Socksie

 

SOCKSIE

By:  Lester Ann Hyde Jensen

 

Photo taken in Taber when I was about 10 years old

I was five years old when I was introduced to Socksie.  I don’t remember why we went to Lethbridge that day but on our way home we stopped in Raymond to visit with Jim and Alice Still.   Aunt Alice had a cat with a batch of kittens who were ready to leave their mother.  Aunt Alice offered to let me pick any one I wanted.   To convince Dad, we should take a kitten she told him the mother cat was the best cat she ever had. She said she was clean, a great mouser, a good mother  who kept her kittens spotlessly clean, trained them well and taught them to hunt.   

Dad agreed and the one I picked had many different colors, kind of a calico/tabby cross.  I fell in love with her instantly and because she had four white feet, I named her Socksie.    She proved to be every bit as good a cat as Aunt Alice had promised.  Every six months she had a new batch of kittens and she trained and cared for them just like her mother did.  She let me and my little sister play with her and her babies. We had a grand time dressing them in our doll clothes and pushing her around in our doll buggy.  

Word of Socksie’s talents and habits spread among our friends and neighbours and we never had any trouble finding homes for her kittens. 

One day while cutting hay, Dad made a horrible discovery.  There was a rabbit’s nest hidden in the grass and the mower blades cut right through it.  The tiny babies were not hurt but the bigger mother was killed.   Very tenderly, Daddy picked up the orphaned bunnies and brought them home to Socksie who just happened to be caring for a new batch of kittens.  Her motherly instincts took over and she nursed them along with her kittens. She had plenty of milk for all of them and she protected them like they were no different.    She cleaned them like she did her own babies and even tried to teach them to hunt.  She led them, along with her kittens to the tall grass behind the ranch house and could not figure out why they weren’t interested in mice like the kittens were.  It was great fun to watch the bunnies interact and play with Socksie’s kittens.  The bunnies hopped everywhere they went, and the kittens could barely keep up with them but just like children who laugh and play with other children no matter what differences existed between them, they loved playing together. 

Socksie took care of them until they were old enough to go back to the wild. I remember well the day we turned them loose.  They seemed a bit confused and could not figure out what they were to do but they were no more confused than Socksie was. Finally, after much effort on our parts, the bunnies hopped away, and they were gone.  I was heartbroken.   For weeks after Socksie would wander down to the spot where we left them and just lay in the grass for a while, then come back to the ranch house.  It was obvious she missed them and wondered where they had gone.  Dad explained why wild animals needed to live in the wild and domestic animals could stay with us.  I understood but I worried and wondered about whether Socksie or the bunnies did. 

Shirley and Lester Ann Playing with Socksie and her kittens

It was Dad’s habit to feed Socksie some milk when he milked the cows.  In the fall of about 1962, Socksie was 13 years old.    At this time of the year, between the factory and the farm, Dad was terribly busy.  Socksie looked like she did not feel well, and Dad was concerned about her.  He was concerned that she might have missed her milk too often and maybe she had mouse poisoning from eating too many mice that were so plentiful in the fields.  She had yet another batch of kittens and Dad was concerned they were too much drain on her health, so he got rid of them. 

Unfortunately, a few days later he found her lying in a puddle in the barnyard, dead.  The whole family was devastated to lose our beloved Socksie.  In her effort to cheer us up, mom quipped, “She probably found out she was pregnant again and she committed suicide. “

Dad said he was sorry he had gotten rid of all the kittens.  He would have liked to have one of her kittens so her legacy would live on.

 

The Raymond Stampede

 by Marvelle Hyde Noble

Well, if it was anywhere between the years of 1948 to about 1956 or so, my father, Clarence Hyde, would be getting us ready to go to the Raymond Stampede come July 1. I can't remember anything much before 1945 when we moved away from Raymond. We lived in Rosemary from 1945 to 1948 and so until we got closer to Raymond we didn't get to go to the stampede. Mom hated it. We all loved it. We knew all along that we would probably go but nothing was aid until breakfast on July 1.

"So who wants to go with me to The Stampede today?" dad would ask while mom glared at him. Us kids all shouted, "I do! I do!" We didn't have to ask where The Stampede was. We all knew it was in Raymond, Alberta! After mom had done absolutely everything she could do possibly to find to do int he house, we would start off for Raymond and the parade. We always got there late, but Dad always seemed to find a good parking spot. No sooner had we parked the truck than Dad was off to visit with everyone. He would start at one side of the street. Usually, Lester Ann and I went with him. We would stop and visit with everyone along the way.

Dad was always a favorite among people and people would call out to him, "Hey Hyde! How you been?"

"For hell's sake, if it isn't Clarence Hyde!"

"These your kids? Good lookin'! Must take after their mother!"

