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.
Vic Pettersen came to Flin Flon in 1941 from Bracken, Saskatchewan as a single man. He had started work threshing at 14 years of age, but then later he came to Fin Flon to find work. Vic worked for John Tikannen at the Flin Flon Dairies in the pasteurizing and bottling part of the business. The dairy at that time was located where Hapnot and Parkdale schools now are. Vic worked at the dairy for about six months when he got a job at HBMS working in the leaching plant. He was only there a short time when the "recruiters" from the Canadian Armed Forces came looking for men to fight in the war and Vic joined up. Vic said, "Already the women from the town were coming into the plant to be trained to fill in for the men while they were away." Vic served for three and one half years overseas. When the war was over, Vic didn't come back to Flin Flon right away. He went to a place call Carrigana, Saskatchewan where he took a job with Imperial Oil and he also went into the trucking business hauling gravel, and he kept his hand in the farming business as well. Well, as it turned out, Vic was visiting at Porcupine Plains and decided to go to a dance in an old school house (still standing) about half way between Carrigana and Porcupine Plains and he was stricken with Cupid's arrow. He met and later married Ann Krysowaty. See 'Worked' P.# Con't from P.# They were married in 1946. They both said, "Times were tough, we worked hard." Vic worked in a logging camp for a while at Weeks, Saskatchewan, trying to make ends meet. While living in Carrigana, Vic built a 14 foot boat in his living room! "But dealing with the dust storms, grasshoppers, army worms and the drought, it was just awful so we packed up what little we had and headed to Flin Flon," said Vic. In 1952, Vic got a job in the smelter at HBMS, a place where he worked for 32 years till he retired in 1984. When Ann and Vic arrived they lived for a month in a suite owned by Archie Payne on Norma Avenue. Vic worked hard and built a home on Dominion Boulevard soon after they arrived and it was there that the couple raised Clarence (who became a teacher, married Judy Hanson and they have three children) and Loretta (who married Richard Budlong and they have two children and they all live in Anaheim, California). When the Pettersens first moved onto Dominion Boulevard there were only two other families there. They were Don and Gwen Brooks and Effie and Mike Todoschuk. For a long time, previous to the lots on Dominion being zoned, there was a Chinese man who had a huge garden in the area. The first homes built on Dominion Boulevard where built in the early 50s. Ann was a house wife and a stay-at-home mom, but she certainly was "no slouch" either. At one time she had 11 borders staying with them. And believe it or not, Vic built the frame for his 21-foot houseboat right smack in the middle of the living room of their house on Dominion Boulevard. How many wives would put up with that? When Vic started at the Company in the Leaching Plant, he recalls working with Harry Gray, Ole Christianson, (he was the shift boss and also the original owner of Christie's Flowers) and a man named Meikle (can't remember his first name). When Vic came back in 1952 to the Smelter, he recalls working with Bert Wielenga as his shift boss, Tom Dempsey, Ron Henry and Harry Kenke, just to name a few. In 1972 once the kids were grown, Ann took a job at the Modern Dairies working for Mr. Reitlo as a bookkeeper. During those years, the couple loved to dance and visit among their friends and neighbors. They would often go to shows as well. Vic took up flying "because the roads were so bad outta here!" He bought a plane (actually had four in his lifetime) and he and Ann would fly to Carrigana, Bracken, Calgary and all over the prairie provinces. Vic seemed to be a very busy man and loved working with his hands because in 1973, he built another home for himself and his wife. With the help of Don Bray and a lot of his friends he built their present home on Queen Street. See 'Home' P.# Con't from P.# Vic loved to play accordion as well. He would get together with a bunch of guys such as Gary Overland, Mike Todoschuk, Wayne Wallaker and Fred Didyk, and they would pick up the odd person who wanted to join them. They would play at the Legion Housing, the Northern Lights Manor or the Personal Care Home. Vic and Ann both belong to the Legion, and Ann belongs to the Red Cross as well as they have their church. Vic had a stroke about two years ago and has since become a resident of the Northern Lights Manor, but does get home quite frequently to have meals and putter around the house a bit. The couple have been married for 57 years and have no plans of ever leaving Flin Flon. Thanks so much for the memories!
