Question 14: (Series 1 No.1) Uncle Clyde

My Conrad grandparents had their first child on 16 November 1913, and named him Clyde Arthur Conrad. He was born in his grandmother's home in Provo, the same house that my dad would be born in a couple of years later.

Uncle Clyde was a severe older brother. He could be fun, too, but he was the boss of his siblings, and he wanted them to know it! Dad told stories about how the five of them would be hoeing sugar beets, and Clyde would stay just behind all of them, and throw dirt clods at them and yell "Go faster!" if he thought they were too slow.All of the pictures that follow were taken in the 1930s.

Anold and Clyde

 Dad took completely after the Conrads. Tall and dark. Clyde took after the Muhlesteins. Short and blonde as a baby with light brown hair as an adult.
 
In the Summer of 1937, visitors from Utah came. These are the cousins who I associate with the small black wood house across the street from Joaquin Elementary School (now the Great and Spacious Building).
Back: Louise Hooks (Aunt Louie) sister to Ida Conrad; her daughter, Anna. Front: her daughter, Gladys; Arnold Conrad; her daughter, Bertha; Clyde Conrad. I think that Gladys looks so much like Aunt Ethel!  The Hooks family were not quite double cousins--their moms were sisters, and their dads were cousins. (The same relationship that Uncle Clyde's family had with the children of Lou and Ethis Conrad.)

 The next picture is dated: 1938. My cousin Don noted that in the picture Clyde is riding the ONE bike that was owned by the family. On his head is a pith helmet. This was a common head gear that I often saw on the men in our family as they worked in the hot sun, especially while harvesting the hay. (Girls sometimes wore them, too!)

I don't know when this next picture was taken, beyond a guess of sometime in the thirties. Here is Uncle Clyde outstanding in his field.

Uncle Clyde was not a socializer or a skirt chaser like my Dad and Uncle Ken were. The two of them always had dates, and went to dances, and socialized with their friends a lot. Uncle Clyde was more solitary. He was an inventor. He stayed home so he could tinker with things. Tinker was the word they always used to describe what Uncle Clyde did. And he was still tinkering away during my lifetime. If you need a part for a machine, you don't buy it; you make it. If you wish there was a gadget that did [whatever], you invent it.  There were so many things that would come out on the market that Clyde had already figured out. He just didn't bother to patent anything.

My Auntie Beulah, Uncle Clyde's wife, was probably the most influential of all my aunts and uncles because I saw her so much. One day we sat in her living room and she told me all about how she and Uncle Clyde got together. Auntie Beulah, then Beulah Harding, had her eye on Clyde, but Holy Cow! A girl had to chase Clyde and NOT GIVE UP. Because he was pretty oblivious about girls. I mean, he could appreciate a beautiful girl as much as the next guy, but he had so many things to do. Electrical things. Mechanical things. Talking to girls was way more fun if you could do it while tinkering with your current project.

Auntie Beulah as a young woman

 Auntie Beulah (11 Feb. 1913) was a teacher. She had moved away from Taber for normal school, and then took a teaching job somewhere (I don't remember where) but when her mother died, she moved home to help her dad finish raising the kids--the Hardings had a lot of children. Her youngest brothers, Don and Jesse, were pretty young at the time. (Her sister Ethis was already married, to Louis Conrad, son of Milt and Josie. These are the parents of Burton.)  So Auntie Beulah taught school in Taber and mooned after Clyde--while still staying socially active herself. At various activities, Auntie Beulah would latch on to Ken and Arnold at dances and socials, and they would inevitably invite her home for ice cream, which their mother was always a sport about making, and that way she could see her crush and talk to him. This went on for years. Years.

And she got tired of waiting! She was also getting tired of teaching. She just needed a change. She decided to go to the University of Utah and pursue training as a nurse. Absence makes the heart grow fonder was a true principle for Uncle Clyde. He occasionally wrote to Beulah, but it took him a year or two to get to the point where he missed her presence enough to CALL her. Long distance calls were a BIG DEAL for this man! (Even when I was a young married woman: her parents hardly ever called Marie because they saw long distance calling as such an expense.) Auntie Beulah lived in a boarding house where there wasn't a phone, but one day, a runner came from a house nearby, breathless with excitement to tell her there was a call for her. She ran over, and it was CLYDE. He missed her.

Calling a woman was a serious commitment for Clyde. So...the next thing, once her semester was over and she could go back home to Taber, it was wedding bells for Clyde and Beulah. Here is a picture of them on their wedding day at the Cardston Alberta Temple on 19 March 1947.

The happy bride and groom. She was already 34, and he was 33.5.

When I was a little girl, Auntie Beulah and Uncle Clyde lived in Grandpa Harding's old house in Taber. Being town kids, her children attended Central School for their elementary education. We were farm kids, and our end of town mostly went to Dr. Hamman. We were also in different wards at church. I don't remember seeing them a ton, but one day I do remember. Mom and Dad went to the temple and left me with Auntie Beulah for the day, since the other kids were all in school. It would have been in the fall of 1961, so I was almost four, and Marie was five months younger. Auntie Beulah set up a child size table for our breakfast, which was cornflakes. But horror of horrors! She put SUGAR on my cornflakes! I mean, that cornflakes were soaking in MILK was bad enough, but SUGAR? I remember being so upset by that.

In about 1963, the Conrads, as we called them--isn't that funny? WE were Conrads, but we always referred to them collectively as "The Conrads." Anyways, Uncle Clyde had at some point bought a farm northeast of dad's farm, across the road (that would become Highway 36 but wasn't that yet) and in about 1963, they had finished building a house on the property and moved into it and became our neighbors.

Clyde Conrad farm on Highway 36 viewed from the Southeast

After that, I saw my cousins almost every day (sometimes not on Saturdays) and saw my aunt and uncle several times a week. Even if we did not see them, we talked to them daily. We communicated via CB radio, which we got either in 1963 or 1964. I don't remember if I was in grade one or two, but I do remember that I stood up during show and tell at school and announced "My dad just got an ABC Radio." Uncle Clyde was probably irritated that HE did not invent the telephone, because though Dad was actively involved with the rural telephone line association, being the president and trouble shooter, Uncle Clyde would not even have one in the house. He didn't want to be bothered with it. BUT he didn't mind calling us on the radio to bother US to use the telephone to call someone he or one of his family needed to get into contact with! Eventually (and by that I mean fairly soon) he did get a phone. Their phone number was (403)223-8592. Ours was (403)223-8207.

In the picture below are all of my Conrad cousins on their way to school. You can see the lunch buckets of the time and how we carried our books instead of using backpacks. Harold and Perry were both in the band, Harold on trumpet and Perry on trombone. So, I am going to calculate how old they were in this picture.  Perry had to be at minimum in Grade Seven because that was the year band started. That would put Harold in Grade Nine. (Colleen was actually between the two boys in age, but in the same grade as Harold because she was smart and they put her a year ahead in school.) That would put Ruth in Grade Eleven, John in Grade Twelve. Margaret is two years younger than Perry but she had rheumatic fever and missed almost an entire year of school, so she was in the grade between Arlene and I. I can't remember exactly when that happened, so in this picture, she is either in Grade Four or Five. Marie is in Grade Two, ten years younger than John. So...I know that my calculation is correct because this is the only possibility that allows for John to still be in school and Perry to be in band.

Ruth (17), Harold (15) Margaret (11), John (18), Marie (8) and Perry (13)

 It was fun to have cousins just a quarter of a mile up the road. We certainly got a lot of exercise walking that quarter mile, or riding bikes, or running! I liked being able to sit with my cousins on the bus. Some years I sat with Marie, some years with Margaret, and it did seem to go by year, not day. Sometimes Auntie Beulah would get on the bus with them, because she would be substitute teaching at one of the schools in town. I liked and didn't like having Auntie Beulah as a sub. It was nice to have her there because I knew she loved me and I loved her. BUT I didn't know what to call her. Auntie Beulah seemed wrong at school, and Mrs. Conrad seemed wrong period. So I didn't call her anything.  The only time I got in trouble when she was the teacher was when Margaret and I had a class together in high school, and we got in trouble for talking to each other. (Margaret often got in trouble when her mom was the teacher. She could be a bit of a rebel.)

