During that time, while I was home again, I went hunting, then helped my Uncle Albert haying and cutting oats and picking potatoes. I came back from Saint John and Guy Johansen and I cut some pulpwood at a farm in Salmonhurst, their sleeping quarters left a lot to be desired, we only had small wooden camps with a small stove to heat the place, and so our cooking, and it was hard work, and we didn’t make too much money.
So, we quit that business!
Then: I applied for a trade course in plumbing, and was accepted. I went back to Saint John, N. B. where I went to trade school, this was a six months course, then I got a job in Fredericton, N. B., but my memory of Fredericton was the place where I was boarding, the landlady’s daughter had a little boy, his name was John Wayne Gamble….he was just three years old, and I used to take him for a walk: one place he like to go was to Ray Bunkers junk-yard, it was abut three blocks from where I was boarding, 145 Westmoreland Street, where we lived. He was fun. I used to take this little guy for a treat to drugstore on a Saturday afternoon, as I was off work on Saturdays at noon.
I want to say that I nearly always lived where I could have my meals `in a home like place, and I got to meet a lot of nice people. Some of the fellows would rent an apartment, but I did not like that, because I did not want to be alone, so preferred a place where I could get room and board. In this way, I had to be there at meal time, and there at meal time and there would be someone I know (or knew) what you were doing and if something happened to you, they would let your family know about this.
I worked in Fredericton from July 1946 until October l949. I was supposed to work the full 4 years to complete my apprenticeship, but I had always wanted to travel so I decided to leave, and went home again to go hunting that fall. I did that, and I shot a big buck deer in November, l949. Albert helped me to drag it to a place where it was picked up by a lumber truck….now I can say ..the meat wasn’t too good, my sister fried up some of the meat (Bev that is) and it was tough…
(here we go again)…..I thought it was time again to find a job and I headed off for Ontario, it was Ottawa and I arrived there on Nov. 18, l949. I left with two other fellows, one was Reainer Jensen from near home, the other fellow’s name was Dell Adams. They were bricklayers…we all found jobs, and we were lucky, as November in Ottawa was not a good time to find work in construction.
I guess Doug Dixon was lucky: I joined the plumber’s union in Ottawa. The union went on strike, and a lot didn’t get back to work until April, but the company I was working for kept me and I worked with the tinsmiths until the strike was over. My father died on December l950…..It was a sad day for us all…I had been at home for that Christmastime, and Philip and I (my only brother, Philip) had taken him to work at a lumber mill at Riley Brook, and he had a heavy tool box and I asked him to take some of the tools out of the box to reduce the weight. He said…No, I’ll lift this end…we had to lift it up some stairs and I could see he was lifting too much. He died that night.
Bev and Faye (my sisters) were only young….Faye was 14 and Bev 12. It was hard for our mother as dad had no money saved, so I had to help out to keep the house and keep the food in the fridge. I had just started to make some money….(I didn’t think of getting married)….because with this happening too, I thought I was not always working steadily. I did manage to pay some of the bills.
My mom (Elsie) did come up to Ottawa to work around here, and Bev and Faye went to live with my sister Dawn. Mom worked for some American people who were in the U. S. Government, at the American Embassy, their last name was Kleinhants, they had two children, a boy and a girl, their names were Dick and Julie. They lived in a big home in Kingsmere, Quebec…the name of the village in Gatineau Hills..(later where McKenzie King had his summer home, still a tourist attraction near Ottawa)….
Elsie (mom) worked there coming up in the fall and staying until April, when she went back to New Brunswick…she was well liked for the people up here, they were nice people.
I finally found a very steady job, working for a company called Comstock…I had joined the Plumbers’ Union here in Ottawa in l950. I was a foreman for that company :they had many contracts outside of Ottawa, at an Army Camp, etc. and Iwent in July l956 and stayed in the City of Pembroke for one year, then on to Sudbury, Ontario, where both a post office and a prison were being built. I worked in the Burwash Prison in that area, quite a few experiences there.
I did a lot of wonderful fishing and hunting for all kinds of animals (not girls)… And I bought a new car while up in that area, I guess the pay was about 25 cents per hour then in other working jobs, while the plumbing trade was about $20.00 per week, and living allowances….this was because I was living out of the central Ottawa area. I went to Petawawa, Ontario, and at that location was in charge of a big job in the year l960…and I found a good boarding home in the town of Petawawa, close to the jobsite at Petawawa Point (a beautiful scenic part of our Ottawa river area)…
I boarded at a private home, and the owners name was Turcotte….she had two great daughters, Eunice and Sharon, still at home, the ages were Sharon about 9 and Eunice 15…(many years later, marrying Norma, we were invited to weddings of these girls, Turcotte’s 50th wedding anniversary, etc…..goes on and on).