I loved it. I loved the attention. I basked in the obvious admiration men had for my dad and the sheer excitement. By the time the parade started, I was walking a foot off the ground. The horses pranced with beautifully dressed riders. There were beautiful floats. Kids on their bikes decorated for the day. Bands made us walk and stand at attention. Popcorn was sold on the corner but we usually didn't get any because we were far too busy to eat.

By the time we got back to the truck from visiting, Mom would be mad. She usually had to sit by herself with the younger babies, Shirley and Colleen. I never knew a Raymond Stampede day that Mother was talking to Father.

I remember on time specifically. We always went over to Greeps (Harriet Greep was dad's older sister) after the parade. Greeps lived right across the street from the stampede grounds. Dad dropped Mom off at Aunt Harriet's and Dad and I went over to the stampede grounds, just to look around before the Stampede started and before dinner.

A turn table had been set up in one of the booths for gambling. Dad gave the man $20, which was quickly eaten up. The wheel never stopped on a place where dad would get any money. Dad was upset about losing the money so we left and went back to Greeps. When Mom heard Dad had lost $20, an unbelievable sum of money in those days, she told him he must go back and get the money back from the man.

I thought it was impossible to accomplish, but Dad and I went back to the man who had the spinning wheel. Dad demanded his money back. The man told Dad to go to hell. My dad leaned over the counter, took the man by the front of his shirt and said, "If you don't give me my money back right now, I will stand here for the rest of the day and tell everyone how you stole $20 from me." He used some other choice vocabulary which I won't repeat at this point in time. I guess the man believe Dad as he gave him back his $20.

That kind of put a kink in the rest of the day. We had dinner at Aunt Harriet's as we did every year and went home. I think it was the first and last time Father ever gambled.

The Raymond Stampede and parade was always a day that I loved, a day that I was proud to be Clarence Hyde's kid. One of the proudest days of my life was the day I rode in the Raymond Parade as the first Mrs. Lethbridge. In 1990, Dad was still alive and very proud of me. As I passed in front of him and Mom sitting in the car, I waved my hand off. I knew he was telling everyone that that was his kid waving at him.

Boundary Creek

 

Photo of Old Chief by Colleen Boyer

BOUNDARY CREEK

By Lester Ann Hyde Jensen & Marvelle Hyde Noble

 

We stayed in Rosemary for four years.  Marvelle was nine, I was five, and Shirley was three months old.   Mom and Dad worked hard but were not getting ahead.  They never had much but they did have 50 head of young cattle.  Dad rented a ranch southwest of Cardston in the Boundary Creek area.  They rented the land and had a five-year lease. 

I vaguely remember the night we arrived at the ranch.  It was the spring of 1949 and a howling Chinook wind welcomed us.  When we arrived at the gate to the ranch the ground was wet, and Dad was worried we would get stuck before we reached the house.  Besides, the old truck did not have a lot of power and Dad was worried between that and the load it was carrying, it would not make it to the ranch house.  He had already brought our furniture with the tractor named Rachel and a hay rack.

Dad announced we would have to walk the rest of the way.  “It’s less than half a mile.  We can make it.” he assured us.   To protect Shirley from the wind, he put her in a leather shopping bag Mom had made and carried her.  Marvelle and I both held mom’s hands tight as we walked. I had never seen a mountain before and I was in awe of Old Chief Mountain, looming in the distance. 

When we arrived, Dad built a fire in the stove and went back to the truck to collect our suitcases.  The house was a lot less than Mom had anticipated, and she sat on the oven door and cried.

By the time the house had warmed up, Dad returned, and he and mom made up our beds.  We were all very tired and nervous.  The wind was still howling, and we all took a long time to go to sleep. 

Things looked better when the sun came up the next morning.  The Chinook had blown the wet ground dry, and Dad took us all on a walk and showed us around the ranch.  He told us about the fish we could catch from the mountain creek, and the hunting he could do in the area.  He even showed us a beaver dam in the creek and told us how he would have to tear it down so the water could flow to where the cattle could drink the fresh mountain water

He had pointed out the Boundary Creek School we had passed as we approached the ranch.  He had purchased a tame old mare for Marvelle to ride to school.  We named her Vickie.  It was about a mile from the ranch house.  She was excited to be able to ride a horse to school.  I did not tell any of the rest of my family, but I was glad I didn’t have to go to school yet.  I had gone to school a few times with Marvelle in Rosemary, but we did not ride a horse to school there.  We rode in a big yellow school bus.  Besides, I was happy to stay home with my Mom and Dad and baby sister, Shirley.  to where the cattle could drink the fresh mountain water.  He had pointed out the Boundary Creek School we had passed as we approached the ranch.  He had purchased a tame old mare for Marvelle to ride to school.  We named her Vickie.  It was about a mile from the ranch house.  She was excited to be able to ride a horse to school.  I did not tell any of the rest of my family, but I was glad I didn’t have to go to school yet.  I had gone to school a few times with Marvelle in Rosemary, but we did not ride a horse to school there.  We rode in a big yellow school bus.  Besides, I was happy to stay home with my Mom and Dad and baby sister, Shirley. 

