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.
In 1946 Francis Abrahamson was going to Normal School in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan to become a teacher when she met George Wall. They later married in Norquay, Saskatchewan in 1949. Francis taught school at Whitewood, Saskatchewan in a one room school house. She had 12 students who were taking grades 4 through 8. She also had grade 10 students who were taking classes by correspondence and who came to the school to study and get help from Francis. In those days Francis was paid $100 a month with half of it going for board. Francis said that the school's Christmas concert was a big event and everyone came to see it. The school was a mile and a half walk for most of the kids and the clothing wasn't warm like it is today. There were two barrels welded together that were used to keep the school warm, by burning wood in them. There were cracks in the floor and the heat must have enticed a family of skunks to winter under the floor boards. The odour wasn't the nicest thing to have to put up with, and the kids and their teacher would often have to leave their coats outside to 'air' when they got home from school! At another time, Francis had 32 kids all learning different grades. But she added: "Parents were very co-operative and discipline was not a problem. Mainly because there was such good interaction with the families and the teacher, we were like a big family!" See 'Mining' P.# Con't from P.# In 1956 George was looking for work and heard there may be jobs at Flin Flon. Francis said: "I was scared to come to Flin Flon, being a mining town and all the stories we had heard about mining towns! At that time we had three children Ð Bernie, Velma and Dorothy. George first worked at Kerr Motors as an auto body repairman. The business at that time was owned by Jeff Hughes and there was a Shorty Taylor, Mr. McAdoo and a Mrs. Beskorwayny who also worked there. George worked at many garages throughout the years and the spray painting and sanding didn't seem to bother him. He continued with that type of work until he retired from it, and took a job working for the City of Flin Flon at the Whitney Forum. Later Gloria, Gordon (who later died in a car accident at age of 23), Lois and Norinne were born. Francis was a stay at home Mom. In 1971, Francis realized that there was a great need for day care in Flin Flon, and she started one up at the Birchview Scout Hall. It later moved to the Kinsmen School and still later the day care went to the Green Room at the Community Hall and is still going today! In the early 70s, Francis and her husband George got involved in the Scout movement in Flin Flon. They would take trips out of town with the Cubs every year going to farms, or to Winnipeg to the zoo, and the Museum of Man and Nature. They would be billeted with the Cub groups in Winnipeg. Francis said it was a big deal in those days to get to eat at McDonald's! George and Francis spent five summers looking after Camp Whitney. During the times when there weren't many people out there, they would see bears, deer, moose, etc., wandering in the camp. On walks they would also see wolves on the railway tracks. The Scout movement was very active in those days. At one time they had 24 members and couldn't register any more at the Birchview Scout Hall. "Now," Francis says, "I have only seven and three of those are from Denare Beach." At one time there were three troupes in Birchview, one in Willowvale, one in Ross Lake, one in Uptown and one in Creighton. There were about 150 kids involved. Now there are about 20 in both Willowvale and Birchview! At one time Cub camp had to be done in two sessions of two weeks each at Camp Whitney to get all the kids in. "Birchview has had an active pack since the Scout Hall was built in the 40s," Francis says, "and our sponsor throughout all those years has been the Royal Canadian Legion #73." As life will have it, six months before their 50th wedding anniversary, George passed away in 1999. Francis keeps herself busy. Outside of her 11 grandchildren, she does many quilts as seen in the picture with one of her "family hand quilts". She loves to garden and has her fish tank in the winter and fish pond in the summer. Of course, the Wall family is well renowned for their ice sculptures every winter in the front yard. Francis smiles: "The ice sculptures just appear thanks to her kids and grandkids. They have been doing that for at least ten years." They haul the ice from the lake in front of their cabin. Francis smiling says: "I always enjoyed working with kids. In my opinion kids are the most important thing there is. What we do for the kids ensures our future! Hopefully the kids will take up where I have left off." Thanks so much for sharing your story with us Francis. We really do appreciate it!
