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.
Iris Clarkson was born in Roblin, Manitoba in 1933 and was raised in Mafeking, Manitoba. She came to Flin Flon in 1951 because she had relatives here (Vivian Pedersen, Barb and Milt Young were cousins) and she was also looking for work. Iris got a job at Milt's and stayed with the Pedersen family. She worked with Marion MacKague, Alice Marsollier, Mary Lazar and Marg Berkner. Iris stated, "The cook did the baking in the upstairs part of Milt's and sold it in the downstairs part. They also had a counter with stools and a few tables where they sold their famous cinnamon buns as well as lunches." Iris met George Rideout on a blind date set up by Don McLaren, who George worked with in the Smelter. George was born in Bishop Falls, Newfoundland in 1929. He was the eldest of nine. He said, "I remember when Newfoundland joined the rest of Canada in 1949 because we used to drive on the opposite side of the road as they did in England, and all of a sudden the next day after we had joined Confederation, we had to drive on the other side of the road. That took some getting used to!" George was working on the Air Base in Stephenville, Newfoundland when his chum had come home for a visit. Angus Lawlor was working for Midwest Diamond Drilling Ñ then owned by Rod McIsaac Ñ and asked George to come back with him just for a visit. See 'Married' P.# Con't from P.# George came up to Flin Flon for a visit in July 1952 and found out he could get a job for about 20 cents an hour more than he was making in Stephenville, so the rest, as they say, is history! George got a job as a carpenter building the addition onto Gunston's Photo Studio (where Sharon's Place Beauty Centre is now). George laughs, "I bought my tools, a hammer, a saw and a measuring tape from Sam Young's second hand shop!" A month later George was hired on at HBMS and worked in the fuming plant for about 15 years along with Jim Major, Tom Webb, Peter Dyck, Howard Fraser, Don McLaren, Don Kerslake, Don McKee, Vic Schanowski, Mike Gornick, John McLean, Ivan Erickson, George Peters, Larry Kennedy, Merv Harmon, Merle Whitbread, Dennis Christianson, Henry Peters, Vic Pettersen, Gordon McIntyre, Maurice Meachem, Walter Casper, Frank Gulash, Tom Dempsey, Ralph Hammell, Tommy Lyons, Gerry Nomeland, Mike Chrupalo, Len Jenner, shift boss Al Osby, Harold Lowther, Bert Wielenga, Barry Smith, Ed Pegg, Don Beaman, Gordon Krokosz, Earl Palmer, Jack Cox, Jack Miller, Oscar Grimmard, Lee Davis, Einor Laberg, Dave Lowe, Paul Warga, Bill Reid, Elmer Olsen, Orlie Johnson, Daryl Johnson, Elmer Graff, Jim Onaferichuk, Roy Balfour, Ted Massey, Cam and Reg Hillier. George and Iris were married in November of 1953 and made their first home at 49 Bellevue. Iris laughs, "Yeah, we had no running water and the honeyman made regular visits!" Later the couple moved to a suite on 6 Adams (with their landlords being Vic and Helen Schanowski). Then the couple bought a home at 12 Saskatchewan Street once owned by the Gotthardts who owned the P and G Bakery. During this time their first son Gary was born in 1954 and then Glen in 1955. The family then moved two doors down and bought 16 Saskatchewan where Guy was born in 1960 and daughter Sherry in 1963. Their neighbours in the area were Louis and Isobel Henke, Bill Cresswell, George McRae, Harold Fox, Johnny Zollen, Clayton and Myrtle Haggarty, Mel and Nora Hart, Hector and Toni LeBlanc, Joe and Mary Montgomery and the Ottoson family. George also worked on the High Dump Ñ more commonly known as the slag dump Ñ with John Balabas, Lloyd Halldorson, Henry (Dutchie) Van Der Belt, Richard Trubiak, Gary Hagley, Napoleon (Nappie) Schmidt, Glen Hogarth and Stan Klassen. In about 1966 George took a trip with Bob McLaughlin to Newfoundland looking for workers. That is when such families as the Chaissons, the McDonalds and more Rideouts arrived. At one time, out of the nine Rideouts, seven worked in Flin Flon. It was during that time that the Newife Club was formed (by Pauline Martin, the Chaissons and the Kerfonts) and was very active for a long while. Then in the 1980s George was put in charge of the bull gang and he worked with Ron Parr, Doug Dmytriw, Kim Rainville, Terry Canning, Leonard McKenzie, Hughie Costello, Hugh and Todd Quinn, Jamie Eidt, Sonny Audet and Andy Sawko, just to name a few. Later George also took over the Coal Plant Cottrells working with Ken Marchant, Vern Jeffreys, Bill Hanson, Howard Lyons, John Hinks, Dave Ireland, Gerald Behet, Kevin Schanowski, Paul Garrett, Ron Marin and Nick Trotz. George retired in 1987, practically 35 years from the day he started. The Rideout family also billeted members of the Flin Flon Junior Bombers in the years when Paddy Ginnell was coach. They had as many as four at one time. Iris said, "Yes, and Paddy was a strict coach when it came to curfews. He would phone and ask if the guys were there. I'd tell him, yes, and they are sleeping. He'd say that's fine I want to talk to them!" Some of the Bombers who billeted at Rideouts included Roger Swanson, Mike Bodnarick and Ken Carter. Iris worked for awhile at Ruth Betts School with Clark Nixon and Johnny Meyers. Iris stated that she was on the Flin Flon Figure Skating Club executive for a few year. Some of the girls she worked with were Renee Watt, Eileen Cunnigham, Dodie Wardle, Betty Rudd, Eunice Norman, Netta Devette, Angie Willis, Angie Pearson, Bec Scheifele, Marilyn Fehr, Jerri Holmes, Faye Lofgren and Linda Eagle. See 'Community' P.# Con't from P.# Both George and Iris are active in the community. Iris belongs to the Rebekahs and George to the Oddfellows. These organizations sponsor trips to the United Nations in New York and in 1992 George volunteered to go with a group of 40 kids (from Manitoba, Ontario and Newfoundland) on the 20 day bus tour, spending five days in New York. On the tour the kids first went through the Parliament building in Ottawa before heading to the "Big Apple". In New York, they toured the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Stock Exchange and, of course, Macy's! These trips have been going on since 1950 with rooms and meals supplied by the Oddfellows and Rebekahs. They both curled, Iris in the afternoons at Ross Lake in the '70s and George still curls in the Hot Stove League at Willowpark. George has been on the Co-op Board for 15 years and held the position of president for about eight years. The couple celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2003. All their kids except their eldest (who lives in Calgary) still live in Flin Flon. They have seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren. They spend much of their summers at their cabin at the Narrows. They don't appear to be in a hurry to leave Flin Flon. This is HOME. Thanks for sharing such an interesting story! You guys have great memories and such an enthusiasm for life, it was great talking to you!