The old house on the ranch, many years later.

Mom and Dad both worked awfully hard.  Dad worked with the cattle, built fences, and outbuildings.  He also made improvements to the house to make it more livable.  Mom worked at scrubbing floors and the walls, sewing curtains and making it into a home. 

Dad often took me with him when he had to take feed to the cattle or when he was fixing or building fences.   On one beautiful spring morning I had gone with him, I thought to help him.  I loved being able to hand him a tool as he needed it, or to just be with him so he could tell me stories.  But that morning I got tired and wanted to go back to the house.  Dad said, “OK, go ahead.”   I started off, but it did not take long for me to realize I was going in the wrong direction.  I panicked.  I started to cry and scream.

                                               “I’m lost!  BEARS! BEARS!”

Dad had to run to me, take me by the shoulders and shake me before I would stop screaming, then he set me on the right path, and I was fine. 

One day while building a fence, Dad was pounding a post into the ground with a big sledgehammer.  He missed his target with one swing of the hammer and crushed his thumb in the process.  He ran to the house and told Mom he needed some salt.  She was horrified by the amount of blood and the condition his thumb was in.  Dad told her to pour a handful of salt into his other hand.  She followed his directions, but she could not stand to watch as he put his thumb in the hand with the salt and wrapped his thumb in it.  He then had her wrap a bandage around his thumb and went back out to finish the fence.

Our next experience is best told by Marvelle:

Mom and Dad often went to Lethbridge to get supplies.  One time when they went, they stayed overnight and arranged for me to stay with Hansens while they were gone.  Ralph Hansen was a school mate and after school, he and I were playing on the haystack at their place.  We were jumping up and down on the newly made stack.  Well, I got too close to the edge and off I went.  I landed on my shoulder.  It was very painful, and I immediately wanted to go home.  Of course, I could not, so Mrs. Hansen rubbed my shoulder with liniment and put me to bed.  I remember looking over at the bottle she had left on the night table. On the label, it said, “For Man or beast”.  I was terribly upset.  I was not a man, and I was not a beast.  I cried myself to sleep. 

Mrs. Hansen tried to talk me into staying home the next morning, but there was no way I was not going.  I had to be there for Mom and Dad to pick me up that day at school. It was very painful getting up on Old Vickie, but I managed and rode her to school with one arm (the left arm) hanging down.  I couldn’t do anything with it.  Later that day, when Mom and Dad stopped at the school, I didn’t see them, but good old Mr. Zemp told them I had experienced an accident, but I was fine, and I was just pretending I couldn’t use my left arm.  So, Mom and Dad drove on home without me. 

After school, I once again got up on Vickie and rode her home.  I was in terrible pain.  When Mom saw me through the window, she was alarmed and she said to Dad, “Marvelle’s hurt! She is not pretending!”  Dad ran to Old Vickie’s side and helped me down.  I stayed in bed for two days. 

My arm did not improve.  In fact, it simply hung down by my side.  Dad took me to Cardston to a doctor.  The doctor said it had been broken and had started to mend.  He told Dad he would have to re-break my shoulder to get the use of my arm back.  So, I went under anesthetic and the doctor rebroke my shoulder.  He put a cast on my shoulder and arm.  The cast made my arm stick out and when I went to bed, I could not sleep because my hand was sticking up in the air and getting cold.  Mom put a mitten on my hand.  That helped.   

In six weeks, it was time to take the cast off.  He was so rough as he cut the cast off my body, I screamed in pain.  Mom said you could hear me all over the hospital.  He then put a brace on my arm that was made of wood stuffed with cotton batting and taped to my body.  Dad only had a pickup truck for travelling and with our whole family in the cab of a truck, one can only imagine how messy it was and how crowded with five people in the truck and one with her arm sticking out in a wooden brace? 

A few days later, Dad decided to go to Raymond to visit the Hutterite Colony and Dr. Joe Mandel who was either a bone doctor or a chiropractor.  Dad had a bad back and Joe was good at helping Dad.

Lester Ann and I had been out of the truck and walking around when Joe looked out the window and asked: “What’s wrong with that girl’s arm?” Dad told Joe all about it and what the doctor had done for her.   Joe said I did not walk like anyone with a broken shoulder and asked if he could take a look at it.  Dad was a bit hesitant at first, but Joe promised not to touch me. 