Speaking of getting in trouble, Margaret often got in trouble at home. Remember the story about Grandpa Conrad telling Ethel that if she broke another comb she was going to "get it" but if Aunt Elaine broke a comb then nothing happened? Well, that was also the relationship of Clyde with Margaret and Marie. This is what I posted about that back on 1 July 2009: "Ha--like father, like son--I can remember being in the kitchen with Marie, and she dropped something, and from the dining room/electronics table Uncle Clyde said (really loudly, like yelling, only I don't want to use that word) "Margaret!" And Marie said meekly, "I dropped it daddy." And he said (in a much softer voice) "Oh, well be more careful." BIG SMILE"

That was not a random thing. We sometimes heard him yelling at Margaret in our yard a quarter of a mile away. It really bothered all of us, so we had a family council at which we decided that someone had to tell Uncle Clyde that he was meaner to Margaret than he was to the other kids and he needed to stop it. We delegated Dad to be the one who would talk to him about it. Dad was not exactly happy about the assignment--this was his big brother, the one who had been bossy to him all through thirty years of his life. He approached the assignment with fasting and prayer. We ALL did. One day, he and Uncle Clyde were going to be taking a load of cattle to Lethbridge, so they would be riding all that way together. Dad was going to be driving. He decided this was his opportunity. We all prayed so hard for him! And it went really well. He reported later that he said, "Clyde, I need to talk with you about something that is really bothering everyone in our family." Clyde encouraged him to go on. Dad said, "We notice that Margaret is yelled at and punished much more often than your other children. Sometimes she gets blamed for things she did not do. Clyde, Margaret is a good girl. You need to treat her with more kindness." And Uncle Clyde did not get mad. He listened, and was saddened, not defensive. He did not realize he was doing it. After that, he started to notice his own behavior, and things got better for Margaret. I am guessing that it started out as teasing, because Margaret was one of those people who are fun to tease, but then it became a habit. Anyways, we as a family were very happy to see a change for the better in Uncle Clyde's relationship with Margaret.

The electronics table! Auntie Beulah had a lovely wooden dining room table and hutch. The table was rarely used for dining, because it was full of electronics! That was where Uncle Clyde worked on inventions till the wee hours of the morning. (He ran on about four hours of sleep and an afternoon nap for most of his life.) Downstairs, there was a wall built entirely of television consoles. Like, all televisions were in wooden cabinets at the time, and he had stacked all these TV cabinets on top of each other to make a wall, to create bedroom space for the boys.

Uncle Clyde never gave his family much notice if they were going to go on vacation. Like us, they usually went to Waterton. Uncle Clyde would come home from morning chores and announce, "Beulah! Get the kids ready; we are going on vacation today." Then he would call my dad and ask him to do the chores. Cats, dogs and chickens to feed, eggs to gather, cows to milk, the garden to water.  One year, Dad came back from doing the chores and said, "Arlene and Myrna, will you come with me to the Conrads while I do the chores? Your uncle has made your aunt leave with the kitchen in a big mess, and we can't let her come home to that."  He was right! It was terrible! Dishes in the sink and on the cupboards and table, the floor was a mess! Arlene and I worked and worked, and got the kitchen sparkling clean. Cleaning never felt so good! Coming home from any vacation is hard. Coming home from camping is harder--so much to clean up and put away. But then to have days of food hardened on plates, etc., on top of that? That would be horrible. We loved our Auntie Beulah and it was a pleasure to serve her.

Uncle Clyde was a bit of a rabble-rouser; a political activist. One year, when I was in high school, I read a tiny blurb in the paper about a public meeting to discuss a bill that was before the Alberta legislature. The bill would have made it illegal to move rocks on your farm without permission! Rocks surface all the time, and farmers move them. I told my dad; he told Uncle Clyde. Soon there was a big headline in the paper about it, and the public meeting had to be moved from a small room to a big room, and the furor over it in Taber spread to other communities and the bill was not passed. Another year, after I was at BYU, Uncle Clyde led the picket lines when farmers went on strike with the Sugar Refineries. He was the vocal, animate the crowd guy, keeping the other farmers united in their cause.

Uncle Clyde was very careful with money. That worked to his advantage, because he died a millionaire. But it didn't always make life easy for Auntie Beulah. For example, they did not have a vacuum cleaner with a floor attachment. She vacuumed the living room carpet on her hands and knees. Occasionally in my life, I have had a BROKEN vacuum cleaner, and I have vacuumed on my hands and knees a time or two, and whenever I did, I would think of my sweet Auntie Beulah, humming happily to herself while vacuuming on her hands and knees for YEARS.

Once the piano tuner came to our house. We had two pianos (the story of the second piano is one for another day) and so it cost something like $50 per piano. The piano tuner (who was actually my cousin Rita Navratil Hardy's father-in-law Lyman Hardy) asked if there was anyone else we knew in the Taber area who needed their piano tuned. (He had come from Stirling to do the job.) Mom said, "Oh, yes, my sister-in-law's piano is terribly out of tune!" So he went to Auntie Beulah's house. Now, her house was not as nice inside as ours was, and the yard was not as beautiful, either. And her one piano was not only way out of tune but missing a few ivories. And so he fixed their piano...and only charged $25! Even though her one piano was way more work than our two pianos. (And...my uncle was a millionaire...)

When Uncle Clyde died, John took something like seven two-ton truck loads of junk to the dump. That is 14 tons of junk! But...he used pieces from his junk to build his inventions, so he needed them. In his lifetime, he would go to the dump ground frequently to see what he could find. One time, he found a brand new frying pan still in its box. In its unopened box. And that is what Auntie Beulah got for Christmas that year--a new frying pan!  He was so proud of the price he paid for that frying pan!

The first time my parents went to France, I was supposed to stay at Uncle Clyde's house, and Arlene was supposed to stay at Karen Haynes's house. The first week, I stayed there, but I just couldn't stand it. I loved them dearly, but their house was not as tidy as I was used to, and I was a bit of a clean freak, even to make my mom and dad (who liked a clean house) irritated with me. Uncle Clyde's house was driving me nuts. So I lied to him. (I am so sorry, Uncle Clyde!) I told him that I was supposed to go home on Saturday to clean the house, and that Arlene was coming home then, too. I suggested to Arlene that she could actually come hone, too, but she said that she was having fun staying at Karen's house and she didn't want to come home. So I stayed at home by myself until my parents got home, and I was only about 14 years old!!! While faking to my uncle that my sister was with me, and while faking to my sister that I was still at my uncle's house!! Crazy!!

When I was a teenager, I was sometimes irritated with Auntie Beulah for putting up with Uncle Clyde. She would go to bed early, and sit up in bed reading romance novels. (My mom thought romance novels were sinful and was NOT happy that Auntie Beulah would happily loan hers to Arlene and I to read.) And he would be in her dining room that couldn't even be used as a dining room because he had his electronics stuff everywhere. And she didn't say one nagging word about it. Not one. She just sang or hummed to herself happily, and just loved that man of hers.  I was not able to attend Uncle Clyde's funeral in October 1991, but Arlene went. She said that after the family dinner, she went and found Auntie Beulah standing by herself in the hall of the church. Auntie Arlene stopped to chat with her, and then asked if she was riding home with one of her kids or was she in her own car. (By this time, my parents had moved to Raymond, so they weren't across the road anymore.) Auntie Beulah looked at Arlene in surprise, sighed, and said, "I was just standing here waiting for Clyde! You know how he likes to visit with people! I guess I will have to get used to not waiting for him--I can just go home now." And Auntie Arlene walked with Auntie Beulah to her car, and she drove herself home.

Just to end with, a couple of pictures. Here are Clyde and Beulah and their progeny (except no Marie) one Christmas. Guessing the date based on the pictures: clearly Mary Kemp is the baby. Nancy falls in the middle of Mary and Becky, but the girls are only about a year-ish apart, and Margaret is expecting Becky in this picture (Becky would be born March 16, 1986.) So I would say Christmas 1985. I mean, that is the only possibility, right?

