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Well, that was the northeast edge of the village of Langbank and from McKillops I would then go south from there past a vacant lot. The lot had some grain bins and then on the corner across the street was the home of Dave and Evelyn McClement. Dave was a farmer, brother of George and farmed in a partnership with Billy, their land was right adjacent to the village, the vacant lot was where they kept some equipment and also, they had a quarter section half mile north. As with all McClments, Dave was pleasant and cheerful, while his wife Evelyn was truly open and warm Also the source of cookies.
It was a serious, often cold walk from Dave and Evelyn's east along the road to the house of Gordon McClement and his wife Alma. Gordon worked on the railroad with my dad and was always involved with the young people in the community. He started a band in 1956 playing Billy Holly music, he played the saxophone, Billy Brown played the trumpet, I think even Melvin played with them, he played sax, of course it was a great adventure for the young people in the community. Gordon's other contribution to the village was hockey. The village wasn't big enough to have an indoor hockey rink, but adjacent to the curling rink was an outdoor hockey rink and Gordon was the coach, he taught the kids of the community to skate and play hockey. After leaving the railroad Gordon assumed the role formerly held by Ted Burnett, he worked until retirement as the village post master.
My walk home brought me back from Gordon and Alma’s, past Dave McClement’s then west to the first house on the right was that of Jack Cole another bachelor, who lived in a tiny house tucked under the trees beside Jack and Mary Hurst.
I'm not sure what year there was a small house across the street from Jack Cole’s where Mrs. Laura Wilton and her daughters Marjorie and Carol lived. Laura came to the village when a rural school was moved onto the school yard where it would house grades one, two and three. Laura was a very thin woman who seemed like she had always been in the village. Marjorie and Carol were close to my age and became part of our little community.
From there it was just straight home grab my books, lunch and head back to school. This was the routine every single day, there would be times when I couldn't make it, either sickness, or something would interfere and you know who filled in for me, my Mom. My Mom made sure the papers were delivered, she also oversaw the collection on Saturdays of the money for the papers and saw that it was put in a money order and sent off today Free Press in Winnipeg.
When I look back on it now, it really seems much much different then what it was like at the time. In fact it seems hard to imagine that that was my life all those years ago, strangely enough, the most difficult time to do the papers wasn't in the winter when the temperatures were so low, it was in the summer, when it was hardest to do the papers when there were other things that you wanted to do, but you had to go and do the papers. I really doubt if I ever earned much money out of it, there just wasn't much money to be made, besides the customers in the village, I had three customers in the country, who would either drop by and pick up their paper, or I left their paper somewhere in the village for them. The largest number of subscribers I had, I think was 32 and most of the time it was between 20 and 24 a day, so you can see, the wasn't much money to be made.
As near as I can figure my father is the only adult still alive from that time and I think there are fifteen of us younger people still able to find mistakes in this story. I would truly love to hear from each and every one of them. Long live Langbank.
It was a serious, often cold walk from Dave and Evelyn's east along the road to the house of Gordon McClement and his wife Alma. Gordon worked on the railroad with my dad and was always involved with the young people in the community. He started a band in 1956 playing Billy Holly music, he played the saxophone, Billy Brown played the trumpet, I think even Melvin played with them, he played sax, of course it was a great adventure for the young people in the community. Gordon's other contribution to the village was hockey. The village wasn't big enough to have an indoor hockey rink, but adjacent to the curling rink was an outdoor hockey rink and Gordon was the coach, he taught the kids of the community to skate and play hockey. After leaving the railroad Gordon assumed the role formerly held by Ted Burnett, he worked until retirement as the village post master.
My walk home brought me back from Gordon and Alma’s, past Dave McClement’s then west to the first house on the right was that of Jack Cole another bachelor, who lived in a tiny house tucked under the trees beside Jack and Mary Hurst.
I'm not sure what year there was a small house across the street from Jack Cole’s where Mrs. Laura Wilton and her daughters Marjorie and Carol lived. Laura came to the village when a rural school was moved onto the school yard where it would house grades one, two and three. Laura was a very thin woman who seemed like she had always been in the village. Marjorie and Carol were close to my age and became part of our little community.
From there it was just straight home grab my books, lunch and head back to school. This was the routine every single day, there would be times when I couldn't make it, either sickness, or something would interfere and you know who filled in for me, my Mom. My Mom made sure the papers were delivered, she also oversaw the collection on Saturdays of the money for the papers and saw that it was put in a money order and sent off today Free Press in Winnipeg.
When I look back on it now, it really seems much much different then what it was like at the time. In fact it seems hard to imagine that that was my life all those years ago, strangely enough, the most difficult time to do the papers wasn't in the winter when the temperatures were so low, it was in the summer, when it was hardest to do the papers when there were other things that you wanted to do, but you had to go and do the papers. I really doubt if I ever earned much money out of it, there just wasn't much money to be made, besides the customers in the village, I had three customers in the country, who would either drop by and pick up their paper, or I left their paper somewhere in the village for them. The largest number of subscribers I had, I think was 32 and most of the time it was between 20 and 24 a day, so you can see, the wasn't much money to be made.
As near as I can figure my father is the only adult still alive from that time and I think there are fifteen of us younger people still able to find mistakes in this story. I would truly love to hear from each and every one of them. Long live Langbank.