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Vasti Persson was born to Erik and Agnes Persson on May 20, 1933 at the Flin Flon Hospital. The attending doctor was Dr. Guttormson. "When I was born Dad decided that he needed a dog and he sent for a purebred German Shepherd. The puppy came on the train from Winnipeg and he arrived in a shoe box. He was so tiny and dehydrated that Dad brought him home in his shirt pocket. We called him Fido!" said Vasti. Vasti's brother Reno was born at the same hospital in 1937. The family first lived on Bay Street in Ross Lake and then Erik built a home at 44 Boam Street. Their neighbours were the Rosens who owned a grocery store, the Hoglanders, and the McKenzies: Spud, Ron and Shirley. The first school that Vasti attended was Ross Lake. "I remember the circular fire escape," states Vasti. "Luckily we never had to use it!" In 1939 Erik and Agnes bought 502 Young Street where they added on and that was the family home until they passed away. Erik worked at HBMS in the tank house for 42 years. Vasti remembers meeting the Hanson clan when she was about eight years old. There were nine children in that family (Elmer, Lionel, Ken, Leo, Vicki, Marlene, Audrey, Carol and Velma) and she laughs, "The first time we met we had a great big fight and then after that we got along just fine!" See 'We' P.# Con't from P.# Vasti went to Ruth Betts School for a couple of years, then back to Ross Lake School and later to Hapnot for grades 7 and 8. Other kids that Vasti remembers were Verna Potter, Merle Chamberlin, Sidney and Gordon Grant, the Martins, Martinsons and Darrell Jacobson. Vasti laughs, "Verna and I were artists, designing cut out dolls and clothes for them. A couple of volunteer art teachers, Pat and Lena O'Neal, asked us to help paint the background for the Pirates of Penzance." Vasti vividly recalls the figure skating carnivals and going to shows on Saturdays. "As kids we would build tunnels and snow forts with the 'gang' from South Hudson. We'd slide down an old road that took you right to Ross Lake Cemetery from the end of Phelps. I remember that our friend Don Martin broke his leg on that slide. "When Hapnot Lake froze, the South Hudson 'gang' would skate all over the lake, we had a ball!" "We played baseball and swam in Spirit Lake just opposite the ice house, instead of going to Phantom Lake. But we'd also go to Phantom Lake and we'd make a day of it taking a picnic lunch and go early in the morning and stay until late in the evening. "One summer my friend Verna and I found a raft on Hapnot Lake and we decided to go across the lake. We didn't quite make it! The bottom of Hapnot Lake was very muddy! "On weekends, Reno and I would go to the family cabin at Beaver Lake. Dad had a big boat and we'd go all over the lake and sleep in the boat. Every weekend during the summer, Dad hauled log booms from the other side of Missi Island for Orson Wright. Dad would bring them to the sawmill just past Moody's Beach, sometimes the small bays near Rocky View would be jammed with logs." Vasti goes on to say, "I also remember people swimming in Ross Lake and Andy Scarvold had the first sailboat on Ross Lake and it is on the bottom of Ross Lake as we speak!" "As kids," Vasti went on to say, "we played Canasta for hours. There was me, Merle and Verna. We curled in high school. My cousin Dagmar Persson (later to become Stevens) had a cabin at Douglas Lake and I would spend a lot of time with her there, during the summers. "During high school years at Hapnot we would have field days in which everyone participated in running, high jump and other races. "During those years every school and every grade had a school choir and we would all participate in the music festival that was held every spring. The festival was held in the Rex Theatre." Vasti recalls taking Hawaiian guitar lessons from Garnet Eidt. "As kids we were always busy, if there was nothing to do, we'd invent something!" Vasti relates a story of when her brother Reno and Vasti had saved up a bunch of pennies and went into Freedman's Fall Inn to buy a box of chocolates for "our adopted grandmother". Vasti said, "We asked Mr. Freedman how much was a box of chocolates, to which he replied, 'Let me see how much you have got.' We put our pennies on the counter and he said, 'Well, you've got exactly the right amount,' and gave us the chocolates! I realized much later that we had no where near the right amount but that was the kind of guy Jack Freedman was!" Vasti went on to say, "There was a lady in South Hudson by the name of Mary Johnson who formed a 'girls' club' to keep us off the streets. She taught us to crochet, sew and bake." Later this lady bought the house on South Hudson right beside the park. She set up a small shed where she sold ice cream, drinks and chocolate