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.
George Schuman was born in Tribune, Saskatchewan in 1919. His parents had come up from the States in 1912. George was part of a family of 10 children. Later on, he owned a farm at Greenwater, Saskatchewan when he joined up to serve his country in World War ll. George went overseas in 1941 with the Regina Rifles and later ended up with the Canadian Scotties. He went into France on June 6, 1944, at Juno Beach where he was wounded at Failiese Gap. On his 25th birthday he was operated on in a hospital at Bayou, France and later taken by ambulance to the English Channel where he went across on a hospital ship to the 13th Canadian Hospital near Haywards Heath in Southern England. After recovering from his wounds he drove transport in England till he was discharged and came back to Canada on the Ile de France. During the war, George met and married Joan Caseley. Once the war was over, he was looking for work and wanted to sell the farm. On the urging of his friend R.K. Holdaway he came to Flin Flon in October of 1946. George was hired on by HBMS to work in the Zinc plant in 1946 where he worked with Wilbur Keating, Walter Kittle, Russ Smith, Harry Rowe, Ben Snyder, Bill Stickney and R.K. Holdaway. See 'Lobstick' P.# Con't from P.# When George and Joan first came to Flin Flon they couldn't find a suite and ended up living with R.K. and his wife Nell Holdaway for a time till the Schumans bought a house in South Hudson from Ray Currie in 1946. The house was on Phelps near George Shephard, the Hogaboams, George Hill and the McCauleys, ? not far from Ma Crerar's home. In 1948 George's brother Albert and his wife Rachael come to Flin Flon and stayed with George and Joan for awhile. George remembers that during that time, about 1950-51, Dennis Morgan came to Flin Flon. He was a popular entertainer at that time and was the guest at Jean and Ron Price's for dinner one night. George remembers seeing Dennis standing on a sewer box getting a bird's eye view of Flin Flon. He recalls Buck Whitney managing the radio station CFAR around that time as well. The Whitneys and the Schumans, as well as many other couples, used to go to the Lobstick for supper and dancing (the bottle was under the table cause there were no liquor licenses in those days). Wes Vickery's band used to play for the dances. Later, George sold that house on Phelps to his brother and he and Joan bought 61 Callinan. In 1953 they sold that home and bought 31 Anderson having such neighbors as Alvin Thompson, Leo Helman, Herb Kitchen, Pete Boyd, Clarence Ellingson, George Adams, Doug and Bernice Gourlay, Fred and Dot Livesay, Nip and Edra Johnson, Larry Ness, Joe Prendeville, Jack Delgatty, Charlie and Freda Devine, Del Johnson and Gordon Dash. In 1965 Joan and George's marriage ended. They had one daughter, Carol, who was born in Flin Flon in 1947 with Dr. Wilson the attending doctor. (Carol is now retired from "The Bay" and living in B.C.) George retired from HBMS in 1979 after 33 years in the Zinc and Rubber plants. He went on to work for the City for about five years as commissionaire. Lilian Guymer was born to Violet and Daniel Guymer in The Pas in 1916. Lil's dad passed away when she was only two years old. Lil received her education in The Pas including taking her nursing at St. Anthony's Hospital and graduating in 1939. Other nurses who graduated in Lil's class were Laura Imrie (Williamson), Rita Premachuk (Rheaume), Addy Plummer (Vigdahl) and Freda Pearson (Maxwell). Lil recalls her mom raising the five children ? three boys and two girls. Lil proudly displays a newspaper article about her mom which states that Violet Guymer was the first woman in Manitoba to graduate in the science of embalming. Lil married Joseph Allard after graduating from nursing. They had a son, Vernon. (In 1970 as a member of the RCMP, Vernon was selected to escort Queen Elizabeth on her tour to Churchill and Northern Manitoba, Lil proudly relates). Joseph died in 1943 and Lil was offered a nursing position at the Flin Flon General Hospital. The hospital was operated by the Grey Nuns. Lil relates how at that time 3rd Avenue ran from Main Street to where the Whitney Forum is now. The St. Ann's Roman Catholic Church was next door to the old hospital about where the PCH is now and the priests' manse was across the street from St. Ann's Church. That street is no longer there! In the 1940s and 50s Lil recalls working with such doctors (in no specific order) as: Johnson, Stephansson, McNicol, Redpath, Premachuk, Milanese, Snider ? and having ear, nose and throat specialists such as Elvin and Watson coming into town quite frequently as well ? and then later Donaldson and Bailey. Lil worked in the operating room that was ran by St. Vincent and included such nurses as Dorothy Biggs and Alice West as well as Lil. Other general nurses that Lil worked with were: Alice Tester, Freda Pearson, Anne Gauthier, Laura Imrie, Addie Plummer, Rita Premachuk and Margaret Playford (Wilson). Lil married Harry Murray in 1946 (Harry worked for Midwest under Rod McIsaac), and they had two children, Sheldon born in 1948 (who is now working for Air Canada in Vancouver), and Lora Lynn who was born in 1958 (is now working as a surgical nurse at Rocky View in Calgary). During that time tragedy struck the family when a landslide at Prince Rupert in 1956 took Lil's brother-in-law and sister-in-law as well as their five month-old son, leaving their 17 month-old niece who survived as an orphan. Lil and Harry adopted the girl, Selma Murray (who is now Selma Bielby and working as a teacher's aide in a Winnipeg school). Lil also curled and she did well. Her team of Neva Lochart, Kay Smith and Phylis Lochart won not only the HBMS trophy but also the Grand Aggregate in 1959. Lil and her family moved to Kamloops in 1962 and she continued to curl, coming back for the Flin Flon Ladies Bonspiel in 1966 with her team that they called the "Golden Stetsons" ? made up of ex-Flin Flonners Lorraine McIntosh (Bulow), Velda Sullivan (Chisolm) and Gwen Busch (Jackson). They won the Midwest Trophy that year. Lil's marriage to Harry ended in 1968 and she moved back to Flin Flon where she was rehired at the Flin Flon General Hospital and became in charge of the operating room after the Grey Nuns had left. Lil re-met George Schuman (she met him originally in 1947 as a patient in the hospital) and they were married in 1972. Lill continued to work at the hospital till she retired in 1982. Lil also continued to curl, curling with such people as Elva Busby, Anne Henry, Gladys Thompson, Edie Chlan, Uldena Saul, Donni Jobin, Helen Dempsey, Jessie Hills, Ruth McConnell, Helen Pelletier, Gertie Thompson, Toots Murton, Wilma Gallagher and Marg Stevens ? just to name a few. Once retired, the couple have traveled all over the world including several winters to Florida, four weeks in Europe touring England, Scotland, Ireland, Holland, Germany, Vienna, Paris and Rome. They had "Irish Mead" in an Irish Castle and Lil kissed the "Blarney Stone". They have also been to Churchill, Texas and Mexico. Lil is active in her church and is a member of the UCW#2, Life Member of the Hospital Auxiliary as well as past president, member of the Legion Auxiliary as well as past Noble Grand of the North Star Rebekahs Lodge. George is active in the Legion and the IOOB. They have no plans of leaving here. They have many friends and acquaintances and are very happy here. They have 10 grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. Thanks so much for the memories! A very interesting story!
