Anna (Atamanchuk) McEachern’s long and eventful life began in Winnipegosis.
It was there that her mother, Dora (short for Fedora), settled while pregnant with Anna.
Tragically, two months after their arrival, Anna’s father, a lumberman, was killed when a tree fell on him.
Dora’s employer allowed them to stay, and after Anna was born they lived in Winnipegosis for about a year and a half.
Friends of Dora’s knew of a man whose wife had died while giving birth. He had three children and desperately needed help.
So, as often happened in those days, a marriage was set up and Dora and Peter Atamanchuk wed.
The blended family included Anna, a baby the same age named Alsey, Orest, 2, and Marina, 9.
“My dad adopted me and the marriage worked out very well,” smiles Anna. “Us kids were known as ‘his’ and ‘hers,’ and seven years later Caroline came along as ‘theirs.’”
The family spent some time in Sifton, Manitoba. In 1943, when Anna was 12, they moved to Flin Flon, where her dad worked for Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting as a miner.
The family lived at 10 Main Street until their house was available at 340 South Hudson. Anna’s oldest sister, Marina, joined the Women’s Air Corps and did not move to Flin Flon.
Alsey and Anna started school and had to walk to Birchview School for Grade 6. Their teacher was Mrs. Waddel. From grades 7 to 12, Anna went to Hapnot, which at that time was at the corner of Terrace and Hiawatha streets.
Teachers Anna recalls at Hapnot include Miss Glazier, Mr. Alpert, Mr. Joyce, Mr. Kines, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Thom, Miss Wilmot, Miss Kiernan and Mr. Allen.
Anna chummed with Joan Barr, Joanne Miles, Gwen Jackson, Joan Setterington and Norma Sattlemeyer.
“Socially, we just hung out in groups, going to the Friday night dances at the Jubilee Hall,” recalls Anna. “We always had live bands, with Del Byers and Wes Vickery and others. The dances ended at midnight and we all had curfews so we’d head home.”
Sundays were reserved for Phantom Lake Fellowship, with any denomination welcome, and there would often be upwards of 45 teenagers.
“We would sing and have a bonfire,” says Anna.
“Most of us kids would walk to Phantom Lake all summer, some took the bus. We’d take a blanket, bring a sandwich and spend the day, taking swimming lessons.
“At that time there were three docks, and I remember Chickie Iannone was the only one who would jump off high boards on second dock. Making it to second dock was a big deal, as that proved that you could swim.”
In the winter, all the teenagers would sit at the south end of the hockey arena and cheer on the Bombers, says Anna.
“Also at Hapnot Lake there was a small island in the middle of the lake, and someone would clear the ice and we would skate and then keep warm with a bonfire on that island.”
Anna graduated from Hapnot Collegiate in 1949. That same year she ran for Rotary Queen and won.
“Thanks to my mom and her friends for all their baking!” she laughs.
Chickie Iannone became the first Queen Mermaid for the Trout Festival that year.
“July 1st was a big deal at Phantom Lake and the beach area, as well as all the picnic sites,” Anna recalls. “There must have been about a dozen all packed and at the band stand. Music could be heard all over the area. There were line-ups for the treats at the concession.”
During the summer of ’49, Anna worked at Woolworth. In September, she decided to go into nursing.
After graduating as a registered nurse, Anna worked at the Victoria General Hospital in Winnipeg for five years, earning $200 a month.
Anna’s friends Norma Sattlemeyer and Gwen Jackson used to write to her from Flin Flon and tell her about university students who were working summers at HBM&S.
On a blind date one evening, Anna met one of those university students, Norman McEachern.
The rest, as they say, is history. They were married in 1954 while Norm was still a student, taking his bachelor of science. He graduated in 1956.
The couple moved back to Flin Flon in 1957, after Norm got a job at HBM&S.
In 1959 Anna and Norm’s daughter Kathryn was born, and in 1965 Robert (Bob) was born.
In 1966 the family moved to the company apartments and then to company cottages, where their neighbours included Arnie and Marie Stephansson, Donna and Ken Entwistle, Hazel and Stewart Evans, and the Roches, Hilliers, Kirbys, Blacks and Martins.
Both of Anna’s children went onto university. Kathryn earned a degree in music and education at Brandon University. Bob studied business administration at the University of North Dakota, but later went to college to study golf and club management instead.
Anna was a stay-at-home mother until her children went to university, as Norm travelled a lot.
When the children had left home, Anna took a refresher course and then a credit in gerontology. She and Rae Baumgartner split a shift at the Flin Flon General Hospital until the medical floor was closed. Anna then went on to post-surgery.
Anna and Norm both retired in 1989. They decided to stay in Flin Flon and became snowbirds, wintering in Palm Springs.
Norm passed away in 1997.
Anna has no plans of leaving Flin Flon. She stays busy golfing with friends Darlene Myden, Gladys Martinot, Doris Wellman, Anne Hardy and Myrna Agerbak.
Anna has church friends as well who are very important in her life, including Sophie Rhiel, Mary Lyons and Phyliss McIntryre.
Anna plans on living in her home at the lake for a while yet.
“I know I am 82, but I have such great neighbours and I am not quite ready to move yet,” she laughs.
Anna has two grandchildren. Danita Stallard, a talented writer, artist and designer, currently lives in Flin Flon and works at The Reminder.
Pierce Stallard, who went to Germany as a Rotary exchange student, returned after working for two years in Estevan and is now studying bioengineering at the University of Coburg.
Anna is living an exciting, full life. She still keeps in touch with some of her childhood friends, including Gwen Jackson, Gail Adam, Joanne Setterington and Norma Barr.
Thanks so much for sharing your story, Anna. Your positive attitude is an example to us all.