After looking at me for a couple of minutes, Joe started ripping the tape off as he kept saying: “It’s a damn lie! It’s a damn lie!” 

He continued to tear the tape off, and it really hurt.   He explained if that tape were left on my skin, it would take my skin off with it when it was removed. 

Then he grabbed my arm and gave it a quick jerk.  “Now do this.” He said as he put his arm up and reached over his head to touch his opposite ear.  I did it and it was like magic.  My arm worked again.  That was all that was wrong with it.  I did not care.  My arm was fixed.  But dad was terribly upset. 

Very soon a bill for $49.00 came in the mail.  It was from that so-called doctor in Cardston, and for re-breaking my arm and fixing it, etc. 

So, Dad went to town and he took me with him.  He marched into the doctor’s office, much to the dismay of the nurse who had tried to stop him at the front desk.  Dad slapped the bill down on the doctor’s desk and said, “See that bill?”

“Why, yes.” Said the doctor.

“Well, that is one bill you will never get paid.”

“Why not?” asked the surprised doctor. 

Now, he should not have asked that, because Dad told him in no uncertain terms and only in terms my Dad could, what had happened. 

Bills came continually after that with interest added.  Then a Collection Agency from Toronto wrote demanding that Dad appear in court in Toronto.  Dad just laughed and the bills finally stopped coming.  That was one bill my Father never paid. 

I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, there is a Heavenly Father who watches over us.  He knew I would need both my arms in the future, so he put me in Joe Mandel’s yard at the right time.   Joe saw me, took care of me, and now I have the use of both my arms.  

Arms are such wonderful things.  You can use them for so many things.   I can hold my babies, my dear ones, my husband, my sisters, all my friends who love me.

Hands are at the end of our arms.  Hands knead bread, fix broken hearts, sew buttons on, and type.  How would I have made a living or done all my writing without hands. 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is true.  This is my testimony. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marvelle, 9, Lester Ann 5, and Shirley about six months, in Boundary Creek

  

Marvelle, Lester Ann, and Shirley on Old Vickie

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shirley's Trip to Africa, Part 2

When you drive through the village or the big city of Accra, at every intersection at stop lights are buskers trying to sell anything from tools, to bras, honey or peanut butter and furniture.  I was looking at all the stuff they were selling.  Marvelle told me not to look at them.  If I do make eye contact with them, they will come over to the car expecting you to buy their wares.  They could attack the car.   It was hard for me to not look at them.  If Marvelle wanted popcorn or peanut butter, she knew where there was a guy who sold that.  If the guy didn’t have any he would tell us to come tomorrow and he would have some.  

While I was there, Clifford was sick.  He thought it was just the flu at first.   It was on his about the 6th  day he decided he should go to the hospital.  He went in and saw a doctor.  He told Clifford it was Malaria.  He gave Clifford a prescription for an antibiotic.  He had to go to the chemist to get prescription filled.  The chemist filled the prescription and passed the prescription paper back to Clifford.  Clifford told him he thought he should keep the paper.  The chemist told him he didn’t have space to file the prescription and Clifford may have to get it filled again, so Clifford should keep it.  

Clifford and Marvelle had lesson to teach prospective members. The had a fireside in their home.  We made cookies and had a drink of juice.   

One time Marvelle had gone to the School for the Deaf to rent their school bus for  the next Sunday to  go around and pick up members and non members  and bring them to church. Some people would walk up to 15 miles just to come to church.  It a was a stake conference time.  The Africans would get to  church on their own time. When there was enough people to start the meeting, then we would start.   When we went to check if the bus was coming, the lady at the school told us the Master was fired.  We would have to go see the a superintendent of the school.  We got directions to where the Superintendent was located.  So we went there.  The building was like an old movie studio of Bonaza time, with a second floor and a balcony all across the front.  We had to go up to the second floor where the superintendent was.  He had garden chairs for his visitors.  We went in and he ask us to sit.  He was quite snarky with a Marvelle.  He told her the bus had  gone to Accra and broke down.  He was waiting for parts to fix the bus.  This was a Monday or Tuesday.  He told us he would call her if the bus got back by Sunday.  Marvelle told him she would call him.  She felt he was just trying to get rid of us.  Marvelle gave him her business card.  On the card was a picture of Clifford and her.  The guy took her card and looked at it.  He ask her how did she get a picture on the card. She told him she printed it with her computer printer.  He ask if she could make him a card with his picture on it.  Marvelle told him to get her a picture he would like to use and she could print a card for him.  Boy his attitude changed and he told her the bus would be there by Sunday.  Marvelle called him on Saturday and the bus was ready for Sunday to go pick up the members and non members, whoever got on the bus.  