I taught Eunice how to drive my car, and Sharon was a favourite young girl to have fun as she liked me to grab her by one arm, and one leg and swing her around, so used to take her and some of her little school friends out for icecream in the summer time and it was fun, and down swimming places around…(Thinking about this today, such little attention to happy kids would be misconstrued for sure!!) These young kids liked me for being kind, and as Sharon’s own dad was about 54 at the time, and he did not pay much attention at all to his two young girls….they had a family of 2 boys and 4 girls and the older girls were married and lives in various places away as far as Ottawa (which seemed far, I suppose for them at the time)…
When the job started up this area (with Comstock), I only had a helper, Bert McLaughlin, we worked in our bare feet in the sand, installing pipe, and when the job progressed I had 6 men to supervise and then the company I worked for got two more contracts…I was in a place called Deep River, job site was a small hotel and a cafeteria.
Deep River is an Atomic Energy town in Canada (about 80 miles from Ottawa)most of the people who work in this Atomic Energy plant live in the immediate area (i.e. some in Petawawa, Deep River, Pembroke). The plant where the Atomic Energy was located at a place called “Chalk River”.
I had to travel to that area once a day to see that the work was being done, plus look after the work at the Sewage Treatment plant at Petawawa Point. I liked that, as I had a good, and also enjoyed the trip each day, as it was approximately 15 minutes from Petawawa. I finished that job in l961, and then was sent back to Ottawa, but only for a couple of weeks.
I then went to North Bay…I was again in a supervisory capacity…we worked down underground at a North American Air Defense Project. We had to board a bus and went down 2610 ft.at a 10 degree slope, nearly half a mile underground. I again lived in a private home there, the people’s name was McKay, they had two young girls and a boy…they were very nice people. I worked at that location for 6 months, then back to Ottawa again. I was given another supervisory job. It was in the I. B. M. building (which is still located in the same location)… That was in l963.
As I was nearly finished that job, I decided that I needed a holiday…and so off I went to skiing in Austria! I was in a group of skiers on a Charter flight to Zurich, Switzerland. We flew Air Canada on a DC8, we had a very good flight…booze was free, and a lot of people aboard got drunk. From there, we went to St.Anton, Austria. What a skier’s paradise! That winter there was an unusual record setting year, so many snowfalls, that the t-bars couldn’t operate sometimes, the snow was so deep that if you tried to operate the tows people would their heads. Riding in those big gondolas was quite a thrill (I have some photos of Austria I bought, and some pictures taken at home in Fitzroy (and the hotels we stayed at).
We went on one lift that was about four miles up to the top of the mountain, some places were extremely steep. The skiing guides advised anyone wearing very smooth clothing not to try to ski those steep slopes, because the clothes would cause you to slide uncontrollably down to the bottom of the hill if you fell.
I stayed there for approximately one week, we had a 22 day stay and skied in three different locations. (prepaid flight return to Ottawa)…from St. Anton, it was to Innisbruck, Austria, five days, then on to the famous Kitzbuehl, the downhill Olympic races, etc. are held there. It is extremely steep run of the famous downhill run, and dangerous. As I looked down from where those races started, it was enough to make me move over a bit and try something less challenging…Boy, we had a good time, and lived in a hotel where a lot of the people from Ottawa I had known: i.e. Johnny Fripp, Art Tommy (1956 Olympian) (Tommy & Lefebre store in Ottawa), Moe Dworwin (Eye specialist from Ottawa). We met a lot of people from Germany, England and many European countries. Met a few girls, but nothing I could afford to continue a steady relationship with….also when we were in Paris, on our way back at the airport, I had met a nice widow : her husband had been killed in Algeria when they (the French) had been ‘kicked out’…still have her address in what they would call the ‘little black book’.
When I arrived back in Ottawa, after this great holiday, I continue to finish the job at the IBM building and immediately got another job at the Post Office Headquarters (as a foreman). I must say, that I was getting tired of the responsibility of being a foreman or the supervisory capacity, and felt better being given some finishing jobs that only required me to have a helper alongside, wherein I finished about four different jobs.