Back row: Harold, John, Ruth, Clarence Kemp, Nolan Payne.Next row: Pam and Perry, skip over to Margaret, Steven Payne and Shauna Payne. In the middle, Auntie Beulah holding Mary, Uncle Clyde, and Sandy (Perry's oldest). Front: Stewart Payne, Ken Conrad, Donna Conrad, Karen Conrad with Michael Kemp in her lap, and Jeff Kemp.

 Our cousins were practically like siblings. We were back and forth and in and out of each other's houses. When our cousin Harold was going to die of cancer soon, John and Ellen sponsored a reunion of all of their six siblings at John's house. But my brother Bruce decided to crash it, and invited me to travel with him, and Arlene said that if we were going, so was she! So we had an impromptu two-family reunion. I wish we had invited our other families of cousins, but that would have been pretty hard for us to do since we were gate crashers ourselves.  So here we are, the ten of us together:

2008: Myrna, Arlene, Colleen and Bruce. Marie, Margaret, Perry, Harold, Ruth and John.

Question 14: (Series 1 Prologue) Who were your aunts and uncles? Write about any of your aunts or uncles who really stand out in your mind. Give some details about them (names, personalities, events that you remember doing with them, and so on).

I have decided that I am going to post about each of my aunts and uncles (and their spouses and families, by extension) in a separate blog post.

So, this first one is the prologue for what I will call Series 1, organized as follows:

Series 1: The Conrad Aunts and Uncles

No.1: Clyde Arthur Conrad -- 16 November 1913 - 5 October 1991 (almost 78)
(Dad: Arnold Muhlestein Conrad -- 8 September 1915 - 16 May 2000 (almost 85))
No.2: Ethel Conrad -- 15 January 1919 - 23 January 2010 (91)
No.3: Kenneth Muhlestein Conrad -- 5 April 1921 - 30 October 1952 (31)
No.4: Elaine Conrad -- -3 July 1922 - 28 July 2012 (90)

(I just noticed that the girls outlived the boys in this family.)

I thought I would start with pictures of my Dad with his siblings; this seems like a good place to put them.

The first one was taken in 1933, so Uncle Clyde was 20, my dad was 18, Aunt Ethel; was 14, Ken was 12 and Elaine 11. My cousin Don Johnson posted the photo in the Conrad group.

This one is labeled "The Five"

 Don also posted this one, with a guesstimated date of 1938-1939.  That seems about right, Elaine was by this estimate 16 or 17 and I suppose that could be about right. Though it could also be a bit later.

Back: Ken, Elaine, Ethel, Dad. Front: Art, Clyde, Ida.

 As I reviewed the posts on the Conrad page, making sure that I didn't miss any errant pictures, I re-read some of the comments, and I thought I would share some of them here, to consolidate them in one place.

In 2009, Kelli was collecting stories for a Conrad reunion which we did not go to because during it, we were in Canada, and the reunion was here in Utah. Apparently Ellen emailed some stories to me--but I can't find them in my hotmail or gmail accounts. I know that they were sent before July 1, 2009, but...I don't know....they are missing. So to carry on with other stories related on Facbook...

Ellen said on 1 July 2009: "In particular, I recall at the reunion at Colleen's in Grassy - when Arnold, Ethel and Elaine were there - some of those fun stories....I remember Ethel telling about being told by Art to not break another comb or she would 'get it'. But her hair was coarse and precious combs broke easily...so, it happened again. Elaine admitted to their Dad that she had broken it. Ethel remembered clearly - and Elaine never got in trouble." (Ellen had noted that there was a favorite daughter, and it must have been Elaine.)
"Ida spoke German at home." (Since Grandma's parents were German speaking Swiss immigrants, this makes sense. But I remember asking her about it as a child, and she said she could not remember German any more. But she was probably eighty by then.)
"They read stories, in the evenings, often from the Western Producer." (This was a farm newspaper published in Winnipeg. As pre-teens, all of us kids joined their writing club and we wrote stories for the Western Producer, too. All of us got published at least once, some of us a couple of times. By us, I mean me, B, C and A.)
 
Also on 1 July 2009, Ellen wrote, "Clyde and Beulah built their first home on Art/Ida's farm - down current day Huckleberry Road. They lived there (from 1947) until Margaret was born (1955) - so from John to Perry all lived there. John found it handy to have G&G living so close. He made a mud supper with bugs in it for decoration one time - and his Mom threw his supper out and wouldn't let him eat it. So, he went over to Grandma complaining that Mom threw his supper out - and she made him a nice snack! He remembers Grandpa hearing him complain about not having a gun - so Grandpa cut one out of wood for him to play with."

"Ruth remembers a room upstairs at G/G's..."there was a narrow set of stairs that led up to two little rooms in the attic. In one room there was a tiny dresser and a tiny rocking chair just my size and I loved to go up there to play with the old clothes which were stored in boxes in the other room."

More from Ellen on 1 July 2009: "Ethel also told about how worried Ida would be about Art around the horses he loved so much. The reason was he would choose the meanest, wildest ones to tame. If the neighbours had a problem horse, he'd be the one called. Ethel can distinctly remember her mother at the kitchen window, watching her father out in the field with a horse - twisting her hands and yelling something - like - Oh, Art, no!"

"There is a story about Art plowing the fields with a team of horses, that the ground dropped away from beneath them (think it was the old mining areas.) Anyhow - it was a real trial to get the horses out of the hole...one died and one survived I think....know which one of those was his favorite one? John's at work, or I would ask him....he knows. I think Clyde didn't enjoy working with the horses, that's why he didn't use them when farming. Oh yes, there is a story about how Grandpa got a horse to move...ummmm...I think he had his dog snip at the horse's hind feet-- and then the horse would forget he wasn't going to move forward - and off he'd go. His love of horses fits with finding Art working as a mule driver, in the mines in Colorado - in the 1910 US Census. He is living with Eva and John Walker - his sister and brother-in-law. Then he married Ida in 1911. I have often heard Ida referred to as 'a real lady'."

My comment back to Ellen on the same day (1 July 2009): "Thanks for these stories, Ellen! I didn't know that Grandpa loved horses so much, because my dad hated them. He said that he had too much of horses when they were using them before they had tractors, and he never wanted another one again. So I am surprised to learn about Grandpa and horses."

Ellen continues with a memory from Margaret: "Okay - I just chatted with Margaret - she remembers hearing that Grandpa Art followed his brothers up to Canada, but there wasn't any good land left to buy - so the land he did get to farm was quite rocky. After he died Grandma sold it to the mine company for mining!
She (Margaret) remembers that Grandpa Art raised wonderfully sweet cantaloupe in his garden. Grandma Ida would make homemade ice cream - and scoop it into a half a cantaloupe for the kids too eat. Margaret still remembers how good that tasted - and he died when she was 5... (a few months before she turned 5 actually.) Margaret remembered hearing that Grandpa was known for riding horses around the streets in Provo - rather fast and wildly,....then the buggy ride with Ida one Sunday - and they decided to get married, so they stopped at the Bishops' house. Note their marriage date is Dec 28, 1911 - might have been a cool buggy ride..."

My cousin Pat, daughter of Aunt Ethel added this to the conversation still on the same day, 1 July 2009: "I talked to my mom, Ethel, about Arthur Conrad stories. She has so many of course, but she really wanted his great-grand children, and great-great grand children to hear about what a generous man he was. In his time, he had very little; but "would give the shirt off his back to someone who needed it". Ethel said that when she was born, in January of 1919, the great Spanish Influenza epidemic was at its height in Taber. Art spent his days going from house to house in Taber, hauling coal in for people, and water. He also fed the animals of people who had the flu. No one in the family got the flu, but his brother in Provo, Charles, died from it. During the Depression, in the 1930s, both Arthur and Ida never turned anyone away from their door who asked for something to eat. Ethel remembers "hobos" coming round and asking for food in return for chores quite often. Of course, they were never asked to do chores, and Ida always made wonderful meals for them. The Conrads didn't have much more than the hobos, but living on a farm provided them with eggs, milk and vegetables that they shared with whomever was hungry. Days like that are hard for us to imagine...."

