don't have to. No. I just want to make sure that we don't go through all this to not have you. You got me with a big booming voice and I just, I never have that problem.

I've got to turn it down all the time. You know, when you talk of winter storms, I had a man from Vaughn on this past week, and he tells stories of trying to drive home from North Battleford and the snow being so bad that they got stuck on the road, and their father just left them there and went out. searching for a house and you're out in a white blizzard miles away from civilization, so to speak. And you just think now, I remember as a kid growing up and being a little bit nervous because you never had a phone with you.

But now you, I mean, we're almost fearless because you can go anywhere and have that phone call to contact you to get help wherever you are. if everything works if everything works who was just telling us the other day that they had lost their phone service where they were I don't know who it was but

they didn't know what to do and they weren't dressed for it yeah I I understand that because when we were kids and I assume when you you dressed for the occasion and now

Well, I go back till we feel a little bit fearless at times. Yeah. There was ten kids in your family. Yeah, and I'm the youngest. And you're the youngest? Yeah. My oldest brother was 21 when I was born. How well did you know your oldest brother then?

Oh, pretty fair. I remember him a bit before he went overseas. He was in the Army because he had been... cat skinning prior to getting called up and he was an excellent teacher so as these kids would come along being joined up and they get a lot of the tank division he had to teach him how to run a cat and service it he was stationed in Holland doing this and got and he got and he was and never got more early over into the fighting, just what it was taking place in Holland.

Never told about it, never told us about it, never enlarged on it, sent a few pictures home. When he came back, he had a fever. Well, yes, when they were inoculated, when they came into the army, gave him all the shots and everything, but he went back home and ran the cat that night, until the next day and he had a very high fever and was, they just threw him in on his bunk bed and a thing and said he'd get over it. He did, but when he was done, he had lost all this hair

and he had a thyroid, a very bad thyroid. Those days they didn't treat it with pills, they operated and took it out, so they took out too much of the gland and he was cold all the time. And that's I remember I'm working out and unloading a bar. box cards full of hay and he had worked in a t-shirt in the middle of winter when it was 10 and 15 below. The medical industry has changed a little, a wee bit? A wee bit. I probably have somewhat the same thyroid condition, but they take you about a half a pill a day

now to keep me regulated. What can you tell me about being in a house with 10, well, I guess the oldest one was 21, so he wasn't there? Oh, yeah. And my next to me was eight years different. a sister, so I literally I was a lonely child because everybody was out and gone. Yeah. When I was six and seven, she was 15, 16. You're almost like an only child. Yeah. And of course they all bossed me around. They always took great pleasure,

straight to be out. Well, I'm the youngest of five. I can understand that. Do you remember the war years at all? I remember we got a radio on a great big battery, and you could hear what was going on, the CBC. If you ever visit England now, there's a war room there, very close to Buckingham Pilot Palace. It's underground, it's shored up with 14 by 14 timbers, and this is where Churchill went to,

when the war was on and was underground and directed everything from there. He had secretaries there typing everything in four copies, and they had to be word perfect. But he directed the... But the... The replay of those radio programs is going on all the time. down in there. That was exactly what I remember to listen to on the radios

when I was six or seven years old. The replay? Say that again. What was being broadcast over the radio systems throughout the world? What's coming from that room? Coming from that room and all the information was fed into that room for the broadcast. Then that would be really.

released out to the CBC and the other radio stations. I have to assume nobody said a word while that was going on. That would be probably true. Well, they were in a sound truth room, I would think, as I remember now. But it was a big, big deal. Yeah, and when I mean not a word said,

I mean at your house. Oh, no, no. Oh, no, you just listen. to that, to hear what was going on. All of my four brothers that went overseas all come home, never had an act by action. One of the boys was training to fly, had an earmuffs on like that to hear,

but he left his zipper open so he could hear on the ground and didn't get it up. So he stuck his head out by the wind screen, the wind caught his ear and took his eardrum out. So then he opted out of being a pilot and he went down to be an electrical engineer. So you had four of your siblings fighting over in World War II? Yeah. One was in the Bay of Fundy, dropping depth charges on the...

On the submarines? Yeah, German subs. Did you ever ask any of them about it? Did any of them ever talk about it? No, they never talked about it. Once in a while they'd say something. And this is why what you're doing now is so important, only you should have been doing it 20 years ago.

Hey, you were asking when you walked in, I probably said this a thousand times, but one of my regrets, not that it really can be a regret because I've started, but you asked if I was Don and Dora's, if I was related. Well, I would have, Grandpa's been recorded, but Grandma Newman should have been recorded. She was a marvelous lady.

There's a lot of marvelous people, though, that have come and gone. Oh, yes. And those stories are lost. If someone like you hasn't recorded them or taken it now, I maintain there's a real book to be written there. I was reading, I interviewed the man from Vaughn was Brown. Bill Brownridge. He's an artist.

He's written some children. children's books and he wrote one on the and painted on the disappearance of the or disappearing railroad system you know and he got to interview a world war one pilot and I was just wow I was fascinated I mean somewhere maybe there's tapes of people that were interviewed from the war I haven't found that yet there's books you can read about it yeah I have a book of a friend of mine that I just buried here in the last few years. But he was in the army, but he was going around blowing up bridges.