bars. "That is where I got my first job," smiled Vasti . As the business grew, Mary moved the business into her living room where she had a small coffee shop. The business became known as Aunt Mary's. Kids would stop there on their way back from Phantom Lake, if they had any money left, to get a treat! After Vasti graduated from Hapnot, she went into nurse's training at the Victoria Hospital, but unfortunately, she took sick and had to quit. Vasti worked at the Flin Flon General Hospital for a short while and then went to The Pas to take an x-ray and laboratory technician course. Her roommate was Gladys Kolababa (later to become Lysohirka) who was taking her nursing. It was while Vasti was in The Pas that she met the man of her life, Doug Lamb, in 1954. Doug Lamb was born in The Pas in 1935 to Tom and Margaret Jean Lamb. Doug's sister Sheila was the first baby girl to come to Flin Flon in 1926, where the family had resided for some time. Other members of the family were Greg, Donald and Dennis (twins), Jack, Doug, Conrad as well as sisters Phyllis (Skippy) and Carol. In 1935 Tom Lamb developed Lamb Airways in The Pas. In 1956 Doug Lamb began construction of what would become Vasti and Doug's first home. The couple were married in Flin Flon in the old Lutheran Church on Hill Street by Rev. Sevold and spent their wedding night in their new home in The Pas on Halcrow. Doug was a bush pilot and he flew all over the country. Vasti worked at The Pas Hospital until the birth of their first daughter, Kerry, in 1958. Vasti then became a stay-at-home mom and in 1960 Rena was born in The Pas. See 'Touring' P.# Con't from P.# In 1965 Doug got a job at HBMS working with HBAT (Hudson Bay Air Transport) and the family rented a suite from Walter and Kit Cole. In 1966 the family was complete with the birth of their third daughter, Crystal, in Flin Flon. Doug continued to fly exploration mainly for HBED (Hudson Bay Exploration Development) mainly in Manitoba. He also flew helicopters and Otters, hauling diamond drills, groceries, moving camps Ñ mainly drilling camps Ñ all over. Other pilots were Bob Burgess, Pat Donaghy and Bill Beveridge, and the engineering staff were Herman Olson, Art Wilson, Roy Willis, Slim Lindsey, Norm Akert and Norm Eryou. Bill Beveridge and Doug flew mostly copters and Otters. In 1967 Doug quit HBMS and he and his brothers bought out their dad and they ran Lamb Airways. Their motto was "Don't ask us where we fly ... Tell us where you want to go!" One of his many memorable trips was the one taking the well known author Farley Mowatt and his wife, Clara, on a tour of Northern Canada and the High Arctic. Travelling with them were Peter Murdock and Roy Boyes. The trip took five weeks. Once they got to Churchill, Farley's wife, Clara, left the group and went back to Toronto. From Churchill they travelled to Eskimo Point, Whale Cove, Rankin Inlet, Chesterfield, Coral Harbour, Cape Dorset, Inijivik, Povungnituk, Payne Bay, Fort Chimo, Port Burwell, Resolution Island, Frobisher Bay, Clyde, Tangiwirtung, Pont Inlet, Tuktoyaktuk, Pelly Bay, Bathhurst Inlet, Coppermine Reindeer Depot, Inuvik, Dawson, Whitehorse, Watson Lake, Fort Lizard, Hay River, Uranium City to The Pas. Doug was the pilot/ cook and they stayed in hostels or camped near the plane and Doug would cook all along the way. As a result of the trip the book "High Latitudes" written by Farley Mowatt was conceived. Vasti went on a week trip with Doug, on an Otter delivering fuel where there was an exploration going on for oil on the Severin River on James Bay. Vasti cooked on board the plane and the couple slept on the plane. Other exploits the couple have taken on were: in 1974-83 they lived in Sydney, B.C. where Doug was flying water bombers in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta until his friend crashed his plane and died in Snow Lake water bombing and Doug made the decision that he had had enough! In 1980 Doug gave up his aviation career with never having a crash and only three helicopter 'incidents'. Then in 1981 Doug took up truck driving and had a crash on the Hope/Princeton Highway. Then from 1984 to '86 the couple had the opportunity to run the Baker Lake Hotel. They worked for the Nunasi Corporation with Doug being the hotel manager of the Igloo Hotel and Vasti becoming the "Fast Food Manager and Jello Queen"! In 1986 the couple bought their present home on Broderick in Creighton, Doug retired and Vasti worked for home care for another ten years, until she retired. They have eight grandchildren and have no plans of leaving here. They still have family in Flin Flon (Reno lives in the old family home); The Pas; Gimli; Winnipeg; Portland, Oregon and B.C. whom they visit from time to time. Thanks so much for sharing such an interesting life! This will make a great read!