Apparently Kelli blogged about her talk. I should link to that post...but I can't find it. According to Facebook on 7 July 2009, she posted that her talk was on her blog, but I could not find it anywhere in the 86 posts for the year 2009. Although it was fun and interesting to reread what she wrote!

It was so fun to reread all those posts about my grandparents! So, there you have it, not my memories of my grandparents, but my cousin's memories. Good stories. On to the uncles and aunts next time!

Question 13: Did your grandparents live close by? If so, describe how they were involved in your life. If they lived far away share some memories of visiting them or of them traveling to visit you.

So, you see what I mean about how questions 12 and 13 were closely related? So now I will talk about my father's parents, because they were the ones who lived close by and therefore were more involved in my life, especially Grandma, since she was my only grandparent for much of the time when I was growing up.

GRANDPA ART

I will start with the grandparent I knew less well, my Grandfather Arthur Marion Conrad. He was born 24 May 1882, in Provo Utah, to Charles Conrad and Mary Elizabeth Holdaway Conrad. Here he is as a young man, with two of his brothers.

Uncle Warren, Uncle Milton, and Grandpa Arthur

Grandpa was not that dedicated to schooling, since, as the times called for, he was needed to help on the farm. I do not know if he ever worked in a Utah coal mine, but I know that some of his brothers did, and certainly he spent many years as a coal miner once he moved to Alberta. I believe that he had a Grade Eight education, which was common for the era in which he lived.

I liked to hear my dad and his siblings tell stories about Grandpa Art.  Dad and Uncle Clyde liked to tell about Grandpa getting after them for making such a commotion on the boardwalk as they would run home from school being chased by a bully, and how they used teamwork to bring the bully down so they got the best of the bully. Then their dad, who worked at night and slept during the day, could sleep undisturbed.  Aunt Ethel told that her dad would say "You'd better not get in trouble at school! Because if you do, you will get it twice as bad at home!' Well, one day she got in trouble in school. I think it was because she let another girl borrow her eraser, but she spoke a word or two when she was supposed to be silent, and the teacher, Grandma Gidman, called her to the front and pulled down her pants and spanked her bare bottom. Aunt Ethel was mortified...but really worried that she would be in worse trouble at home!  When she got home, her dad met her at the door and said, "Ethel, did you get into trouble and get a spanking at school?" And she looked her dad right in the eye and said, "Nope!"

My idea of my grandfather was that he was a good neighbor and a good provider for his family. He worked hard at the coal mines and also worked his farm, with the help of his family. His best friends were his brothers who also emigrated to Canada, Warren, Milton and Lewis, and his neighbors Ted Francis and Whit Harris. Here is a picture of him with Ted Francis. My parents first saw this picture at the Galt Museum in Lethbridge. They walked into the museum, and oh my goodness, there was my father's long deceased father staring at him from the wall! Colleen read this and gave me the correct version of what happened with this picture. Here it is in her words: "It was LeRon & me (not our mom and dad) who discovered the picture of Grandpa Arthur Conrad and Ted Francis on the wall of the Ponderosa Restaurant in Lethbridge. (Maybe it was called Bonanza at that time).  LeRon and I were waiting for our food and I looked on the wall and there was my grandpa!  I told LeRon it was a picture of my grandpa and he didn't believe me.  So I talked with the waiter and he said that they'd gotten all their pictures from the Galt Museum and they were definitely pictures of local people and someone else had come in recently and said that it was their grandpa.  So I went to the Galt and bought a copy of the picture.  I was very excited.  So just a small change from your story."

Art and Ted, both out standing in the field

Grandpa enjoyed being a grandfather.  I don't know this from experience, but I believe it to be true. Here is a picture of him surrounded by his grandchildren.

This photo came from Auntie Beulah and had this caption: 24 May 1950
Grandpa Art
Gerry, Ruth, Barbara
Delores, John, Ronny, Rosalind

Grandpa lived until 21 April 1960. So I was two years and four months old when he died. I am sure that he may have held me and played with me, but I do not remember it. There are pictures of my siblings with him, though, and he looks like he enjoyed his grandchildren. I really like this picture, taken in March 1957, nine months before I was born. Grandpa is holding both of my sisters, one on each knee, and everyone looks pretty happy about that arrangement.

Added comment from Colleen: "I was always a little scared of Grandpa Conrad because he loved to pull teeth and I was in the loose-tooth stage.  He would somehow get me to open my mouth and then quick as a wink he would grab my tooth, wiggle it a bit, and pull it out!  I hated to go visit when I had a loose tooth!  He also threatened to tie a string around it and then tie the string to the doorknob.  I was so scared of all that.  I didn't realize he was joking about the string.  (Maybe he wasn't)!  But I still loved him even though I knew that Arlene was the favored grandchild."

Mom (age 29), Bruce (age 7), Grandma (age 71), Colleen (age 5), Grandpa (age 75), Arlene (nearly 2), Dad (age nearly 42)

GRANDMA IDA

Ida Muhlestein Conrad was born in Provo, Utah on 6 March 1886 to her parents, Nicholas Muhlestein and Anna Caroline Wintch. She was a feisty child who liked to go to school and to learn, and who was among the younger children in her own family and so was often teased by her brothers and some of their friends, such as Art Conrad. Here is a picture of Ida as a young woman, probably in her late teens, with her cousin, Jennie Wintch. The handwriting on the pictures identifying the people is Ida's handwriting. I would recognize that handwriting anywhere, but the next generation would not. So, just want you to know who wrote it!

Grandma attended the Brigham Young Academy in Provo. Here is her graduating class:

Grandma is the middle girl of the five girls who are in the third row, the first row of those who are standing.

Grandma did a little bit of school teaching and a little bit of being a house and kitchen maid for wealthy families before marrying the same Art Conrad who used to tease her as the Conrad and Muhlestein children walked to school together. (Art's older sister Mary Elizabeth had long since married Ida's older brother Hyrum.) Grandma and Grandpa basically eloped while out on a buggy ride. They decided to get married, and so drove to the bishop's house and did it, 28 December 1911. So much less red tape in those days!

I have a lot of memories of my grandmother. At some point after my grandfather died, a home for Grandma was purchased in Taber.  It was just a couple of blocks south of the Taber Third Ward church building, which was just across the street from the schools, Central and W. R. Myers, where we boarded the bus for home after school. If someone happened to miss their bus, or had an afterschool activity, Grandma's house was an easy destination.

When I was in Grade Three, Arlene, Marie and I all took voice lessons from Gwen Legge. Our lessons weren't immediately after school, so we would go to Grandma's house at 3:30 and play for awhile or do homework, and then walk to the Easthopes, where voice lessons were held. Grandma's little house was surrounded by a beautiful yard. There were bleeding hearts beside the front door, and lilacs along the sides of the yard. A sidewalk led around the side of her house to a big patio area, and another long sidewalk down the huge back yard led to the back gate.  We wanted to go outside and play one day, and Grandma cautioned us about being careful because it had been raining and she didn't want us getting our shoes wet. Of course Arlene and Marie managed to play while keeping their shoes dry. Of course I managed to get my canvas runners completely soaked, and my socks too. Grandma gave me quite the tongue lashing, and made me put my shoes and socks under the heater to dry. (Yes, that was a possible thing to do.)

Grandma alternated on Sundays going home after Sunday School to either Uncle Clyde's house or to our house, and then back home to her house after sacrament meeting, which was at night. Before she got diabetes, she always made a spice cake with frosting on top, and would usually bring a package of Kraft carmels. I liked spice cake, at least I liked the frosting, but I did not like Kraft carmels. After diabetes, she always brought an angel food cake (home made) with no frosting. I did not like angel food cake. Although, with ice cream or whipped cream and strawberries, it was tolerable. Grandma could eat strawberries, but ice cream was too sweet.