At this point, I made the decision to quit Comstock and go out West: where the Oil Sands project in Canada was in its ‘primary, infancy stage’ in the year l966. Bechtel Corporation, based in San Fransisco, U. S. A. were the constractors on this enormous project. I left Ottawa on November 6th, that year, and flew to Toronto, where I changed planes for Calgary, Alberta. When we got to Toronto, I was wearing a big winter corduroy coat…everyone was watching me I felt, because it wasn’t that cold in Toronto. We changed planes for the flight to Calgary, Alberta for a flight to Edmonton, Alberta, where I took another plane to Fort McMurray. Boy, that was when I was glad that I had that big warm coat on, it was about 32 degrees in Toronto, when we arrived in Fort McMurray, it was 20 below zero, Fahrenheit.
I started to work on November 8th, working with a welder named Lloyd Yates: he was a very good welder: so good in fact, that I went to the foreman on the job and asked to work on something with lesser skill, as I felt I was only holding this man up! And so I was given a job operating a pump for testing the pipe that was installed. The pump used heated glycol. We were given a plan or print of the section to be tested, and at what pressure: It was a good job. We had an older fellow as a foreman, who was born in Turkey. He was a very good foreman, and when it was extremely cold, he would find us work inside, where it was warmer.
In Alberta, November 11th, Armistice Day is a Provincial Holiday…well, for that particular day for something to do, I went down to the Athabaska River….and before I got to that river, I could hear a fellow cursing his dogs….I looked down the river and what I saw surprised me. It was an Indian Native Canadian with a dog team of three dogs. Well, I went down and met him. He gave me his name and we shook hands: His name was Fred McDonald he had an Indian mother, but a Scotch father, …he was coming up the river to get some meat for his dogs. A lot of meat was just dumped at a certain place near the job site. Other Indians with dogs also went to this place for meat. I was invited to see Fred’s camp, which was down river about one mile, then about a half a mile across the Athabaska river. Well, about two days later, I went down the river, and who should I meet but Fred. He had been out town to Fort McMurray, and bought a few groceries, so we went back to his camp.
It was quite primitive, just about 10 ft. x 12 feet, heated by a small sheet metal stove. I had brought a lunch with me, so we had a real good afternoon. He wasn’t too clean: he was wearing a pair of overalls which were shiny…I am quite sure he had slept in them…he only had a frying pan for cooking his meat, and a small pail to boil the water in. So, I said I’d like to come down again the next Sunday. We worked 6 days a week at the job site, so that’s why I know it had to be a Sunday. Fred had caught a lynx, and he was supposed to sell it to buy some new dog harnesses, and some food. But he went down river to Fort McKay, and got celebrating and spent the money on booze.
When I got their the next Sunday, he had nothing to eat….he had a small dead beaver thawing close to the stove. When I had brought a small lunch that day, only enough for myself really, so I shared that with him. Then I arranged to get him some food from the dining room at the construction cafeteria. I got 3 or 4 of my fellow workers to get as much as they could put in their pockets, and meet me outside, after I got some pie and jam, and we also had some meat for Fred’s dogs: it was real good steak, and a lot of bread, etc. It was a very cold day, and I had arranged to meet Fred at a scrap pile near the job site. Fred was there waiting, but I was a little bit late, and the poor fellow was just about to give up…but then his lead dog named Roddy’s ears perked up when he could hear me coming. Fred was so happy to see me…the first thing he asked me if I had brought some pie….I said “I sure have”. He was so hungry, he was weak and when I gave him all the food, he immediately ate a piece of pie to give him some energy.
I also had a newspaper and some cigarettes, tobacco and papers to roll cigarettes. As I think about this, I had probably saved his life. I used to go down to visit Fred every Sunday. Well, we had 44 plumbers and pipe fitters from Ireland working at the job and I took five of them down one day to see Fred’s camp. They were amazed to actually see this native Indian living in such primitive circumstances. (I have some photos of Fred and his home or ‘trappers camp”). At the time, Fred was 36 years old…this was in February l967. I worked there until March 8th, l967, when I had decided to quit…the old foreman said that he was sorry to see me leave, as he said that the crew he had at the time was one of the best that he had ever had, and we were all experienced mechanics.
I believe I had my skis that my brother Philip had shipped to me, along with the boots, and ski clothes, so I flew to Edmonton Alberta, then on to Calgary, and stayed in a good hotel that night, then traveled to Banff, Alberta for a week’s skiing. Boy, that was a really good time, they only problem I did encounter was the skis seemed to be a bit too stiff and a bit too long to ski in the powder snow I encountered, but I stuck then to the more prepared slopes.