They had rebuild you again so he could get the Canadians and the allies. Across. Across, but somebody else would have blew him up first, or he did. He's got a very interesting book. It's really just a book of his diary. There's big spaces in them where I never wrote anything in this diary. But it's so interesting. While his time marches on, those memories are gone, right?

And I was saying this to Bill Musgrave. He was in here last week. And there's one thing to say about writing something down, but to have you here sit here and tell us in your own voice, in your own words, with your own thoughts, that's something special. Have you got the ability to play an 8-track? Not an 8-A-just a cassette.

I have my, I have a Reverend Bill Brown, U.S. United Church Minister here, interviewed my dad and got his stories. And it's on a cassette tape? On the cassette tape? I'm certain, I am certain we can get that on a computer for it. Certainly.

Definitely not a problem. I know a few people who can help. Yeah. It made me think of it now when we talked about, but I've had that matter of how long. Let's talk about your parents. You mentioned that they lost the farm in Avonlea. Yeah.

What did your father do? He was a, he and his older brother come out of Ontario, Mountain Forest, a big family. And their older brother had been already at Avonlea farming, a couple of them. And he and his brother, they came west in 1911, and then they went over to Scepter, Saskatchewan. and homesteaded. They homesteaded for three years.

The first year they got drowned out, or no, drowned out, dried out, and froze out. So that was their farming. And I don't know what he was doing after that. He's just helping other farmers. They got married in 1915 down east. and when they were down east, they got a call from the sister-in-law

that his brother had died, Harry would you come home and look after the farm? And that's how he got started in approximately 19, 15, 16, and farmed into the 30s. She had moved out to Victoria with her family. Couldn't figure out why their income off the farm was so little, but she couldn't realize that they didn't.

have any crops. Hmm. And that was the proceedings when he got off of that farm. And that would be in the late 30s. And this time, all of the...

Once the boys finished grade 12, well, they got work before that on farms in the fall, in the spring, and in the summer. And got... One of the boys

who even went and lived with another family because they only had one or two children. And there was lots for them to do. He more or less got his room and board for helping on the farm. He's the one that became an electrician after he lost the eargo. How about your mother? A saintly woman.

With all these kids. But really feeding these kids and growing a huge, garden and getting them to work the garden and help with the garden. You know, a lot of people don't understand what a huge garden is. What was a huge garden back in the day? Oh, I remember the plot of land. It would be probably one block by two blocks on the feed lot, all potatoes. All potatoes?

Yeah, and then another garden with peas and everything else. You know, I just don't think, it's easy to say even now. You know, yeah, back then we had to grow gardens because, you know, he didn't have, I don't know, Walmart sitting there or a super store or whatever store you want, co-op, IGA. The cream, my wife and mother, our family would separate

milk the cows, separate that, drain the cream off, send the cream to town when the kids went into school. But that cream check was the only real income they had to buy the essentials they couldn't grow. There was nothing to, they would think nothing to kill in a pig and if they didn't able to use it all themselves, they'd certainly give that some to the neighbor.

So when the neighbor killed their prig, they'd say something back. And did you, when it comes to pigs or livestock, did you eat everything? Pretty well. What would we find, like tongue and, I don't know, I can't. Oh, tongue was very good. That was a real delicacy. mother used it. And that was

after it was cooked and cold. It was a real delicacy to have tongue. Tongue cold. Yeah. After it had been cooked. Yeah.

You like cold tongue. Yeah. And that was just one of the things when you made it and the pigs, hawks. They used to, remember mother, used to boil on those up.

Pigs, What now? The hawks. That's the ankle down to the foot. Oh, okay. What would you eat off of that? Well, there was some good meat in there. Does it ever make you...

We have this fun story we used to tell about Grandpa Donne. When Kelsey's first to open up in town here, Harley, my next oldest brother, he used to work there. And Grandpa was born in... I forget the year of 1910. 19, 13, somewhere in there. Anyways, he's in at Kelsey's, and he's got ribs, and he proceeds to eat everything, drink everything, you name it. And the lady comes back and goes, how was it?

And he goes, ah, really good. I don't know if I really cared for that soup, though. And it was the lemon water you're supposed to dip your fingers. He just ate everything. And I just remember Grandpa, as a kid, made you lick the plate clean of gravy, everything. and but he lived through the years where you ate every part of the animal you ate you didn't complain you you were happy for what you got and when you talk about the the pigs hawks that's what that reminds me i don't hear of too many people eating pigs hawks anymore and even to make soup out of that is

just as good as you get. Do you cook, Dave? No. No Dave's famous soup coming at us? No, I've always had a good, my mother was a good cook. And I had the opportunity of growing up with my brothers' wives

being married and them having young children. I have lots of nieces and nephews that are, you know, quite a bit close to my own age. Like I was six when my first grandchild was born of my... Parent. Yeah. You mentioned how big the garden was. Yeah.

Did you guys hunt a lot? No. Why not? We lived in the prairies and the hunting's all been gone. I never seen a moose or a... antelope till I come up, you know, to this country. None. You think of how many deer and moose and out?

