Uncle Ernest Remembers the Good Family - Part 1
Dear Renae:
When you ask me if I remember things about the Good family you must remember that I am old enough to be losing my memory, but I do remember most of them quite well.
When I attended high school in Fillmore I lived with Grandpa and Grandma the first year and was a real experience. You have to remember that this was right after the great depression so they were living on a meager pension. Grandpa smoked a pipe so he limited himself to a half pound of the worst smelling tobacco each month. Each morning the routine was that Grandpa would take the ashes out to the back yard and then when he came back Grandma would be ready to hand him the commode pail {there was no sewer or water} and he take it out to the outhouse. Well one morning while he was out with the ashes the telephone repairman came to the door and Grandma, not seeing to well, handed the pail to him. They were a great couple and I regretted not being able to stay with them in my last year but Grandpa took sick and passed away and Grandma moved to farm to live with Uncle Ira and Aunt Mable.
Uncle Ira was a very quiet man but Aunt Mable made up for him. We usual spent Chriistmas with them also Uncle Cliff and Aunt Mildred. Now when those two women got together with my mother Gretta nobody else had much chance. Uncle Ira was my barber for all my boyhood years and he was very good at it. I visited them on other occasions as they had two boys, Ed and George, who were a bit older. Ed is now deceased and George lives in Ontario.
Uncle Cliff was an easy going guy that took a lot to excite. His marriage to Aunt Mildred was a memorable occasion in more ways than one. To start off the car I was in going to Regina [where they were married] rolled south of the city. Nobody was seriously hurt but with a bunch of bumps and bruises we were not really an asset to the wedding. To top the day off when they were leaving on their honeymoon that evening they took their suitcase out and set it beside the car and went in to get another bag. Being that it was Halloween night somebody ran off with the suitcase.
I only met aunt Ethel once so I don’t really remember much about her. She was very kind to our family during the great depression as she always sent us a big Christmas parcel including nuts, candy and dulce. In case you don’t know what dulce is it is a sea weed, purple in color and rich in iodine. Mother of course had been brought up on it so we soon learned to eat it too.
Aunt Gertrude Rainey reminded me of my mother Gretta. I vaguely remember her visiting us in Sask. I was in Ontario one year to pick up a new truck at Oshawa so I stayed with Aunt Gert in Cannington for a few days.
All I remember about Elbridge is that he was killed by bull in Manitoba, and nothing about Helen.
- Uncle Ernest
See also Part 2 of this remembrance