 

One day Marvelle had a notice in her post box that she had a parcel to pick up.  We had to go to another building to get the parcel.  We went to get the parcel and the guy there invited Marvelle to go behind the counter and hunt for her parcel .  The room was filled with parcels.  She didn’t know how big the parcel was or who it was from.  She looked at each parcel and finally found her parcel.  She found out it was a Christmas parcel from Cathy Greep Needham.  It was May.   It took 5 or 6 months  for the parcel to arrive.  We had a good laugh about it.  Christmas in July.

 

We would go to an international hotel to have a Western food meal.  I ordered a combo plate of roast beef, pork chop, and chicken, with American vegetables and mashed potatoes.  The Stake  President and his wife, the Mission President and his wife invited us to dinner one night at the restaurant. The dish I had was 65 cents in CDN dollars.  I had exchanged about $500 from USD to Cedi’s.  I was there for three weeks and I still had money left over.  Their paper bills were much larger than our dollar bills.  

 

Clifford’s mission job was to look after the younger missionaries and pay them.  He had to go to the bank and withdraw the stipends for  the missionaries, including their money.  He had to take a large bag the size of a gym bag to carry the money home. He was always cautious going into the bank, count the money and get back into the car and get home with the money.  He was afraid he would be robbed. He then had  to separate the money in envelopes for each missionary and their companions.  With the money they had to pay their rent and budget their food money for the month. They would run out of money before the time for more and they would call Clifford for more and Clifford had to tell them there was no more money.  They would have to wait till the new month.   

 

One night a  family members of  the church invited us to dinner.  I was very hesitant as to what they would have for dinner.  Was it going to be African food or American fare.  We went and the sister had fried chicken,  coleslaw and cassava.  The cassava looked like our mashed potatoes.  She had peeled the cassava and cubed it up like we do potatoes, boiled it in water and mashed it up like our mashed potatoes.  I tried it and it tasted between a potato and a yam.  It was good.  I ate it.  I was pleased with the dinner.  Africans use a lot of hot spices and hot pepper sauce on their meal so I was hesitant what the sister would serve us.   

It was so hot in Ghana: 53 - 60 degrees every day. It was so exhausting to go out in the heat of the day.  One day we went to the cocoa bean factory.  It consisted of big cooking tubs the size of a tractor tire over a fire in a pit in the ground. The ladies  sat close to the big cooking area and stirred  the cocoa beans till they cooked.  It was so hot around the big pots, I thought my camera was going to melt.  The ladies workers were quite used to the heat.  The ladies had their children at work.  The small babies and children would sit back from the hot pots of beans on a mat to sleep.  The mothers all nursed the children so when the baby would cry, mom was there to feed baby.  

It was such a great trip.  I’m glad I went when I did.  Later there was a war on the Eastern coast of Ghana and other countries.  Colleen did go about two weeks after I left.  It would be very unsafe to go there now.  

The time went by so fast.  Marvelle and Clifford took me back to Accra to catch my flight back to Amsterdam and then home to Calgary.  I had to leave Marvelle and Clifford.  There were tears  shed by both of us.  

When I left back to Amsterdam, I took a Tafalgar bus tour all around the circle of the country of Holland.  I called it Holland but now it is called The Netherlands.  My Great Grandfather Day come to America from Hukelem.  I made it to about 20 miles away from the village where he lived.  On the bus I was with about 30 travelers, so I had lots of other people to talk to.  In the morning, you had to be up early, get breakfast in my hotel and be on the bus by 8 am. We would have lunches on the bus, which was a sandwich, a piece of fruit and a drink.  Every evening we would stop at a different hotel and have supper and sleep, to start the next day by 8 am again for two weeks.  

We stopped one day at the village of the windmills.  I love windmills.  Whenever I drew a picture in my youth, it would have a windmill in the picture.  I went in the windmills and saw them  processing linseed oil.  There were lots shops to shop.  I bought a pair of updated wooden shoes.  The sole was wooden and the top part was red leather.  There was the photograph studio and they dressed me up in Dutch dresses,  a white hat and wooden shoes. They took my picture so I just had to buy a photo.  I bought two wheels of Gouda cheese. 