Well, moose weren't around when I was a kid. That's something that's come in over the last 10 years. But deer and elk weren't to, I don't remember how old that would be when I first seen my first year. You've got to realize these 30s, it's been harvested for those in for years. Well, I shouldn't say that. The Cabell Valley was one spot where they used to do some honey, I guess, because that was good. So then if you grew a big garden, and then you had some livestock, essentially. Yeah, garden, pigs, cattle, horses.

We always had horses because they used that for farming. It was before the tractor. I couldn't afford a tractor. I had brothers that were 10 years old and 12 years old that were driving an eight-horse team, plowing and calivating and seeding. So do you think, when you say that, do you think all the technological advancements we've had, obviously has been tremendous benefit from that? But as a kid, you had to learn in a pretty young age then, like tons of responsibility.

It was my job to get the meal so I could transport it down to the thrashing crew so they could have something to eat or coffee time. We had a summertime. It was nice weather. My mother would come with me. But if it was cold and so forth, I'd just take it down with my, with a one. one horse on a little cart with a big box on it for putting the meal on it. What'd you do for fun back then?

Remember we had an awful good slide from the house down to the garden, this is in Balboni. And you could tobogging on that and have a long time. And you used to pull each other around with the horse and the long rope on the toboggan. You'd hook a rope up to a horse and have somebody in tobogging behind and yank him around with the horse? Yeah. And then my pony, which I took to what I rode to school, I was telling you about, I'd go to school on the toboggan driving him. And that's how I got in the wintertime.

I got to school in the wintertime. How about water, the cold, electricity. No electricity. All those shouldn't say that, my uncle that we lived with had to repair the telephones. It was his job of telephone repair man. And he had some knowledge of electricity, so he had a little light down in the basement, down in the cellar, and you can open the trap door in the middle of the kitchen floor, throw this up and go down, turn the light on as you went down, and you can have enough light to

find what you're supposed to get or put away. But water, we had a good well. So I got this lump on my lip when I was about four or five where the spout came with the, when you're pumping it, a drip down and make an icicle of cone up. And I had my hands down on this, running with my feet, my feet and slipped and fell down and hit that cone right in that lip.

And it was probably 20 below and 10 miles from Regina. And my mother just taped it all up and it grew back and didn't leave too big a scar. Were all 10 kids born at the house or were there's a hospital? No, most of them are born at home. at home, the mother gave birth at home. There was a couple of doctors, a couple of times the doctor come up. I think I read the other day that 100 years ago it was something like 95% of births took place at home. It's hard to imagine.

We're only, all 10 of you then were born at home? I believe so, but I could have. All your kids were then born in the hospital, I assume? All my kids, oh yes. Yeah. Yeah. When you were growing up, did you have any ideas of what you wanted to do with life? Not really.

I had a veterinary that lived next door to us when we lived in Moose Jaw. And he gave me a job, well, looking after the animals, taking the dogs out for a walk and this kind of stuff. And I learned a lot about, you know, but I had always been used to handling horses up until. that time so I had no qualms about looking after animals and taking dogs out and I remember helping the vet pull quills out of where they attacked a porcupine a couple of what they called dame dogs that had just went and both them grabbed this

porcupine at the same time and just filled their mouths with quills. And then I'd go out with them and treat cattle out and right in the stall in the barn. And he also used to have a little airplane. The weather was good

and nice. He'd fly over and land and treat the cow and go to the next place. That was in the later 40s. So when along your travels, do you

go, I think the funeral home business is where I want to be. Oh, older brother, Mert McCaw. He was just to the age when he finished grade 12. He tried to join up, and they said, I'm sorry, we don't need you. The war is just about over. You're the fifth one in the family. We're not going to let you join up. Hold that thought for a second.

saying they'd only allow so many of a family to join the war effort? Because the war, yes, because the war was just about over. This was 1945, I guess. Merck had graduated from grade 12. He was working on the feedlot with my dad and wasn't making a lot of money, but they were feeding a lot of cattle. And being a hot-headed Irish,

and my father being the same breed, they decided to disagree. He went into Moose Jaw to see what he can find for a job. And the only place he could find, they'd say, yeah, we got a vacancy, but we're waiting for the boys to come home from overseas. So they said, well, I think the funeral home is interested in some way. So they went over and saw them and got a job, and he only had to work 24, seven, seven days a week. And he did that and ran an ambulance and got us embalmer's license.

And then he found out that they were in the Regina Leader Post were looking for an embalmer in northern Saskatchewan. So he applied and come up to look the situation over in Turtford and Maidstone Stone and these fellas had a bit of a funeral home operation going, but they needed a bomber to, and funeral director, so that's how he got started in 1948. So him being in the business, I remember I come up to visit them for Easter of 1952 or 53 in there someplace and was there for, and remember, We were running out in the snowed all in Milton, we went out and shooting golfers.

And the young fella I had with me too, we had a great time. So that's how I kind of got interested in the funeral business a little bit. Then when I had turned 16, he wanted me to come up and stay with him and go to school because his wife was expecting their second child. And he kind of hated to leave her and go across the river and go across the river. the river and not be able to get back and so on. That's why he wanted me there as security, and I'd also run them to out to the river, and he'd either walk across on the ice or take the cable car over. There was a cable car?

