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 Now Andy McVicar was not only a leading man in his community and the former catcher for the Manor baseball team, but he was the father of a fairly large family with two sons and more daughters then prospective husbands. All were expected to get an education and completed, or nearly completed high school, which was remarkable for the time. Edith was the eldest daughter and this young hard working Englishman seemed to hit it off. Andy provided a quart section of land four miles West of Kelso and they were married. When the family picture was taken in front of the McVicar house they had been married for some sixteen years. A war was beginning again in Europe and the little farm was, no matter how hard it was worked, wasn't that productive and Bob lent a hand to Andy's farm as well as his own. The thirties were harder on some families then others. Bob and his family had the support of his father-in-law, but others were on there own and describe those as very difficult years. Most families at that time were large, while Bob and Edith had four children their neighbours, Henry and Elizabeth Fisk had eleven, one of whom died as a baby. Though their gardens provided the food they needed and in a mixed farming area they had livestock that put meat on the table, the farm income was nil, as crops were poor to nonexistent and valueless. The relief shipments from Ontario were the treasures that brought some light into those gloomy times. Education had been a big thing in the McVicar family and was valued by Bob and Edith. Their eldest daughter Beatrice was the only one to complete high school. Circumstances seemed to have intervened and Robert, the next oldest, got through grade ten then set forth to earn a living as it seemed there was no other alternative. Beatrice went on to take a secretarial course in Regina and with the war, was off to Ottawa to a government job. Wartime Ottawa was a very busy place and Beatrice met and married a farm boy from Chaplin who was overseas almost immediately. Their only son was born in the spring of 1944 with Beatrice still in Ottawa. Albert is the only member of this family to have visited Bob's family farm and meet his wife's family. In a year's time the war had ended and Albert returned to Canada to see his son for the first time and renew his life with his bride of only a few months. They got a quart section of land a couple miles West of Bob's place and had a shot at post war agriculture. I remember well the day their realisation of how much the war had changed him and how they understood farming was not for them and they packed up their belongs in an old green truck and headed for Moose Jaw. By then their son had already finished his first year at Greenbank school in Kelso. They still live in Moose Jaw where Bert is busy playing in a dance band for senior citizens and Beatrice is consumed with social events in what is her home town. |