I went to Floriade, the festival of the flowers.  It was a big, big park with flowers all over the place.  I have never seen so many flower and walked so far to see them.  It was in Amsterdam.  One day we went to a factory of the flowers.  Flowers come in from the flower farms, are put  in big pots of water and shipped out  in big shipping containers within 24 hours to all over the world.  We went to a Diamond  factory where they were grinding and polishing diamonds.  I bought a small Diamond ring.  We were told not to go to a coffee shop, as they could sell and used marijuana there.  We visited the Van Gough Museum.  Outside the museum on the grounds there was a bunch of Chinese monks singing and  playing their instruments like flutes.  Their music was very guteral sounds.  They were fascinating to watch.  We visited the Village of the Minatures.  It was a replica of the capital city, with everything from the sky scrapers to the lake with a fire boat that would put out the fire on another boat in the lake.  It was fascinating to say the least.  I visited the village that make the blue and white delft pottery.  I bought many pieces of the delft.  I bought a cheap ring that had an oval stone in delft with a windmill in it.  When I got home I took it to a jewelry store and had a ring made with good gold and the deft stone mounted in the top of the ring,  

Every night you just fell into bed exhausted from all the walking and sight-seeing.  You had to be up early the next morning to get back on the bus.  One lady from US wanted to see the tulips growing in the field.  The guide on the bus one day said, ok everybody look out your window to the left, so we all looked out wondering what was coming up.  The guide said ok look there are your tulips in the field.  The field was black soil. Everybody was peering out our window.  It was a summer field.  The tulips had been harvested.  The lady from  USA wasn’t too pleased.  It was the wrong time of the year to see tulips in the field. 

At the end of my two week tour of Holland, I boarded my plane back to Calgary.  When I arrived home, it was well after midnight.  Because I had the two wheels of cheese in my luggage and I claimed them, I had to go through agriculture.  I went there and waited and waited.  I finally went back to the guy at customs and told him nobody was there.  He said he would X-ray my bag.  He did and found my two wheels of cheese.  He said to just go home.  

I went home and was exhausted from all my trip and all the walking I did.  After I got home, I had exchanged addresses with Charles.  We corresponded some.  He asked me if I would take Mavis to Canada and send her to school.  I wasn’t keen on that idea.  My kids were grown up  and to take on responsibility of another child 13 yrs old was just too much.  I had work to look after and I really didn’t have money for another teenager.  He wrote to me several times then got quite sharp with me.  I finally told him I was in a divorce and now living on my own in my house and would not look after Mavis.  She would have to get immigration papers in order for her to come to Canada.  He quit writing letters.  

That is my story of Africa and Holland. 

 

 

Shirley's Trip to Africa

 In January 2002, my mom passed away.  At the time, Marvelle  and Clifford were on their mission in Ghana.  They could not come home for the funeral.  After the funeral, I said to Colleen and Lester Ann, we should go see them in Africa.  They thought it was a good idea.  I started to look into flights to Accra, which is the capital of Ghana and that is where you could fly into.  I thought about it and thought about that again.  Colleen told me she could go.  At the time Heidi was working for Air Canada and she could get a fare with Air Canada as a family member of Heidi.  The only thing was she had to go stand by on the flight.  I wasn’t too keen on going standby.  I didn’t want to get stuck in Frankfurt where I would have to change flights to Accra.  I have a travel agent work for me to find a flight schedule. 

I made up my mind to go by myself. I had to get my vaccinations up to date.  I had to have yellow fever vaccination that ready made me sick.   I had to get a visitor visa. I decided to go Calgary to Amsterdam to Accra. When I arrived at the airport in Amsterdam, I had a wait till my next flight.  I had to retrieve my luggage and had time to wander around a couple of stores.  I went into a flower store and I chose a small bouquet of yellow tulips for Marvelle.   I have always liked tulips because of my Dutch heritage.  The girl in the shop put wet paper towel on the roots of the flowers to keep them moist. Then wrapped the, in brown paper so they didn't get crushed. Then I had to run to the gate to catch my flight to Accra.

The flight from Calgary to Amsterdam was a 14 hour flight. Then another 8 hours to Accra, Ghana.  When I arrived in Accra the plane stopped on the tarmac and we had to pick our luggage when they took the luggage off the plane.  We had to board a bus that took the passengers to the airport.  At the door of the airport, you had  get off the bus, retrieve luggage again and go through customs and immigration.  I had to have my passport and a Visitors Visa to enter the country of Ghana.  I got a luggage carrier and a Porter when I got into the airport.  He took me through customs and Immigration. Once I got through that area, the porter told me he could go no further with me.  Marvelle and Clifford told me they could not enter the airport.  They would be waiting for me outside.  They told me to get a porter that could stay with me till I found them outside of the entrance of the airport.  The porter I had  told me I would have to pay for 4 porters.  He found another porter that did stay with me till I found them.  When Marvelle saw me coming down the ramp, she screamed to me and I found her.  By that time it was getting dark, real dark.  They don’t have  street lights.  There were small gas lanterns at the side of the roads.  We put my luggage in their Toyota car and went to a hotel over night.  You do no travel any distance at night.  You could be ambushed, robbed and killed.  

When we arrived at the hotel, I gave my tulips to Marvelle.  She went to the front desk to find a vase.  They gave her a mason jar.  It worked.  She put the flowers in water.  We went to bed.  It was hot but I was tired from the long flight.  The next morning we got up and cleaned out the room.  Marvelle remembered to take the tulips.  She discovered  they were silk flowers.  We had babied them and they were silks.  We laughed so hard our stomachs hurt.  