Cable car. Well, the same cable that the ferry ran on, only it was 20 feet off the water. Really? You'd climb up the tower, get on the seat that's hooked onto the cable, let go. And you'd go real good going the first half without, but then you had to hand over hand going up the next half. Really? And you had to have pretty good bits or gloves on, or they were just shattered when you're done.

I've never heard that before. I only made one trip, but I thought my arms were going to. play out. What happens if your arms played out? You stick a block in and wait to feel better. So you would run him down to the ice and either he goes up this tower and goes across. Somebody from the other, somewhere from the other side comes and picks him up. He goes and does what he has to do and then he may drive home all the way around by Battleford or the return trip across the water. But it doesn't take too long for that ice to firm up enough that you can go across on skis.

The ferryman used to, when I knew I had to come, he'd put on skis and then tap the ice with a real heavy stick. And the sound of the ice knew him. He could turn and stay in the solid ice. And I depended on him very much so. I even followed them across with a car one time. Were you soil in your pants? Well, I sure had the windows down or the door open on the vehicle.

You only going to think about it. You know, it was George Mann and Evlong that were in here a while back now, and they talked about moving cattle across on the ferries. Yeah. Because, I mean, there was no onion-like bridge. There was no Turtleford bridge. And I seen the truck when it was going over. They didn't have a full load, or they had a full load of cattle,

and they went out going a little fast, and they hit the rim, and the nose went up like this. The cattle all went to the back of the truck. So how do you do that? They're out in the open water. I'd come along just after this had happened, seen it, knew I couldn't get across, and I had a time constraint, so around by Battleford I went. You've seen the sign on the, on the painting ferry, the other side of

painting, sometimes when it's open, sometimes when it's closed. Yeah. Well, I actually take it all the time. In the summer, I thoroughly enjoy it. Yeah. Okay. So back, back to your brother, Mert. Yeah. You had a, you mentioned he was maybe the most influential person in your life. Yeah. Is that because he owned the business or is that other things?

Well, we had worked together on the feedlot. And my dad always found them. If it was a difficult way to do it, he could find a different way. And we used to fill our sacks with the cattle feed, which was mostly, old towels and mixture and so forth. This is a feedlot. Taking fill these sacks and then go and feed the cattle. And some cattle had different rations than the others.

And I would get to, here I was 10, 12 years old, driving a three-ton truck with sock rack on it through gates that I had two inches on each side to clear. And I was in real trouble if I hit one of those and happened to break it off. And I worked with them on this, is what I'm trying to bring up. And we had a good relationship. And although we were brothers that did make much difference, we were. So I, and then when you come along and you're starting into grade 10s in the city,

and your brother says, come on up and live with us and that changed your scenery. I wasn't really clean on school anyway. I want you to lean in towards the mic. That's what I'm going on. Okay, yeah. I know it's uncomfortable. You got to...

No, no. So did you graduate? I graduated from Moosey Technical School in 1950. I got to remember. 56, I guess, would we? No. Yeah. 55, 56.

What was Turtelford like when you first went there coming from Moose Jaw? Oh, there was only three kids and, well, there were five kids in high school. One, two girls in grade 12, I think two in high school, I just only two in grade 11. And there were three of us in grade 10. Got to love small town schools. Yeah. What did you think of the funeral business when you first started in? I mean, you've been in it now 60 plus years.

Yeah. That's a career. Yeah. I guess I really, I call it the Humpty Dumpty Syndrome. When people's worlds come crashing down what you does, and I'm there to kind of help put the pieces back together. So this is what I've noticed is the thing where I get my high voltage satisfactions of it by being in, giving people some direction.

Did you never have the thought of trying agriculture, trying the oil field, trying something different? I, prior to my, I had all kinds of good friends down in the Rolo area. There's my brothers that all growing up there and working there. And I had another brother that was an optometrist. And he had friends coming in from the Rolo area saying, you know, where can I get a man or something like this? And he had, so I went down to the Rolo area. Well, first off of the vet that I told you I was working from,

took me out to his farm at Brownlee, and I summer followed for most of one summer. And I think that I was probably 14 or 15 there. And so the next summer I had this bit of experience, and I went down to work for a farmer down there and room and board, and I made $125 a month, swathing, cultivating, running a small cat, summer following. I think I pulled 18 feet of disker.

And did you enjoy that? Oh, I really did. I enjoyed farming. In fact, when I was finishing grade 12, We had just finished harvesting, and the boss said to me, Dave, are you interested at all? There's some neighboring land that farmers are going to sell. Are you interested?

We'll help you finance it, and you can start farming and use our machinery and work for us. And maybe I was taken off my boots at the time. I said, that sounds awful good, Lloyd. I think I'm going to go on. My brother, Mertt, wanted me to come and help up there, so I thought I was to go up there anyway, at least for the winter. Brings this back to Mert. You mentioned Mert being influential.