After a week in Banff, I went back to Calgary, did some shopping, bought a new electric razer: someone had stolen mine, I had left it in the washroom and of course, never saw it again. I then flew back to Ottawa, and stayed with Philip and Ursula for a few days (they were around the Arnprior area at that time), then to Ottawa – central part to look at some new cars. I wanted mostly to see a Mercury Cougar…I went to a Mercury dealer and asked if I could try it out for a test run. I took the Cougar that I thought I would like, and drove about ten miles outside the city, but as I was driving I realized that I didn’t have a place of my own to stay in, I was 42 years old….and started to say to myself “you better get yourself somewhere to live”….so I just turned around, and returned the car, and said to the dealer: “I guess I had better buy a house or something to live in”! I stayed with a friend of mine for a couple of weeks, and while there, I got in contact with a real estate sales person and looked at some apartment buildings…..I finally decided on a building with 2 apartments (a duplex)..it was on Junction Avenue (just off Heron Rd.) quite central.
Well, that was a good decision, and I invited my neice from New Brunswick, Barbara, and a friend of hers, Grace…can’t remember her last name to share these quarters and rented the upstairs area.
It wasn’t too long after I had been there, I was introduced to Norma (nee Latham) Wintonick, a widow, by my good friend Ken Cook….he worked for the same company that Norma was with for years That was in February l968…the evening I had another few couples over to thank them for years of kindnesses, Ken and his wife Ruth Cook had picked Norma up at her apartment in west-end Ottawa, Dovercourt Avenue. This Saturday night I think I had asked her for a ‘date to go skiing the next day, a Sunday”. She was quite a good skier..which surprised me…I was really pleased when she had asked me ‘what time do you usually go skiing on a Sunday?” I replied that I usually like to get going quite early, say at 8 a.m. She said ‘I’ll be ready when you come to pick me up…it’s 412 Dovercourt”….she was the first woman to be ready at that time of the day that I had ever met! Boy, we had a first good day skiing at Vorlage, and going in to Tulip Valley Restaurant afterwards before delivering her at her apartment where she and her two children lived, Peter and Susie.
We went skiing quite a few times, and dinner, and meeting the children and all of a sudden we started to go steady. This led to falling in love and our marriage! Boy, oh boy, was that another good move! As I’m writing this now (Nov. 07) we are still together (married Apr. 5, l969) in our own bungalow in Fitzroy Harbour. Norma’s two children at that time were Peter, age 15 and his sister, Suzanne, age 14….sure there were a few disagreements the odd time (not unusual is it?) but I’ve survived many, many things and being almost crippled now with osteoporosis, Norma is really looking after me.
I feel good about selling the building over there on Junction, and buying a little bungalow at 650 Broadview Avenue, just across the street from the school Peter and Sue were going to..Nepean High, and it was never any problem for either of them to study.
Both Peter and Suzie are married now….Peter and Christine have one daughter Mira, and Suzie and her husband Barry Olsheskie have four children: Jason, James, Erin and Matthew. Jason got married this July, to Karen, I always thought and still do that he is one of the nicest fellow I’ve ever met, as a youngster and as an adult now. James (another gem) next in age to Jason got married last summer, 2006 to Shannon. Erin and Matthew are still at school studying, Erin is 21 and Matthew 15, both have part-time jobs while attending their educational schools. Jason’s a Civil Engineer, James and Shannon teachers, as well as Karen, also a teacher.
Norma was a Secretary to a very good business man, and she didn’t have any debt when we married, and she always didn’t say a word if I wanted to go hunting, and fishing and extra skiing (she came along on the skiing a lot though)…
I went on a once-in-a-lifetime fishing trip to Baffin Island, July 1991, and caught some big Arctic Char…were they ever good to eat. We were up there about 7- 8 days, believe we left 17th July returning July 24th, plus two days traveling. The films that were taken Norma said are spectacular, as an artist she would wish she had see all those sites.
We flew into a place called Iqualiat, from there about l-l/2 hours to another place called Pangnurtung, then we traveled by boat and motor. We had two Eskimo girls in the grouping and then 2 Eskimo guides for the boats, which were 18 ft. long and powered by 2.70 horsepower motors on each boat. There was a cabin in the bow of the boat where we could lay down. One boat had the two girls and the guide and 2 fishermen, and the other boat and a guide and 4 fishermen.