We drove to the village of Koforidua.  They had a nice house with a bathroom, shower and running water.  It was very comfortable and hot with a very small window air conditioner.  They had a helper about 30 years old, Eric, who looked after the yard.  He planted fruit and vegetables in the whole yard.  They had pineapple plants, mango tree, coconut trees, palm trees, other vegetables and fruit.  I can’t remember it all.  I took garden seeds for him to plant, like corn, peas, carrots, beans, etc.  He was very appreciative as he had never heard of those vegetables.  

The first day we went to the market to find a seamstress to make me some dresses.  I bought the bright coloured material for three different dresses.  The seamstress took my measurements and told me to come back In 3 days.  I had bought enough of one of the patterned material to make a dress for Ashley.  I went out into the street and found a little boy about Ashley’s age.  I took him into the seamstress and told her about this size.  So she measured him up and made Ashley a dress to match my dress.  We went back and she had all the dresses made and head dresses as well.  All the ladies have matching dress and headdresses.  

Clifford ask me if I brought CD’s with me.  I shrugged and said no, why would I bring CD’s with me.  He told me no their currency was Cedi’s.  We had to go to a Fed Ex office to exchange my USD to Cedi’s so I could go to the market to shop.  

Charles was a retired schoolteacher and would go everywhere with Marvelle and me,  as an interpreter from their language Twi to English.  He was a member if the church.  He was very nice to us.   The first Sunday I was in Ghana, I had a new dress to wear to church.  All the ladies at church came to welcome me to their country.   I had one suitcase full if things fir the African children.  I took as many things with the Canada emblem on it.  I took small balls, flags, key chains, pencils, with Canada on them.  I took candy and gum for the children.  I was like the Pied Piper.  I would just go out to the street and the children would flock to me.  Somehow the word got out and I had children asking me for more for their brother.  I told them the brother or sister  had to come to me.  

Before I left for Ghana,  I collected about 35 pairs of used seeing glasses with me.  One day we went to the village of Juno.  Charles had grown up there.  He showed us the school where he studied.  We went in a room where girls were learning to sew.  We went to see an old man in a hut.  Charles told us he needed eye glasses.  He was 95 years old.  Charles and I climbed the ladder into his hut on stilts.  We took a few pairs of glasses to him.  He would try on a pair and shake his head , no that was the wrong strength.  He tried a few pairs till he found he could see.  He picked up a old  newspaper that was yellow from the sun, and he could read his newspaper.  The pair he picked was a white cat eyes frame that was women’s glasses.  He cried, Charles cried and I cried too.  He could SEE!!! He thanked me graciously for bringing the glasses to him.  

Every day Marvelle and I would get Charles and we would go somewhere of interest.  We went to a National park of trees that were the tallest trees I have  ever seen.  We went to the wood carvers.  I bought kinta cloth there.  It was yellow, orange, red and green threads weaved together.  I bought book marks and a necklace in kinta cloth.  Jody wanted a pair of giraffes, the largest I could find.  We I bought a pair that I could just fit into my suitcase.  I bought earrings, bracelets, an African mask for Garry.  I bought ten sets of elephants in about 6 sizes from 2 inches down to about a half of an inch.  I bought 6 sets of giraffes about 8 inches tall.  All carved  from wood.  

It was an average of 53 degrees Fahrenheit every day.  When we traveled, the car had air conditioning but when we hit outside you sweat a lot.  We carried a washcloth to wipe our forehead, face and arms. 

One evening after the heat of the day was cooler, Marvelle and I drove to see the big expansion bridge over the Densu river.  I had my movie camera filming all across the big bridge on one side.  We turned around and I filmed the other side of the river.  We just got off bridge, a big man jumped from underneath a big banyan tree.  He came out onto the road and stopped the car.  He could see we were two white ladies.  He saw me filming with my movie camera.  He ask us where we were from.  Marvelle told him we were from Canada.  He told me to erase my camera.  I ask him why?  He told me I took his pictures and he was a policeman.   I saw no badge to say he was police.  I erased some of my film, but when I got  home and looked at the film, he was still in the pictures I had on the film.  Marvell said later we were lucky, he could have taken us or the car. 

Another day, we went to a village where they grew Casava.  It is like a big yam shaped  vegetables but much longer than a yam.  Charles was with us, and his daughter Mavis.  He showed Marvelle  where to drive.  Pretty soon we were out in a field of long grass.  We went down a steep hill and Marvelle could not turn around to go up the steep hill again.  So she put the car in reverse and said to hang on, and gunned it to get up the steep incline.   I was so afraid but she  made it up the hill backwards.