When Grandma was at our house, she liked to sit and talk to us, but often fell asleep sitting up on the couch. We liked to bring kittens for her to hold and pet on her lap. When she needed the bathroom, she would say, "Excuse me, I just have to go check the temperature." Because in our bathroom, outside the window, there was a thermometer. So she would go in the bathroom and shut the door, and awhile later she would come out and say "It's 45 degrees." (We used Fahrenheit back then.) So, in our family "I have to go check the temperature" became code for "I need the bathroom." We, like Grandma, tried to always remember to look at the thermometer so we could announce the temperature after we had done our business! Other fun things Grandma said included "I was tickled pink!" when she was particularly happy about something, and "Oh, murder!" if something went wrong.

Grandma turned eighty on 6 March 1966. To celebrate, we had a birthday party at Uncle Clyde's house. All four families were there, or at least most of them. I know that Aunt Ethel was there, but her kids were not. I can't remember why. I think the older kids, Gerry, Rosalind and Ronnie were away at university or working, as was Aunt Elaine's oldest, Delores. But I don't know where Pat might have been. I remember that we played some silly games that Uncle Clyde made up that were rigged to let certain people win. Like, one question required you to count up all the toes in your group, and the group with the smallest number of toes won. Of course, Aunt Ethel had lost two or three toes in an accident, so her group won. That kind of thing! Designed to be silly and make us all laugh. Here is Grandma on that day surrounded by 13 of her 18 grandchildren:

Back: Ruth Conrad, Bruce Conrad, John Conrad, Barbara Johnson, Harold Conrad. Middle: Colleen Conrad, Perry Conrad, Grandma Ida Conrad, Don Johnson. Front: Marion Johnson, Arlene Conrad, Margaret Conrad, Myrna Conrad and Marie Conrad.

 The last few years of Grandma's life were hard for her. She was so deeply saddened by the loss of Uncle Otto and Ronnie in the prime of their lives.  She began to be unable to care for herself. She was mortified by this. She had always been well dressed, in dresses with nylons and wearing jewelry, and things like the loss of bladder control were very difficult for her to cope with. She stayed for a time with both of her daughters, but mostly alternated between living for a few weeks?/months? with Uncle Clyde's family and then for a few weeks?/months? with our family. I am not sure how much time it was that she was going downhill. I think it seemed like too long to her. She cried a lot. Finally, she was hospitalized for a few weeks. She passed away 17 June 1972, 86 years old.

I loved my Grandma soooooo much. We all did. I don't know if Aunt Elaine's kids had another grandma, but Uncle Clyde's kids, Aunt Ethel's kids and our family of kids only had one living Grandma. This one!  She meant the world to us.

Question 12: Share some memories of your grandparents.

Again, there are two questions that are similar-ish. This one, question 12, and question 13, are both about grandparents.  Question 12 is pretty vague, while question 13 is more specific.  So, my decision about how to handle these questions is to write about my mother's parents for this post, and my father's parents for the next. I will answer question 13 about my mother's parents while answering question 12.

GRANDMA MAY

 My mother's mother was Celia May Keyes Hancock. She was born 21 May 1884 in a place called Annabella, Utah, and died 2 July 1944 in Raymond, Alberta. She met Ed Hancock, my grandfather, at a dance she was attending with her cousins. She married him, and almost immediately moved nearly a thousand miles away to settle in Alberta, Canada. I would  say that was very brave of her.  Unfortunately, I have no memories of her, since she died when my mother was only 16. My mom did not talk about her a great deal. We should have asked her to tell us more, I think. I feel like I was shocked, at my mother's funeral, by the story of her mother's death.  Mom had been on her first date on July 1 Canada Day, and when she came home from the date, her mother, who was ill and bedridden, called to her asking about the date, but Mom kind of brushed her off, saying she would talk to her in the morning. But in the morning her mother had died. Wow. That is so something that I would do...actually, I did just that to my dad the morning before his stroke that I didn't know he was going to have. I wish that I had thought to get my mother talking about her mother. Or some of my aunts. Why was I just so accepting of the fact that she was dead, without being curious about her life? Oh well. I shall have to ask some of my older living cousins about her. In the mean time, here are a few pictures of her.

 This picture of my grandmother, which I got from Family Search, is taken from a family picture that I wish I had, but I don't. May's glasses remind me that my mother told me the story of her mother getting her first pair of glasses.She was nine or ten years old, and she was so amazed at how things looked, like trees and leaves and flowers, things in the house, that she went around touching everything. I think she told me this story when I got my first pair of glasses at about the same age. I had not realized that I could not see until I was put at the back in a class in grade five. I was always short, so I had been placed at the front of the class all the time, but my science teacher, Mr. Wentz, didn't use height to make his seating plan. He put the on-task kids in the back and the rabble-rousers in the front. So I was in the back and therefore discovered that I could not read the blackboard at all. I could see nothing. So, I got glasses.  Nancy had a similar experience.  We did not know that she could not see until one day, sitting at the back of the church in High River, I was busy doing something and asked Nancy to read the hymn numbers to me that were posted at the front of the chapel. She was like, "There are hymn numbers posted?" So the next day, I made her an eye appointment.So, Nancy and I share our blindness and our lack of awareness of our blindness with Grandma May.

Here is a picture of May with her mother and sisters:

Back L-R: Louisa Pearl, Celia May ; Front: Joanna Elizabeth, Lillis Louisa Barney, their mother, and Ellen Rosetta.

I feel bad because I really know so little about my grandmother and the family she came from. She was pretty isolated away from her family, adventuring off to live in a foreign country as she did. My mother was named after May's two older sisters: Ellen Rosetta was called Zetta, and Louisa Pearl was called Pearl, and their names were put together to make Zetta Pearl, my mother's name. I remember going to my mother's Aunt Pearl's house for a visit once in Salt Lake City, but I don't remember meeting any of Grandma May's other siblings. (Maybe my mom's Uncle June (Junius Keyes) whose name really annoyed me because June is a girl name; but I don't remember if I ever met him, or if I just was annoyed by knowing about his name.) In fact, my mother had not met all of her aunts and uncles on her mother's side herself. Here is a good story: once my mother and father were traveling to San Diego to visit my sister Arlene, and they stopped for the night in Mesquite, Nevada. They stopped at a family-run motel, and the name of the family who ran the motel was KEYES. This was how my mother met, for the first time, her Uncle Grant, her mother's younger brother (born 14 Feb. 1895). Mom managed to get in quite a few visits with her uncle, and exchanged letters with him, during the the short years between when she found him in about 1979 until he died in 1983 (14 June).

May holding baby Edna, with Loren, Royal and Alma in front

This is not a very good copy of this picture of May and her four oldest children, but it is a familiar picture to me. This picture, according to Family Search, was taken in about 1911, which would be correct since that was the year that Aunt Edna was born. (Loren in 1904, Alma in 1906 and Royal in 1909).

How fun to find this clipping from the Raymond newspaper of July 13, 1928 in the Peel Archives at the University of Alberta. Just think, my grandparents were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary the year that my mother was born! That is a bit mind-boggling. I think the J.W. Hancock referred to in the article is my mother's Uncle Joe, maybe?

I also found in the Peel Archives the notice about my grandmother's funeral (in the 7 July 1944 Raymond Recorder,) I did not realize until my mother's biography read at her own funeral how traumatic her mother's death must have been for my mom. That year, 1944, my grandmother had been ill and was bedridden. On July 1, Canada Day, my mom (age 16) had been asked on her first date. When she came home from her date, her mother called to her, but Mom brushed her off and said she would talk to her in the morning. But in the morning, her mother had already died. (This sounds totally like something I would have done! Wait...it is just like something I did do, kind of brushing off my dad the morning before he had the stroke that I didn't know he was going to have! At least he lived, so I had the possibility of seeing him again!)

I have linked to the funeral notice above, but am also going to transcribe it here:

"Funeral services over the remains of Mrs. C. E. Hancock, aged 60, who passed away at her home early Sunday morning July 2nd, were held in the 2nd ward chapel Wednesday evening July 5th, at 7 p.m. with Bishop L. L. Palmer in charge. The choir was in charge of Jos. McLean, with Mrs. Emma Dahl at the console. A lovely profusion of flowers covered the casket and the rostrum and there was a large gathering of friends present to show their respect to the family in their sorrow.

