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As a result of comments received and my son Corey complaining that I am “teasing him with short posts”, and he wants more; I am going to spend some time expanding on my years growing up in Enilda. These memories will be a a bit random and probably not sequential.

I was born in the Providence Hospital in High Prairie Jan 19 1947. Our family at that time consisted of my dad Lloyd, mother Nellie, Brother Vernon and sister Anne. Brother Garth came along ten years or so later. We lived in the middle of town in quite a large house located between the Post Office and Cartwright’s General Store. The front of the house contained the café my mom ran for a while.  In the rear was the main living quarters consisting of a large kitchen, living room and bedrooms on the upper floor.

I remember when telephones came to town and the local switchboard was located in our living room. If someone wanted to call locally they would ring the switch board and mom would connect them to whomever they wished to reach, for calls to High Prairie or beyond they would be connected to the operators in High Prairie.

We were very close to the Franklin family. Violet was widowed, I stand to be corrected but I believe her husband Herb died as a result of injuries in the 2nd world war.  Their kids were Charlie, Dean, Gladys, Bill and George. Violet was my Godmother and I always referred to her as my second mother.  She worked with my mom in the café and assisted with caring for me while I was recovering from Polio. Gladys and Anne were friends, I have memories of them pulling around the freshly waxed floor in Violet’s small living area to polish it.  I also have vivid memories of sister Anne tickling me until I couldn’t stand it.

When I was very young Anne gave birth to a baby girl who was adopted by a family in Edmonton.  I did not find out about this until after Anne died, I was under the impression was that she went away to school in Edmonton. Later as a result of my nieces Dawn and Sandra searching for their sister and Jo-Ann’s desire to find her parents, she was welcomed into the family.  Anne married Ken Minns, a farmer from Athabasca who had come to work for Bissell Bros. Lumber during the winter months. 

Vernon spent some time logging in Northern BC with my Uncle Bill Walker, then I believe worked in Uranium City for a while,, it was always exciting for me when my big brother came home from time to time.  He eventually ended up in Toronto working in the head office of a large insurance company where he met his first wife Peggy.

More to come….