Yeah. What was it that he taught you? Or was it just that he steered your life? Just his example of his life treating people was something that I kind of wanted to emulate. Because I had some other brothers who were alcoholics. and they were kind of miserable kinds of buggers at the time. Not that I didn't get along with them, just what he put,

what he put their families through, which I did see. It brings us back to funeral home. And funeral, you said something there that I guess I'd really thought about. You mentioned Humpty Dumpty and helping put things back together. And all I can see is the pain and how uncomfortable that must be. the beginning you guys ran ambulances right yes yes so you would have been in some shall we say unique scenarios my brother murk when he was working at the funeral home in mooseja his girlfriend come by she was a nurse come by just to say hello and they were yacking out he was out

holes in the sidewalk down and washing cars and so forth. And they came out and kivist a bit there on the, and she had just run in to get a pick up her fur coat and was going back southern to a small town, southern Moose Jaw. And when they'd said goodbye and everything. And a little while later he got an ambulance call to head down to where she had crossed the tracks. Sure enough, she had been hit by the train.

And I think that's where he said, you know, I guess this is where I most needed to. And I remember how distraught he was, but he had he carried on and did what he had to do. That's not for most people. I just, that sounds tough. I was saying, I think I said to Don Whiting when we were talking about this, and I couldn't, I mean, somebody has to do it, right?

Oh, yeah. It's not like it's not needed, it's very much needed. And you and your family have done an amazing job at it. But it is still a tough job. You're not, I don't know, in this area, you're not playing for the Oilers. You're not, you know, I don't know. many of the thousand different jobs you could probably have or different companies you could run. Like it feels, you said it gives you a sense of, not enjoyment, that's not the right word,

but you said maybe fulfillment? High voltage satisfaction. High voltage satisfaction. Yeah. Yeah, I remember having a very good, you were the United Church Minister. used to be here in town. And that was one of his sermons. What avenues are you exploring in your life

or in your living? Did you get satisfaction out of? Real satisfaction. Are you able to do this so that you can get satisfaction? I guess that's where I got that phrase from. You get real satisfaction out of helping people. Yeah.

Yeah, I remember young fellow that he was in the scout troop with my two sons. And his mother got very, very sick. I remember him not wanting to go see her after she had been fixed up. And he stammered and stammered about going in. And he went in and he came out and said, thank you, Dave. Thank you. You give me my mother back.

But she had whatever disease that she had, she was not the body of his mother that he loved. I'm sure not every moment is filled in supercharged with so much energy. Because that's what that feels like when you tell that story. Yeah. But you knowingly and willingly walk into situations. where it's going to be pretty much supercharged at all times. They're mad at.

The people that are surrounding them, because, oh, the doctors didn't treat them right. The nurse mishandled this. You know, they can make all kinds of excuses why their loved one has died. But one of the things they have to do is accept it for themselves. And seeing is believing. and that's why I believe it's so important that families view after death and see their loved one dressed and cosmetized

in a comfortable bed so they can have a chance to say goodbye and now with the high increase of this solid situation we're not having that because people can't have funerals they can maybe have 10, 15 people there and they are missing out on this satisfaction of saying goodbye. They're trying, you're going to postpone it until it's like summer. But you're not going to want to open that wound again next summer

because that wound is starting to be closed. What do you think of COVID? You've lived a lot of years? I've lived a lot of years. I was, when I came into the business of just at the time that the polio was rapid. I've been bombed cases that had died from polio. I've got the right kind of genes that it didn't get me. I was just so thankful that God has spared me not to have it.

And as I told you, I had an uncle that died back in 15, 16, and he died of the flu then. In what year? I think it was 1916 or so. Oh, you're talking the Spanish flu? Spanish flu. So I've known about it for a long time. I remember my dad talking about this,

and this was the farm that really most of my family grew up on was his farm. Was it the uncle who passed away? Yeah. My dad had a McLaughlin vehicle. They couldn't buy gas for it, so they hooked a hitched a team to it, and that's how they travel around as a family. I've heard this story similarly told before

that essentially you can't afford gas so instead of just letting the car sit there and do nothing with it you start pulling it around with cut the top off and... Well, you can use it for a truck, yeah, but if you have a big family, if you want to go someplace, you have to...

Let the horses pull? Yeah. Sure paints a picture of what that time was like. That would be a picture that would tell a thousand words, wouldn't it? Yeah. Really tell a story. How about marriage? When I was shingling the roof on my brother's house in Turtelford after I'd come to work for him full time,

the girls from the bank were walking down the street to where they were. women board, which wasn't very far. It was kind of just across the street. And of course, a bunch of young guys on the roof shingling. Uh, uh, did, didn't let this pass by without some combat. So, uh, this is how, uh, we decided that we should probably, uh, there's about six, the, the fellow with the driver and and his group. They'd been going together for a long time. But they, anyway, they invited me to go out for a drive anyway. And we went out to the lake, and, of course, then we went for swim.

But that's when I met my first wife. And we corresponded for quite a while. Correspondent, do you mean wrote letters? Wrote letters, because I, I had moved back to Moosea, I guess. Must have been through finish grade. I had been back to Mooseja anyway. We started writing letters and then we talked about getting married and then she said,

well if I'm going to get married, and she was the oldest of the family. I better go back and help Mom. The mom and the family had all moved back to Ontario. I should go back. And so we corresponded until the next summer. I'm curious about this. Because in today's world, phone calls, video phone calls, planes, trains, automobiles. You were dating a girl that you were,

wanting to marry and you were just corresponding with letters? Yes, corresponding with letters. I was write about at least one letter a week, and she had write one or so or two. When I went down east to get engaged, I hitched hike down. You hitchhiked down. Hitchhiked down. When I got to Winnipeg, I had to go through the States. So I

Why did you have to go through the states? Well, I forget why. Something about a hitchhiking, it wouldn't allow it or something. They wouldn't allow it through the east side of Manitoba into Ontario? No, into the states. Went down to Emerson, Manitoba, and across north of the lakes. But once I got it back into Canada again, and I can get a ride.