The opening song was Tho' Deepening Trials followed by prayer by Elder O. H. Snow after which the choir sang "Sometime We'll Understand."

Elder Jos. A. Nilsson was the first speaker and gave some of the family history of the deceased. He paid tribute to her as a mother and the fine family she had raised spoke more than words of her love and devotion to her husband and to her children.

A violin solo was played by Edw. M. Kiddle.

Elder John F. Salmon was the next speaker and spoke of Life, Death and the Resurrection and the need and place for each in the life of the children of men. While death was always feared and came with sorrow to the loved ones left behind it was a great promotion in the progress of the individual toward eternal life.

Mrs. Sara Low and Reece Gibb sang "Oh My Father."

President M. T. King spoke on pre-existence and the Purpose of Life and showed from Holy writ why all these experiences came into the lives of God's children. Our actions in the pre-existence conditioned us here and our life here will condition us hereafter. He urged all to live in obedience to the word of God if they would have joy and eternal progress hereafter.

Bishop Palmer expressed his appreciation of the life and labors in the ward of the deceased, and on behalf of the family thanked all who had in any way assisted during the illness and death of the wife and mother of the family.

The closing song "When the Mists Have Cleared Away" and the benediction was pronounced by Elder Parley Meldrum.

A large cortege followed the remains to the cemetery where the grave was dedicated by Elder J. W. Evans.

Mrs. Hancock had been seriously ill two or three weeks but was considered improving when a sudden turn for the worse Saturday night brought the end. We extend our deepest sympathy to the sorrvwing husband and children in their bereavement."

GRANDPA ED

Grandpa Hancock, Charles Edward Hancock known as Ed, was born 29 June 1872 in Payson, Utah. Here he is as a young boy:

And here he is as a young man, which is maybe what he looked like when he met May at the dance: He looks like a young man you might be happy to dance with, don't you think?

Ed had attended BYU for awhile, and fallen in love with a young woman who married someone else, and left him feeling rather heartbroken. I am not sure if that was before or after his mission to the Southern States, to which he was called on 14 December 1898, at age 26.

After both his mission and his BYU attendance, he was living at home and was involved with planning activities such as dances, because I do remember reading in his personal history that he was responsible for planning and carrying out the dance at which he met Miss May Keyes. He married her on 23 June 1903 in the Manti Temple. He was just a few days short of his 31st birthday. She was 19. Within months of their marriage, he whisked her away to Alberta, where he was a dairyman.

The Hancock Family in about 1921. Front row (L-R) Royal, Lillis, Zilpha, Earl, Edna. Back row: (L-R) Alma, Celia May, Charles Edward holding Leo, Loren.

My mother loved her father very much. From her I learned that he was not a good businessman, and had to allow Uncle Alma to take over the running of the dairy because he was going broke. But he was going broke because he was a very kind man. During the depression, people could not afford to pay him, but he could not stop himself from delivering milk even to those customers who were not in a position to pay, because he did not want them to starve. Grandpa also regretted that he had expected his wife to work so hard. Here she was, a mother to twelve children, working alongside him milking the cows every day. When my mother was going to marry a farmer, he specifically made my father promise that my mother would never be expected to milk the cows. My dad promised, and he never would let mom help with the milking. Even when he was laid up after his accident, Mom did not milk the cows. If Bruce could not do it, Uncle Clyde and his sons did. Dad was determined to keep the promise he had made to Grandpa Hancock.

I found this little blurb about the Hancock Dairy in the Peel Archives. It is from the Raymond Recorder of June 28, 1951.

 Here is a picture of my grandfather taken in 1960, when I was two and a half years old. He looks pretty spry in this picture, though he was 88 years old. He is at the Cardston Temple with three of my aunts, Aunt Celia, Aunt Zilpha and Aunt Ella (Uncle Alma's wife). I do not remember him like this. I remember him as a much more frail and bent over man.

Aunt Celia, Grandpa, Aunt Zilpha and Aunt Ella (Uncle Alma's wife)

It should be no surprise to anyone that persnickety little Myrna did not much care for Grandpa Hancock. He was very old and wrinkly. He had to use a walker to walk--how dumb is that? And he was boring. And when he ate, the food dribbled out of his mouth. And the only food he liked to eat was shredded wheat. And he lived in that horrible place full of old people that smelled like a hospital. I did not like having him come to visit, and I did not like visiting him. I was, quite frankly, afraid of him. I was actually very relieved when he died because now, when we went to Raymond, we would have more time for playing with cousins since we would not have to visit boring old grandpa. (I am sorry, Mom and Grandpa, for my horrible attitude!--in my defense, I was only six years old when Grandpa died. I still had a lot to learn!)

Perhaps it was the distance that contributed to my fear of my grandfather. While Taber and Raymond are pretty close together, especially if you compare the distance to what my grandmother had from her parents and family in Utah, we just did not get together often enough for me to really feel comfortable around my grandfather. I know that the cousins in Raymond visited him frequently because they could just walk over to the Ridgeview Lodge where he lived and spend some time with him. I am sorry that I did not have the opportunity to know my mother's parents better. I know that they were wonderful people--they had to be, because they raised my wonderful mother!

Question 11: Did your family have special ways of celebrating specific holidays?

Now I can talk about traditions that are holiday specific! So I will start with my birthday, since that was my first day on earth, and therefore my reference point for where a year starts and ends. Here is a picture of baby me (with siblings), taken at Christmas in 1957 when I was almost two weeks old. Aren't my siblings just so cute? I think they are!

Bruce, Arlene holding me, Colleen. About December 25, 1957.

Birthdays at our house were not a huge deal. There would be a birthday cake, and there would be presents, but that was about all that was guaranteed. No special breakfast--just eat breakfast and go to school. All our family birthdays were during the school year. September 8 and 21; December 12; March 9; April 14; June 6. (School in Canada goes to the very end of June.) Occasionally, there would be a birthday party for someone, but I don't honestly remember very many, and certainly none after age 12. I personally only had one birthday party, which was the year I turned 12. My parents did not trust me with the responsibility of being nice and polite about gifts that I might not particularly like, since I had a track record of hurting the feelings of people in our family.

The year I turned five, I was at the store with Mom (Tomboy, mentioned in an earlier post) and these big (24 inch) teddy bears were on sale, part of Christmas promotion stuff. So Mom chose a pink one and put it in the shopping cart. I was excited because I thought it was for me, but she said, "This is for Aunt Ila June." She was, if you remember, my mother's handicapped sister. So I put the bear into the part of my brain reserved for Aunt Ila June, and that was fine--although I was probably a bit pouty about it. But when, on my birthday morning, I unwrapped that very bear, I winged right out, and threw the bear and said I didn't want it. Well, in my defense, in my brain that bear belonged to someone else.  However, the screaming, tearful reaction that I had over this and many other presents made my parents think that birthday parties were not a good idea for me.

Christmas was next in The Holidays of the Year According to Myrna's Birthday. We had a real tree which we usually put up sometime after my birthday.  We had these lovely lights that bubbled, or bird lights. They were very cool (looking), but prone to get literally hot, so we had to watch them carefully and not leave them plugged in for too long.

This is what the bubbly lights looked like.

The balls on the tree were glass and frosty and gorgeous. Mom also had some glass icicles that she would hang on the tree, and then we children would have to find all of them, which was hard to do when the tree was also covered in tinsel.  It was very pretty. I thought it was magical. My favorite thing was to turn off the lights in the house, turn on the Christmas lights and sing Christmas carols. That was better than presents.

One of the traditions we children had was to wish to Santa. That was, in retrospect, just weird.  We would stand on the bed looking out the north window and pour our hearts out about what we wanted Santa to bring. Since I firmly believed in Santa Claus (because I SAW him flying through the sky) I did not think it was necessary to want the same thing every day, but could wish for something new anytime I wanted to. And he could do anything! Like even on Christmas Eve. (Which belief meant that sometimes he disappointed me--leading to more tears and screaming!) As a family, our Christmas Eve was spent reading the Christmas story from Luke, singing Christmas carols and going to bed. After, of course, hanging our stockings. These were literally our socks.  So they did not hold very much. We also left cookies out for Santa to eat, but I don't think we left any milk for him.

