The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Don Gummerson began his life's journey in Flin Flon, Manitoba in 1929 at the ripe old age of six months. He arrived from The Pas with his mother Bertha. His dad Frank was working at HBMS in the power house. Don remembers growing up in the family home on Lake Street. He recalls that there were no sidewalks, just planks over the mud and holes in the roads. He started school in 1934 at Main School (where the extension to the hospital is now). Don remembers at recess watching the Nuns from the hospital build a big fire and they would have a huge pot to make lye soap. (See picture of his grade one class.) Don recalls going to school with Erna Green, sonny McKenzie, Ish Holmes, Ingrid Lasten and Edwin Feldman. Don remembers that in about 1933, "there were two box cars filled with dynamite and everyone was warned to stay indoors or even get out the downtown area because of the blast the Company planned to set off. I was standing on the steps at our home on Lake Street with my mom and little sister when the blast went off and there was a five foot boulder that went sailing passed our heads and landed in our backyard. One boulder went right through the roof of the Corona Hotel. That was how the open pit came about!" See 'Frozen' P.# Con't from P.# In 1934, it was the year of the strike and Don remembers his dad walking him to school. "People got pretty ugly," he recalls, "especially the women, they would carry sticks with nails on the end of them and poke the guys in the back! There was blood all over them while they picketed!" Don also stated, "At the end of Main Street was the railway tracks and two box cars were placed right at the end of Main Street with the only way of getting by them was to go through the open box car door. There were two men on the top with machine guns, one of the men was Goldy Goldstrom. The Company also brought in about 30 riot police, cause things were pretty bad!" When asked how he got the name 'Curly' he replied, "Well, I used to have to look after my little sister and she could be quite a handful. One day we were playing in the backyard and she just disappeared! I called and called her, she didn't answer. I went down the street looking for her, by this time getting quite frantic cause I knew I was in for it, if I didn't find her. I was actually crying and some man came up to me and said, 'What's wrong curly?' and the name just stuck! And I found my sister hiding in the potato patch!" Curly went to Main School till half way through grade 7, when the class was moved to Hapnot School which was then located on Terrace Street. He recalls going to school with Morley McKenzie, Jack Betteridge and Jack Clee. Curly also remembers the water delivery to his house and how the water man "would spill water along the street outside our home." Curly laughs, "a bunch of us guys would play 'shinny' on the street using frozen horse dung as pucks. (There were very few cars in those days, everything was transported by horse and wagon). There was Elmer Luck, Walt Cunningham, and a bunch of guys. There was a guy named Nystorenko, but we wouldn't let him play because we told him he wasn't good enough. He later went on to play for the Chicago Black Hawks!" Curly played hockey till he got to Midget and then he lost interest in playing. He started curling in school in grade 7 and remembers his first skip was Dorothy Young. He curled for several years through high school and the only guy who could beat him was Ted Sparling! Curly relates how he was on the first high school team to go out of town to curl in about 1942. The team consisted of Johnny Akert, Curly, Morley McKenzie and John Floch. The team was undefeated till the final game, when they lost out to represent Manitoba. Curly remembers that this was his first trip out of town and how he told his dad, "People are sure stupid in the city, leaving money on the table in the restaurants. I just picked it up!" His dad Frank told him, "You damn fool that was a tip." Curly remembers his dad fishing in Flin Flon Lake and said that the pickerel fishing was really good. "One day my dad was fishing and this guy came along and asked if the fishing was good. Dad told the man to be quiet that he was scaring the fish. The man turned out to be R.H. Channing!" Curly also remembers trapping muskrats at Ross Lake. He remembers as a kid going to Beaver Lake in an old Model A Ford and taking an ax and saw to build a cordwood bridge to get across some of the creeks as they went. Curly laughs, "I remember sitting in the rumble seat and by the time we did the 365 or so curves and arrived at Beaver Lake the only thing shiny when you got there were your teeth!" He said that Buddy Simpson would help the kids sneak into the rink and he remembers watching Walt Cunningham, Jimmy Skinner, Sid Brown, Fred Bowman and Elmer Lock (who later played for the Montreal Canadians). Curly had a hockey stick from the Allen Cup with all the players signatures on it. "It was my prize possession till someone stole it!" he retorts. Curly remembers at the age of 16 in 1943, he was working on the section gang, shoring up the railway bridge just about 20 miles outside of Cranberry Portage when there was a head on collision with a passenger train and a freight train. There were eight people killed. It was not a pleasant memory. When Curly finished school he worked for HBMS from 1947-49, when he quit and went to work for the Royal Bank. Curly said, "But the hours were long, 12 to 14 a day, the pay was poor and there was no chance of a transfer, so I went back to the Company." He started in the boiler shop in 1951 and worked as a boilermaker for 10 years, working with Garth Hunter, Nick Iannone, Phil Dion, Jim Hewitt and Don Grudgefield, and then he transferred to the Main Office, working with Clarence Merrill who was the boss, Kjell Hvidsten and Del Byers. He worked there for 27 years till he retired in 1986. Back in 1951, Curly had gone on a "blind date" with a young lady named Joyce Murray who was the personal secretary of Larry Johnson. Joyce was originally from Portage la Prairie. See 'Flin' P.# Con't from P.# The date turned out to be the beginning of a lifetime for the couple as they were married on May 20, 1955. They raised five children together Ð Susan, Cathy, Bob, Don and Penny. Curly remembers that in the early years of their marriage, "times were tough and for entertainment, we'd sit in the car on Main Street and watch the fights!" When Curly retired in 1986, he and Joyce moved to Winnipeg for awhile, "Which turned out to be a life saving move, because I suffered from angina, and since I was in Winnipeg when I had some trouble I was able to get treatment right away. In 1992 we moved to Vancouver Island to Qualicum Beach where unfortunately Joyce got sick and passed away in 1995. So, I got lonesome and decided to come home. Flin Flon is home and where I will stay." Curly has six grandchildren and one great grandchild. He is a lifetime member of the BPO Elks. "I remember working part time at the Elks Hall on Church Street with Fred Cutt. We just got it fixed up when it burned down!" Curly proudly tells of his daughter Penny who wrote and directed the show "Moccasin Flats". Thanks so much for the stories Curly! It was a great interview, thanks for sharing!