I had one gal passed me four times. And finally the last night says, you haven't chopped anybody's heads off for getting the ride with you. I'm getting terrible tide and I like some company. So she gave me a ride. I don't know how far. After about the first 100 miles, she said,

you drive, do you? And I said, yes. Would you mind driving then? So she'll let me drive her car. Would you ever let any of your kids hitchhike these days? Oh, I think I would. Yeah? I do from Sandy Beach.

You do not. Really? A couple times you've hitchhiked in from Sandy Beach. Oh, yeah, I know everybody. I don't know why I find that so strange. I mean, so you hitchhiked across Canada. And nobody, everyone's like, yeah, that makes complete sense. We'll see you in about a month's time, have fun hitchhiking.

Yeah. What did you take with you while you're hitchhiking? A little knapsack and... I had a fairly good-looking suitcase. That's what you want to look. You dress well. the clean cut smile as you go by all the hitchhakers listening right now

yeah and I would maybe if I if 10 cars went by me I wasn't something the matter I was coming out of Calgary heading to Moose Shaw got a ride no time

got down to Madison Hatt and as we're going by the road crew Here's my brother sitting in the back of the half-time, my oldest brother. So I got the driver to stop and let me out. I visited with him and they were just having coffee. Got a ride into town with one of the paving trucks. And saw his wife and son, had lunch with them. Got a ride out with another truck going out loaded to the highway.

and got a ride into Medicine Hat. And then nothing was picking me up, nothing was picking me up. So I kind of walked through Medicine Hat, got on the East Side of Medicine Hat, and it was getting dark and starting to rain. And a guy, a trucker had pulled in with two real trucks on it, one with the nose down and the other than with the nose up.

So I went into the coffee shop and said to him, you know, you're trucks, and he says, yeah. I said, how'd be if I get a ride? Well, as long as I don't see ya. So I slept around and slipped in, the one that was sitting down like this, and that wasn't going to be any good. So I got the one that was sitting like this, crawled in, went to sleep, and I woke up and he stopped, and here is his rain.

This is over in Saskatchew, and they're building the number of one highway. and it was I'd know when he got out and walked around and went and talked to one of the guys and he said oh well he just woke up too he'd been homecoming from a bender and he said well you walk down to the camp

got a truck and come back and pulled the first truck out pulled another one out pulled us out and where we went and I got into Moose John somewhat later You know all this hitchhiking Did you ever ride the box cars of the train?

No Never did that No You'd hitchhack across the country But you never Why not? Well I seen how mean The train people were

The Their guards or something They don't take Appreciate that Because I had Lived right next to the track And Moistew and in fact it came right through behind our house

and we played on the gun I remember one time the cars used to bring in groceries into the downtown Luceo River Street with everybody who knows about right in there that's where we were and we'd get playing in the bag in the box garden and at one time we found a

a sack a big gunny sack right full of jelly beans. But it had broke open, so they had just left it there. It wasn't going to hurt us kids anyway. We had jelly beans for years. You come home and you're climbing the walls and your parents, you go, what is you wrong with these kids today? Yeah.

What have you learned in marriage? Treat your wife like your queen. First wife of 33 years. years who raised my five children and very fortunate. Linda and I knew each other. We knew each other's husbands. She lost Fred with kidney failure, had a kidney transplant, fought all of this, had a heart attack, recuperate from that. And then to have a very happy with our second marriage, which we're going on now in 29 years, 28 years. You know, I would say that I tell everyone that comes in here, I mean, combined, then that is,

that's over 60 years, right? I'm doing the math on that, right? I tell everyone who comes in here, like, that's exactly what I hope to do, right? I think we're in year seven. And I'm always, well, I always search for not only life advice, but I think marriage, there's so many, divorce has become so easy now. And I don't mean easy in the sense that you get divorced and it's easy. I just mean it's easy to get through the process almost.

Heck, there's lawyers who make their livings off of it. So I'm always fascinated because I know what is. not. Obviously, you two can attest to that. It's not all sunshine and rainbows. There's tough times. And even when you're in the best of times, chances are there's some tough times lurking right around the corner.

She lost a daughter or married. I lost a son. Shortly after that. You cared to talk more? Sure. Well, I think, I don't know. Yeah.

I put my hands up, Because I'm going to say something that, honestly, as I go, I think that's probably a parent's worst nightmare. Well, it certainly is. It certainly is. And to realize that, in my case, a drunk native who had been chasing everybody off the road from Tullaby Lake, And I've seen them.

I was, I've been in harvesting my potatoes. We're all loaded up. I had the truck and my trailer and the tractor on the trailer heading out to the acreage. And I could see him coming. He's coming and I crowded, I'd just about going to put her in the ditch. And I thought he was going to get by me,

but he cleaned the back duels off the trailer and bounced the tractor off right in the center of the highway, still operate on all fours, went airborne, and my son was falling behind me in another car airborne, and landed on top of his little Toyota, right on the driver's side, and I was right there. And I guess all I said, well, should I go find a pipe wrench and beat his head off?