In the morning, we would open our stockings, which was super exciting, and some of us might have tried to sneak in early to take a peek. (Arlene and I would practice walking in the house to discover where any floor creaking issues might be.) Our stockings always had an orange in the toe, some candy and nuts wrapped in paper (hard tack candy or Christmas ribbon candy) and then useful things like socks, a toothbrush, etc., with one toy on top. One year, the toy for Arlene and I was a plastic high chair with a small baby doll sitting in it. Hers was blue, mine was pink. My children may remember playing with the high chairs at my mom's house.

Christmas ribbon candy

Then we were required to eat breakfast. There was no traditional meal, but it was always torture for me because I didn't really like breakfast food. But, my favorite breakfast, cracked wheat cereal, was never on the menu for Christmas, since the noise of making that breakfast by cracking wheat in the blender would have spoiled the whole Christmas ambiance, so that meant that breakfast just had to be suffered through. I also did not like Christmas oranges (AKA Japanese oranges) and the only nuts I liked were brazil nuts (but--and don't hate us for it--we called them niggertoes. I had no clue that was politically incorrect. I thought that niggertoes was just the name of the nuts, with no social references to anything else. It was quite shocking to me when I found out I was wrong about that. Because prejudice against that particular group of people was just not a reality in my part of Canada. Not at all.) And I only liked some particular types of candy, but hardly any.

I was just suffering through breakfast so we could get to PRESENTS!!! I loved to watch my family members open their gifts, and to see their happy faces. I was always so excited about seeing their reactions to the gifts I gave them. But I seemed unable to realize that my family might like to see me happy and excited about their gifts to me. I think they actually dreaded having me open their gifts because I would loudly declare how much I hated them. "Rocks! You gave me stupid rocks for Christmas!" or some such expression of ingratitude.  I was completely horrible at receiving gifts graciously. I am so sorry about that! I am sure that I hurt many feelings, and I know that my sisters sometimes spent a bit of their time on Christmas days crying in their rooms over my blunt, unkind words. Really, guys, I know it, and I am most repentant about it.

One year, Mom decided that we should all make our own Christmas stockings out of red felt. Well, technically, she made them. She cut out the fabric and sewed the socks. We spent a Family Home Evening decorating them. Mine, as you can see, is a thing of splendid beauty (she said facetiously) but I still use it despite its ugliness. It works. Plus, my kids get to laugh at just how un-artistic I could be. I was about 11 or 12, but you would probably guess younger,because it is pretty pathetic. (I put Merry Xmas because writing Merry proved to be such a challenge that I could just not imagine being able to successfully write Christmas, so I shortened it.) I wish I could show you the stockings the others made, which were actually really nice. But here is my gimpy one.

I really enjoyed the Christmas holidays, because we always had our cousins over for a games night. We often had Margaret and Marie over any time, or Bruce would have the boys over, but this was the whole family coming at once! It was loud and fun, although Myrna was known to upset the whole game board and stomp away upon occasion. Holy cow, I was a pill! I especially liked playing Crazy Bridge with Uncle Clyde in charge. That was so much fun! (In Crazy Bridge, you each get eight cards, and then seven, six, ,five, four, three, two, one. For each hand, all the people thump on the table three times, and stick out the number of fingers for tricks you think you can win. Of course, the more people and the more decks of cards, the more likely you are to be wrong. Plus, trump is chosen AFTER all the bids are in. It gets crazy.)

On New Year's Eve, several fun things happened. There would be the Stake New Year's Dance, which I could not attend, but my parents usually went, so that meant we could run a-muck in the house. And since it was New Year's, we weren't supposed to be in bed by the time they got home, so that was fun. Sometimes, we just had our cousins The Conrads over again, all of us in silly hats and lighting sparklers at midnight. We had the Little New Year tradition, too, which meant that we each left a shoe, and the Little New Year would come and fill the shoe with a few candies and a toy.  For some reason, I always liked that, and I don't remember ever being a brat about what was in my shoe.  This was a tradition that came from my mother's family.

The orange in the toe of the sock came from my father's family. When he was a child, an orange was considered a wonderful Christmas gift, even if it was the only thing you got, and for my dad and his siblings, it sometimes was the only gift.

Valentine's Day was considered a children's holiday when I was young. It was not about lovers. At school, we made Valentine mail boxes, as an art class in-school activity. We were expected to bring a valentine for every child in our class but NEVER candy. The valentines of the day were very punny and I liked them a lot. The commercial valentines now, all based on TV cartoon characters for the most part, are just stupid in comparison, I think. 

Each class at school would have a valentine party, however, and we would each bring something to share--cookies or candy or popcorn balls. We did not have class moms to come in and plan parties for us. We had a school-wide assembly of choral singing and choral speech with valentine themes, and then played games like Seven-Up in our classroom after opening our valentine mail. At home, all we really did was make valentine cookies. That was wonderful, because sugar cookies are a lot of work, and this was one of very few occasions when our family would bake them.  Sugar cookies were my favorite cookie--burned, of course--with a layer of icing on top.

For Easter, we got an entire week off from school. Actually more. Alberta is pretty Catholic, so the holidays in school follow Catholic holy day holidays. So Good Friday was our first day off from school, and then the whole next week.  On Good Friday and Saturday we would color eggs. Then, if the weather was good, we would go to the Taber River Park, play at the playground, and roll our eggs down the hilly part of the bridge. I don't even have the vocabulary to describe this!  The bridge spanned more than just the water, it spanned the whole river bottom. So, on dry ground, the bridge supports were made of something like sand bags or cement bags, which were slanted but not so tall that you would lose control of your eggs.  If we had a picnic, the menu usually included egg sandwiches.

Victoria Day was next. This is a Canadian holiday that is held the last Monday before the 25th of May. So, kind of strange, but if May 25 is a Monday, as it is this year, that rolls the holiday to a week earlier, on May 18, because it can't be on May 25; it has to be before May 25. May 24 was Queen Victoria's actual birthday. When we were young, if Victoria Day fell on May 18, that was a bonus, because it was also my cousin Marie's birthday. Taber's annual parade was held on Victoria Day. My brother Bruce would be in the parade, marching with the band. One year, my sister Colleen was chosen to ride on our Stake M.I.A. (Mutual Improvement Association) float, and people would call out to her "Hello, Mia!" (Mia Farrow was a popular actress at the time.) Later, Arlene was in the band, also, playing the flute. I only marched one year with my French Horn, which is not a marching instrument, but--surprise, surprise--I was too stubborn to switch to the trumpet for marching purposes.

Taber had a rodeo queen, and I would follow that competition carefully; these girls were like our own small town royalty or movie stars. They had to look pretty in a cowboy hat, be articulate in an interview, be able to do well in various equine events such as barrel racing, and then they would ride in the parade, wearing their sashes and crowns, astride their parade-lovely horses. Guys, this is still what happens!  Here is the picture of various Rodeo Queens in Alberta from this year,2015. Taber's queen is on the right in red:

Rimbey, Okotoks, Williams Lake and Taber rodeo royalty 2015

My dream was to have a rodeo outfit. I knew I could never be the Rodeo Queen because I was afraid of horses, so the odds that I would ever be able to compete in equine events was nil, but if I could just have a rodeo outfit, then I would be happy! So the year that I was in Grade Five (1968), my mother made me a rodeo outfit. I thought that I was pretty hot stuff.  I had so many friends who came from rodeo families and they had cool outfits and hats to wear. I mean, getting cowboy hats to wear on Victoria Day was a given, but I had never before had the outfit to go with it. The vest and flared pans and all.

Here I am in my ruffly blouse, vest and flared pants, cowboy boots and cowboy hat, wrangling a kitten.

Close up of my backside, showing the detail of the gold rickrack my mother used to make my rodeo outfit fabulous.  I don't know why I refused to just stand up tall and let someone take a picture of my back, but I would not do it. I thought that would look silly. But this looks a bit sillier, probably! Helping my mother wrangle a different kitten.

