Picture this

    Hidden in our house basement are a number of projects. The most prominent one is boxes and boxes of photos and memorabilia. The family photos date back to around 1900 and as the decades have gone by, the production of photos has elevated. 
    The earliest photo is one of my paternal grandparents on their wedding day. My parents kept a lot of photos as well but due to the busy-ness of life kept them from compiling them in an orderly fashion. When my Dad and Mum died in 1986 and ’87, it fell to me to organize the photos. It went pretty well but it was emotionally gruelling. As many people find out after the passing of their parents, questions wave over you. Like, why didn’t I ask them about this event or that photo. Fortunately, I have a pretty good memory, had fairly talkative parents and so I was able to piece together the narrative. Grandparents were born and raised in Scotland and northern England, immigrated in 1911 and 1913. They lived in Montreal, then Christieville. After the loss of the farm and a child they moved to Emo, Ontario and then to Winnipeg. After grandfather’s  early demise to cancer, grandma gathered her four adult boys together and somehow they made a living. They all worked. In fact the second oldest boy went to work as a watchmaker’s apprentice when he was only 10, back in the Quebec days. My mother and father met through the local church group. 
    My maternal grandparents had come from Edinburgh, worked various places, lived on a farm at Wapella, Saskatchewan and then, also after losing a child, moved to Winnipeg. They lived in the Somerset block where Grandpa was the caretaker. I have a precious piece of paper in my possession with the names of business men signing and attesting a reference for Grandpa. I never met with either grandfather as they passed away 16 and 20 years before I was born.
    I have long roots in south-western Manitoba. In 1933, my parents established a small hard scrabble farm near Muir, Manitoba. Where’s Muir you may ask?  It’s south and east of Gladstone and nearby school districts include Silver Stream and Golden Stream. Quite frankly, they had a very tough time there and when WWII broke out, my dad left mum and my two brothers on the farm and “joined up” with the Royal Winnipeg Rifles army unit. My wife Christine was born and raised at Scarth, Manitoba, about eight miles south of Virden.
    The Waddell family moved into the St. James area of Winnipeg. After the war, dad, mum and my two brothers moved to Holland, Manitoba and on slightly better farm, they lived there for 40 years. So that brings us to 1987 when this somewhat saddened man gathered up the boxes of pictures and dived in. It was emotionally draining. That is perhaps the reason that the small mountain pictures hasn’t gotten all the attention they should have received.
    But the time has come for a completion of sorting pictures, discarding the poorly focussed ones and labelling the rest.
    I know it’s somewhat foolish, but I want our kids, our four grandkids and four great grandchildren to know at least some of the family history as to where we came from and where we have been .
    In our life together, Christine and I and our family has been through some interesting times. There are pictures of babies, young boys, 4-H calves and community parades. There have been many building projects. We have now been in our current house for 16 years but in the 56 years of marriage we have lived in 12 different homes. Christine says that every building we have lived in was left in better shape than when we arrived. She also says a good wife can put up with unpainted Gyproc for three years and yes, she has proven that a few times. Our ancestors did whatever was needed to survive as have many other families. Even in our lifetimes, we have had many careers including university newspaper publisher as early as 1968, university politician and research assistant. Then came being an Ag-Rep, a farmer, an auctioneer,  farm advisor, community newspaper publisher and a would-be politician. Now being a publisher for 36 years would hopefully dispel doubts from my earlier career where critics might have been tempted to say this guy can’t hold a job.
    Wish me luck with the latest task at hand.