Or should I have to start working at forgiving? And then to go through the courts, which was an absolutely joke. When you get two and a half years for a stunt like that, it may be very bitter. But I also have to say that I've become a more. empathetic funeral director because I've been there. Well, first off, I don't have any words. If it was different times, I'd give you a big old hug because that's the only way to deal with things of such.

I don't know, how can you make sense of that? There is no sense to it. And I have to say that me, just have to want to live our lives and be thankful that we have the freedom in this country to heal. And this is what I haven't mentioned about it, but I say my faith in my Lord Jesus Christ started probably when I was about 18, 17, 18, going through my brother Merck's family after he died, helping them and seeing how their kids

grew up without a father. Had a pretty good stepdad, but it wasn't their dad. The oldest boy phoned me yesterday, I guess. Long talking the phone. One of the other boys, the next boy was who never really wanted to accept his dad's funeral had kind of a tough time.

Married a couple of times. The next boy has been out of whack for years. What his problem is, whether it's drugs, what he is, he's an excellent welder, taught welding. Totten got into real estate. Just lost his shirt. The daughter, who's a beautiful girl,

I remember I lived with him when she was growing up, married in the States. Her husband at the time, he was offshore drilling out of Scotland, and she lost a little baby girl, brought her back home here to be buried by her dad. You mention your faith in God and religion, and you mentioned your faith in God and religion, and you mentioned it started back when you're younger. Yeah. What is it about religion at the beginning or even now? What was it that spoke to you?

That I could surrender all of my anxiety to him to my Lord Jesus Christ. He's willing to take them up. I'll just confess them and get to it. Does it concern you at all that, well, I think I think I'm right. I think I'm right. I'm saying that in today's world, there is definitely less emphasis on church and going and having a religion.

Very much so. Very much so. I've seen a real decline in religion since after the Second World War. The fellows who went overseas, they've seen more strife than most of us know, and they came home and were never to unload this.

They had a very small, I called you, vaccination from religion. They were vaccinated by and they never really grew in their Christian faith. If it was, it was mostly through their wives and children's involving in religion and church. whereas their grandparents it wasn't a choice and needed to be involved in church like I noticed in a lot of my old records of seeing baptismal certificates from families where they're baptized in Ireland or Scotland or someplace

and it says on the form Methodist minister Catholic ministry Catholic faith so forth we don't have that now nobody has to think of who they are they can be nothing and as I was saying

the people of my age grew up with their fathers having not a very strong religion but the thing is that everybody has to accept Jesus Christ

as their own personal Savior. Not what your dad's did or your uncle did or your father did or your mother did. It's something that you have to do. And once you do this, the Holy Spirit comes into you and lives within you. Then he is able to help you through all of these

holes that we live in in this world. You've definitely leaned on that. Oh, yes, and more so, especially through the loss of close family members. In all of my mother and dad and brothers and sisters, I've been involved in some way in their funeral. And all the nine siblings and your parents? Yeah. Man, that's heavy too. Yeah.

You know, the brothers and I, I don't know if we joke. I don't know if that's the right word, but we've talked, and my oldest brother is in a morbid sense, hopes he's the first to go because he doesn't want to, he doesn't want to be the one. He thinks I have a, well, being the youngest, the probability says, and that's what Grandma Newman always talked about, is her friends. She was the last one. Has that been tough? Oh, yeah. But because I'm eight years younger, I knew it's a good possibility. Tough was a poor, obviously it ain't great. I should point that out. I feel dumb for saying tough. But I look at you, Dave, and it's like, I don't know how to put it into words.

It's like being on the other side of a hill. You know, you just not many people get to that. other side of the hill. Yeah. You know, I assume with nine siblings, geez, grown up, that must have been, you know, you mentioned the age gap, but at the same token, you live with a brother, you had family all over the place, you have insight, I guess, into something that most people don't ever want to experience.

I think I derailed talking about that, living with brothers. and they're wives and see how they interact is. And I would say, there's a trait I sure wouldn't mind when I'd pick a wife that I'd like to see you in her. And I've always kind of did that because here you are eight years younger and they're going on with their lives, having children and so forth.

And I babysat a lot for them at different times. That's a fun memory, because I share those memories. live with different siblings and their significant others. I don't think I ever got to babysit. I don't think anyone would ever trust me. What was maybe your proudest accomplishment you've had in your life? I guess seeing my grandchildren wanting to come into the funeral business. Was it something you tried to steer them away from?

No, no. I showed them every avenue of it that I could say that we're involved in and explained why we did things, why we should do this, why the family should have this this opportunity to do something. I go back to this story. Years ago when a couple lost a child, at birth or maybe born, still born.

The feeling at the time was, well, we shouldn't burden the mother anymore. We should, usually the, I'd get a grave dug, the father of the child, maybe the minister, maybe somebody else, but leave the mother right out of it and go out to the cemetery and bury this child. Some 30 years later, I had a lady phone me, introduce herself and says, Dave, what did you do with my baby? Her and her husband had never spoke about it. She didn't, and she was, just didn't know where else, who else to turn to.