After the parade, we would go to my grandma's house if the weather was good. We usually parked at her house, then walked a block or two to the parade route to watch the parade, and then walk back to her house. Grandma had a big yard, but a tiny house, so if it was bad weather, we would celebrate at our house or Uncle Clyde's house. Often, Aunt Ethel and Aunt Elaine's families were there, too. Victoria Day was about the only time of year that all the four families of cousins got together. Victoria Day was one of the few days that pop was served. I would always choose Orange Crush, but I have never finished an entire bottle of pop in my life. I would always give it away, and there was always a dad or brother or boy cousin who was happy to finish it. To just throw it away would have been unthinkable.

In the afternoon, we would go to the midway, which is the carnival games and rides that follow the rodeo circuit. Our family were not horsey people, so we did not usually go to the rodeo. But Arlene's best friend was Karen Haynes, and her family were very horsey. Like, the men in their family were jockeys or trainers. Rodeos were their work. Sometimes Arlene went to the rodeo with Karen. Colleen may have gone with Deb, and Bruce with Rod at some point that I don't remember. Though Ryan and I were great preschool friends, by the time I was old enough to go to the rodeo, we had outgrown that early friendship. I loved the midway: riding on the merry-go-round, the ferris wheel, the teacups--this was only a once a year thing. Everyone else looked forward to the cotton candy, but gross! It did then, and still does, look like insulation to me. I never got over what it looked like to try the taste out, so I have never tasted it.I was all about the fun, not the food.

Canada Day was the next big holiday.  If we stayed in Taber, it was not too big a deal. But we often went to Raymond, because the Raymond parade and rodeo were Canada Day events. The parade was much like Taber's. But I forgot to say what were my favorite parade things! I always liked a well-decorated float. But if I had to pick one favorite parade thing, it would be The Shriner's. They were definite favorites! Playing Arab sounding music and marching in formation waving fake samovars around, or riding silly cars in formation, the Shriner's were definitely a hit with me!

I also liked the bands, if they were playing while going past, but most especially the bagpipe bands. I guess that I have always been a world music fan, I just didn't know the name for it! (These pictures are both from recent parades in Calgary, courtesy of Google Images. But these groups went to many parades in the province, so they all look about the same!)


In Taber, we never went to the fireworks on Victoria Day, and we always left Raymond and were on the road home before it was Fireworks time there. I don't think that I ever saw fireworks until I was seventeen, and watched the 4th of July fireworks with Mary and Don and their kids in Salt Lake. Canada Day, to me, was all about playing with my Raymond cousins, the Navratils (9 children) and Lavon Garrett (Leavitt). We would have such a great time, and would never want to leave. Sometimes we would annoy all the parents by hiding when we were told it was time to go.

Summer vacations were a family tradition. We usually went to Waterton Lakes National Park. Sometimes we rented a cabin. When I was very young, I was outside with my siblings playing on the shore of Waterton Lake, and then ran to our cabin to find my mom. But all the cabins looked alike, and so I went to the wrong one, and then when I was locked out and my mother was not there, I got very panicky. I remember her opening the door of our cabin and calling, "Myrna, I'm over here!" Sometimes we stopped in Mountain View and picked up Uncle Roy to go hiking with us. One time, at Crandall Lake, I was riding on my dad's shoulders when he lost his footing, and we tumbled and rolled, stopping just short of the lake. I am not sure if I already wrote about that! Well, tumbling down the mountain was not a tradition, but the hiking was!

In a meadow on the trail to Twin Lakes in 1963, when I was 5.5 years old. Arlene, Colleen, me, Bruce.

 In 1964, we deviated from the norm and went to Banff National Park for our summer vacation. We rode the gondola, me and my mom with my dad, and the older three kids in a gondola car by themselves. I wish I could say that it was fun, but it was mostly terrifying, because my dad kept teasing, "What if the cable breaks?" so my mind was preoccupied with imagining carnage instead of enjoying the view.  When we got out at the top of the mountain, we discovered that Bruce had been doing the same kind of teasing in the other car!  We hiked down the mountain, Tunnel Mountain, and Arlene was ahead of me, so I ran to meet her, and Colleen snapped this candid, which she titled, "The Two Lovebirds."

Tunnel Mountain, 1964

The year we went to B.C., 1966, I was sick and vomiting the morning we were supposed to leave, so my parents decided to call the trip off. My siblings each visited my sick bed to convince me to get well so we could go. My brother's convincing worked because he paid me a quarter to get well, and that did the trick. Yes, I could be bribed for only 25 cents. And so we went, but we probably should have stayed home. There was a lot of vomiting and diarrhea and nose-blowing on that trip! Aside from that, it was fun. We saw new places and did a lot of hiking.In between bouts of illness.

Bruce snapped this shot of the rest of us. Dad is hiding my legs because I was wearing Arlene's sweater on my legs because I had stupidly insisted on wearing shorts, and my legs were getting damaged by a lot of prickles. Colleen is wearing a sock around her neck, which is one of my mother's home remedies for sore throats.

Labor Day was not a holiday in our family! It was a thank-goodness-we-have-the-day-off-so-we-can-work kind of day. Garden or beet harvest would most certainly be underway the first Monday in September! Our family tradition for Labor Day was to work. I actually thought it was called Labor Day for that reason--it was a day to labor and labor hard.

Thanksgiving in Canada is the second Monday in October. As with Labor Day, this day is no time to be lazing around. Harvest is in full swing, trying to beat the snow and/or the hard freeze.  We did make Thanksgiving type food (Turkey and all the trimmings) but the men and boys and some of the girls would be hard at work outside.  If we finished our own harvest, an uncle or cousin or neighbor would still be harvesting, so there was always someone to help, some work to be done.

Halloween. A time to wear costumes. I liked pretty costumes, like a genie or a gypsy, though occasionally I was a witch, but I preferred to dress beautifully. At school, we did our regular work in the morning, then changed into our costumes for the entire afternoon. We started off the festivities with a costume parade, then a program. Each class had a song to sing or a poem to recite, or both, on the Halloween theme. Then back to our classes for the party, which would include food and games or coloring or crafts that the teacher planned. In the evening, we went out trick or treating. On the farm, that meant driving from house to house, since the houses were miles apart.  Our family always did a spook alley. Sometimes in our living room, or the utility room, or our basement. Always indoor, because October 31 can be super cold in Alberta. Usually is at least cold, if not super cold!  Our spook alleys were really fun to put on. I preferred to stay home and work the spook alley to going trick or treating. Remember--I didn't like very many kinds of candy, so why would I care about the treats, really? I would just end up giving them to my family. Arlene carried on the spook alley tradition in her family.I am afraid that I am actually not very good at Halloween or any other holiday, for that matter.

My favorite holiday is a weird one, but November 11, Remembrance Day, is it.  Maybe because I miss it so much since it is not an American holiday. In school leading up to November 11, we would make poppies and crosses, and of course everyone would wear poppies. We learned to recite "In Flanders Fields" by John McCrae. I remember on the bus, on the way home from school on the days leading up to November 11, having competitions to say it the most dramatically. Imagine a whole school bus full of children who all have the same poem memorized!

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields. 

We would often make posters in school to illustrate the poem. In my school chorus, grades 4-6 with Mrs. Helen Jensen, we sang Remembrance Day songs. We had a Remembrance Day assembly, where all the classes recited poems or sang songs, just like we did at Valentine's Day and Halloween.We always had a visiting veteran or two who would tell us horror stories from their war experiences. No glorification of war in our Canadian school. The message was that war was necessary, but horrible. 

The actual day of Nov. 11, we did not have school. At 11 AM, we had one minute of silence. The whole country. If you went into town for the program at the Legion, or if you were at home, wherever you were, one minute of silence to honor those who lost their lives in war. If I was at home, I would watch the national Remembrance Day program in Ottawa on TV, with all the laying of the wreaths at the cenotaph. And then curl up on the heater with a book. My kind of holiday!

That brings us back to my birthday, which I could always be depended upon to be miserable for. 

Myrna wearing the Birthday Pout in 1965.

My mother used to say "Cry on your birthday, and you will cry every day all year!" It was supposed to be a warning, an incentive to NOT cry, but for me, I think it was a prophecy! And with that--I think that I am done!