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.
Sid Lundquist was born in Wadena, Saskatchewan in December 1926 where his dad worked on the railroad as a section foreman. When Sid's dad was transferred to Garrick, Saskatchewan he worked the line between Prince Albert and Nipawin. Sid received his education in Garrick taking his grade 1 to 8 in the school and then 9 to 11 by correspondence. Sid helped his dad work the farm that he bought when Sid was 17. He also worked at the skating/curling rink as an ice man and snared rabbits for one cent a piece for a man who raised mink. He also cut cordwood into blocks for 10 cents an hour. There were nine kids in the family and their dad raised pigs and cattle, just enough to get by. Their dad also worked three days a week for 30 cents an hour which gave them some spare money for additional things like clothing. When the war started Sid was too young to go. However, his life was greatly touched by the activities of war, in that his older brother, Arnold, was taken prisoner on August 14, 1944 when he had been shot in the arm and the leg. He was captured in Cohn, France and transferred to Roen where the enemy held their hospitalized. And from a little diary that Arnold kept, he went on to say that the prisoners were transferred again to a hospital in Amiens and then to Limberg, the XII A Camp. See 'Company' P.# Con't from P.# Then, on November 5, 1944 to Sagan VIIIC Camp. Then on March 20, 1945 they had to march 35 days with rations of seven loaves of bread, three tins of meat, one tin of cheese and 1/2 pound of butter to last seven men the entire march. Arnold wrote in his diary that they marched through towns such as Naumberg, Seftenburg, Rilsa, Eisench, Liepzig, Dresdon, Frankfurt, Mauscarce, Erfurt, Sagan, Bad Orb and Mooseburg. A total of 400 miles going 27 miles a day. Anyone who fell (because of starvation, injuries or weakness) was shot dead. Arnold spent his 21st birthday in a prisoner of war camp. He was released by the American 3rd Army on April 2, 1945 and flown by Douglas C47 to La Havre France and on to Oxford Airfield in England. Then he was sent to the first Canadian Reception Depot at Aldershot with a 14 day leave in Glasgow. He arrived home on June 2, 1945 and died June 22, 1945. In 1952 Sid hired on at HBMS and worked till he retired in August of 1987. Sid started on the bull gang in the leaching plant. He joked that he worked with George Danko who "would stand on top and the rest of the crew were down under cleaning, I thought he was the boss! Then I found out that Jim Harburn was our boss." Sid also worked for Ole Christianson and Jack Burling and then went on to the presses for a couple of months. Then, on to the ore filter for about a year before he was transferred to the casting plant. "I worked for Murdock McKay and ended up with Leo Hilman. I worked with Val Foster, Howard Eagle, Clarence Calder, Lorne Reynolds, Herb Thurston, Ken Fardoe, Jim Stevenson, Bert Hand, Fred Blancette, George and Willie Neufeld, Larry Boychuk, Hans Hvidsten, Robert Thompson, Pete Fedak, Jim Prall and Barry McKinnon. Some of these men I trained on the job. I was shift boss from 1977 till I retired in 1987." Being a single man when he first came to town, Sid often ate at the Company cafeteria. Soon it became apparent that it wasn't only the food that attracted Sid to the cafeteria. Lois Fagrie (who was born in Flin Flon in 1933 to Art and Kay Fagrie) worked there! They met in 1952 and were married on December 21, 1953 Ð soon to be 50 years. They had two sons, Sidney Arnold (who later married Donna Kendall ) and Randy. Often in the summer with Sid having Sunday and Monday off, the family would go to Granite Lake and camp and fish. Sid and Lois lived for a very short time in Flin Flon and then moved to Creighton in 1954. Sid's first car was a '49 Chev that he bought in 1952. Sid started curling in Flin Flon at the Uptown curling rink in 1952, then when he moved to Creighton he curled in the old curling rink (and curled at Ross Lake for one year while the new curling rink in Creighton was being built). He continued to curl in Creighton till the curling club shut down and now he curls in the Hot Stove League at Willowpark. See 'Time' P.# Con't from P.# Sid started playing golf at the age of 60 and he and his foursome of Eric Kenke, Herb Thurston and Jim Stevenson have been together for the past eight years and can be seen coming off the course after a round, "before the dew is off the grass". At one time Sid played a mean game of horseshoes. However, rumour has it that he couldn't keep up to Cliff Lofgren, but he was a close second. They teamed up to win the Provincial Championship four years in a row. Also May and Cliff Lofgren were a couple to be reckoned with on the horseshoe courts. May and Cliff would take on Terry (their son) and Sid and beat them 9 out of 10 times! Sid said that "in his day Cliff would get 50 per cent of his shots as ringers!" After Sid retired, he and Lois used to go to Mesa, Arizona for the winters, for about 10 years and lived in their trailer. However, due to poor health (Sid had a heart attack), they sold their trailer in 1995. Sid and Lois spend a lot of time in their garden. Lois grows beautiful flowers. Also, last summer, they planted 18 tomato plants which produced two wheelbarrows full. They have no plans of leaving here. They sometimes make a short trip to Prince Albert to "play the machines!' When asked if there was anything he would like to see to improve their life in Creighton, Sid said: "There should be more for seniors in this area. For example, When Lois's mother (who had lived in Saskatchewan for 89 years), had to go in a home, she had to go to Manitoba. After you live in Manitoba for three months, you have to become a Manitoba resident. That isn't fair!" Thanks for sharing a part of your life with us. It was very interesting!