So I explained to her where we buried the baby and what we had done. And she said, well, thank you. I've been having nightmares about this for years. because it wasn't handled properly. And that's one of the disappointments that I have that I didn't know this or took somebody else's advice for it. Dealing with the ever after,

have you witnessed anything surreal? Something, I always hear stories of the great beyond, so to speak. Dealing with being so close. close to it, I guess. I haven't experienced anything myself. It's extraordinary. Linda's got some good stories of being a nurse, whereas just parents and the dad of each old,

I've brought a beautiful light shining down and, you know, many others. She, and she's had a couple of those, being a nurse as long as she'd been. and nursing a lot of times their own family. How about truths? In your life, what is one of the truths you can hang your hat on? Well, I'd have to say where I've surrendered to Jesus. There's nothing I can do, Lord.

It's all on your shoulders. When your grandkids get older and they come back to this, I hope they come back to this, and you could impart some wisdom on them. What would you want to tell? Be sure you seek guidance and direction and pray about it. If you haven't prayed about it, don't try and figure it out without praying about it. One final one before I let you get out of here tonight,

just because I'm scrolling over my notes. You said your favorite memory of Lloyd was the moving school. What school was that? Bishop Lloyd was... It was, oh, the Bar Colony School. It was immediately north of the log church, where the Lord Lod Church is. Okay, yeah. That's where it sat there, and they dug onto it with Bobcats,

and shorted it up where all the piling were, and cut the piling off, a picture up on, I think they cut it in half. one section, wheeled her down to Alberta. Quite the sight. Yeah. And about the same time they moved the water tower out to Kitskotty. Moved the water tower out to Kitskotty, too.

That must have been quite the site, too. They sturdied it, jacked it up, welded it to the trailer, waded the trailer down, whatever it is. Off she went. Any closing things? thoughts before I let you get home? I think that, I think it's really important is what you're doing, as I think I've answered, but I've been thinking about this for years.

I sure hope that somebody can get some of these stories down. As I, you know, if you know, we're writing obituaries for people all the time. These people are all younger. The stories are, you know, they don't know the stories of traveling out and freezing and trying to find a place to get warm. Well, I appreciate you coming in and sitting down and doing this for a little bit tonight. I don't want to keep you all night because it is closing in on 9 o'clock, but I appreciate you coming in and sharing a bit about your life. Well, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

And I know that I'm very thankful that someone's doing what you're doing. Keep up the good work. Thanks, Dave. And I knew your grandma and grandpa, Donna. And Dora. Dora. I got to, selfishly then, I have to ask. Do you have any memories of them?

Oh, yeah. Anything that comes to mind? Oh, just all the deal. There are always all the dealings we had with them. You know, and I remember where your grandma used to sit in church when you come alone in the United Church, you know, to a funeral. This is where she wanted to sit.

And they were very close to me because they lost the son. Yeah, Tommy got hit by a train in town. Actually, you want to know one of the strangest things that has happened on the podcast as I interviewed Terrence Bexson. Okay. And it's failing me now. Darn, I'm going to, I don't want to tell the entire story because I'm not going to get it right.

But his wife's sister, something along that lines, was a Pollard. And Tommy was in a car full of Pollards when they were ahead. And she, and anyways, and so he's, we're just kind of, no different than you telling some stories in my eyes going, I didn't know that, right? Like not trying to walk into that story. He walked into the train wreck.

And there's a moment in the pocket house where I go, my uncle was in a train wreck. And we kind of have this like strange moment where you just, yeah. But yes, he was killed by a train. First day of school. Is that what it was? Yeah, September the first day of school. Oh, man.

Well, once again, I appreciate you coming in and sharing some stories and talking about your life. I hope I've given you a complete, didn't leave out some of the story. I know my memory is going. No, you did. Let me explain what I always tell everyone. There's no way, no matter how long we go, that you can encapsulate somebody's life. It's the beginning, right? I would really encourage you to write or to just start, pick up a handheld so you can talk into it and try and keep your thoughts and pass that down because, I mean, as we all know, there's a little, you've lived a long time.

You've seen a lot of things. I really appreciate you sitting in here and sharing some of your wisdom. Well, whether it's wisdom or just tales. Well, thanks again. 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 today. Like I say, we'll get us back on track here with our archive episodes every second Wednesday. But, of course, having a doctor on saying some of the things that he was talking about with, well, everything.

I just thought it was pertinent to get that information out as quick as humanly possible. So we'll get back to our regular schedule here as we move forward. I have to give a shout out to all you listeners who've been just blown up my phone lately. it sounds like hit a bit of a chord with some of the doctors coming on talking and I'm actively trying to get more to come on and talk about it. I think it's good to have dialogue for not only myself to listen to but you as well. And if you got any ideas for guests, by all means, shoot me a text or hit me up on social media. I'm always open to new interesting people.

and I'm looking forward to what the future holds here on the podcast. I got some cool guests coming up and some very outspoken guests coming up as well. So we'll see where that takes us. But regardless, have a great Monday and the rest of your week. We will catch up to you Wednesday, obviously hump day with another episode coming up. And until then, all right?