OUR PARENTS PLANS HAVE WORKED OUT

   When anyone feels puzzled about any situation, the helping prayer has been successful for many people.  That is the way our parents felt after losing their four year old son Harold to Scarlet Fever in the mid thirties.  At that time vaccinations were not available.  As World War 11 loomed on the horizon, their older children had already left home and their third son would spend five years stationed in England treating the wounded at home base.  To get our high school education my sister and I found homes to stay at through the Church of the Open Door in Medicine Hat.  My main job was to take care of their two year old daughter when they were away from home.  Each day after lunch there was cleaning the kitchen floor (hands and knees) and there was still time to run up the hill for high school by 1:00 PM.  John Harold, the replacement for Harold John arrived in 1939.  The granddaughter of Harold’s replacement is now studying to become a medical doctor.  A lady with savings has established a legal trust fund for her.  With this trust fund she doesn’t have to worry about the details, knowing that her hard-earned life’s work is safely invested and as reliable as our country itself.  I consulted two such investment companies a few years ago but to this date have not heard any further details from them.

   Since my great grandchildren have asked their Dad to tell them everything about my oldest brother, their Great-Uncle Paul, his notebook should be mentioned.  Paul kept a little notebook book with him at all times to record new ideas about farm equipment and how homes could be insulated – often old newspapers were stuffed between 2-by-fours.  As a teenager his inventive mind came up with ideas that helped immigrant families get settled in the minus 40 degree winters.  The barb-wire telephone line was one of his summer projects for our district.  His daily work included travel throughout Alberta keeping furnaces working efficiently and safely. In the evenings he filled his little book with ideas and how the invention of radio could help forecast the weather to cover gardens in case of frost.  During the evenings he updated his little book with ideas and poems of inspiration.  I am sure one of their four children has saved his little book after his wife Marie passed on.  Marie has told us that when Paul was courting her, their mother would look out a window and say, “Come Marie, here comes ‘Abraham Lincoln’ to visit you.”  Both families kept Paul in high esteem.   One day Paul could not be found on this half section of flat land.  The entire family searched.  He was finally found hiding in our deep dry well to avoid taking part in shooting the animal that had to be slaughtered for our winter’s food supply.