More to come tomorrow....

The Stove

 

By: Lester Ann Hyde Jensen

It was a cold winter morning and Dad had been up early making a fire in the kitchen stove so the house would be warm when the rest of us got up.  We always enjoyed the kitchen stove.  You could sit on the oven door and be warmed by the stove.  The reservoir on the side kept water hot for bathing, doing dishes, etc.  We sat on that too.  On this cold morning, we brought our clothes from the bedroom and dressed in front of the stove. 

Dad warned us before he left for the barn.  “Don’t get too close to the stove.   You could get burned.”

Shirley was three or four years old, and I was seven or eight.  All the other family members had left the kitchen to go about their day.  Mom had gone into her bedroom to make the bed.  Shirley and I were the only ones left in the kitchen.  For some unknown reason, Shirley climbed onto the reservoir and since she met with no ill effects, she decided to walk across the top of the hot stove.  She was wearing hard soled boot type shoes and overalls Mom had made using fabric that had come from the Sugar Factory.  I was called kelly cloth and mom used them to make everything from clothes to rugs. 

As Shirley walked across the surface of the hot stove, she came to the lids that opened into the firebox.  The rim that was supposed to hold the lid in place had been broken on one side and her weight on the lid made it cave in, permitting her to fall right into the flaming fire box.  There she stood up to her knees in the fire. 

I yelled, “Oh, Mom, Mom!” and proceeded to lift Shirley out of the stove. 

Mom said she heard me call, but she heard nothing more so continued making the bed.  I sat Shirley on the counter and took her shoes off.   As I undid  the laces, they just fell apart in my hands.  The rim of the opening to the stove had touched her leg in two spots and that appeared to be the extent of her injuries.  The canvas material in her overalls was strong enough to protect her legs from further damage.  Thankfully, she had only been in the stove for a matter of seconds, or the outcome could have been so much more serious. 

Mom, who had now heard enough commotion to emerge from the bedroom, washed Shirley’s legs in cold water and applied mentholatum before we took her to the doctor to have her checked.  She had third degree burns on leg, but the burns were relatively small compared to the damage that could have been done.  I shudder to think of how much more serious it could have been. 

We had no electric range, no dishwasher, no vacuum cleaner, or automatic washer or dryer, but we had lots of love.  There were dangers connected to the equipment that was used in our homes just as there are dangers in our homes today.  We are so much more fortunate to have the safety features that make our homes more comfortable and safer today.  The law dictates that electricity be installed correctly and safely.  Smoke detectors protect our homes from fire.  Seatbelts and children’s car seats protect us and our children while traveling in our cars.  Yet, there are so many more insidious things out there we must protect our children from today.  Life was much simpler then. 

 

 

 

Christmas 1948 and Shirley is Born

 

By:  Lester Ann Hyde Jensen

In Rosemary, we lived on the Norman Granlin farm seven miles southeast of Rosemary for two years.  According to Dad, we made a living but never got very far ahead.  In the fall of 1946, this place was sold so we moved to the A. L. Gallup farm where we farmed for two more years. 

On December 19, 1948, Shirley Luella was born at the Brooks Hospital. 

I don’t remember what we got for Christmas, or what we had for dinner or any of the preparations.  By that time, I, was four years old.  I do, however, remember that Christmas and that on Christmas Eve, Santa came to visit us.  We heard someone ringing a bell and Ho Ho Ho-ing at our door.

We ran to let him in, and he gave Marvelle and me each a big red apple.  He told us to go to bed and go right to sleep so he could come back later and bring our presents.  We tried, but we were so excited.  It wasn’t just Christmas.  Our baby sister was coming home tomorrow. 

The next morning there were presents for all of us, but Dad said we needed to wait to open them until Mom and Shirley came home.  Dad helped Marvelle and me make breakfast, we had family prayer, and ate.

Then he went out to do his chores and some work on the farm.  He said he would come in for lunch and then he would go to Brooks to get Mom and our baby sister.  We were so excited.  They were coming home. 

We started making lunch as soon as Dad went to the barn, and when we were finished, we called him with our announcement. 

“LUNCH IS READY!”

He came to the house but said, “I’m not very hungry.  It’s just a half an hour since breakfast.”  He then decided he might as well wash up, change his clothes, and go to the hospital to get Mom and our brand-new baby sister.  He wasn’t going to get much work done that day. 

We were so excited when Dad came home with Mom and Shirley.  We each got to hold her.  Marvelle and I thought She was the prettiest baby we ever saw.

Then Dad, Marvelle and I, went to work making Christmas dinner.  We did not pay much attention to what we got for Christmas.  We were too excited about the best Christmas present ever.  Our brand-new baby sster, Shirley.