Big Fisherman

We went fishing at Greenwater Lake a lot, for Pickerel and jackfish; I caught a 4 ½ lbs Pickerel which was big for that time. We jigged frogs for bait. Dad and Les had a homemade wooden boat with a gas motor, I remember sleeping under the bow or going under the bow in storms.

Doreen Rundvall Les Baker Darrell Rundvall

Skating at the outdoor rink and hockey

We had an outdoor skating across the highway from the school. It was painted white, and had two shacks, one for each hockey team. We used the south one for the Carragana kids. With wooden plank floors scrapped and soured by the skates with wooden benches all around the outside wall.

This is what the uninsulated shacks were heated with, they got red hot, and snow and mittens would melt real quick. But the heat was really nice when it was -25c.

I was not that good of a skater, my ankles were weak, and for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to stop. The boards stopped me regularly.

When it snowed we had to clean the snow off the ice with scrapper and shovels, and shovel the snow over the boards; it was quite the job but I enjoyed it. Go figure.!

Ice House

Big blocks of ice harvested in the winter were covered with sawdust and stored in the Ice House in the middle of school ground in Carragana. Ice lasted till the next winter, the ice was used in ice boxes to store food or to make ice cream. It was cool in there on a hot day and smelled like wood, electric or gas fridge’s put an end to ice houses.

We had one of these ice cream maker,

my favourite flavour and it still is, maple walnut.

It was a lot of work turning especially just

before it was done.

Haunted Hospital

One of the haunted spots was the old abandoned hospital that was two stories and large, (I think it was large) we went in but we were scared all of the time. Walking and riding bikes past the building was terrifying at best at night or in the evening.


Red Cross Outpost Hospitals
In 1920, the first Red Cross Outpost Hospital in the British Empire was built at Paddockwood, Saskatchewan. This post-World War I Red Cross program served small, remote communities (often soldier-settlement areas) unable to afford municipal hospitals. Built and maintained by the communities, these hospitals were staffed and supplied by the Red Cross. This successful partnership led to a total of twenty-four outposts in Saskatchewan, over 200 across Canada, and more around the world. A “Nurse-in-Charge,” not a resident doctor, managed each hospital and lived in the community full-time. With the nearest doctor typically thirty or more miles away, Charge Nurses delivered babies, stitched wounds, administered medicine, set bones, treated fevers, gave vaccinations, and offered practical medical advice. Often forced by circumstance to make diagnoses and prescribe treatment in a doctor’s stead, these nurses worked admirably outside the bounds of accepted nursing practice. The Red Cross name and flag gave instant recognition, and promoted trust for people of all nationalities. By 1946, over 37,000 inpatients and 27,000 outpatients had been treated in Saskatchewan outposts, with 8,800 births recorded. Over the years, as communities matured and transportation improved, each hospital was turned over to community management or closed. Saskatchewan’s Red Cross Outpost Hospitals included, in order of establishment: Paddockwood, Carragana in 1921, Bengough, Eastend, Cutknife, Meadow Lake, Willow Bunch, Kelvington, Big River, Lucky Lake, Broderick, Wood Mountain, Bracken, Nipawin, Tuberose, Rabbit Lake, Rockglen, Loon Lake, Endeavour, Pierceland, Leoville, Hudson Bay Junction, Arborfield, and Buffalo Narrows.
Merle Massie
©2007 University of Regina and Canadian Plains Research Center

My mother-in-law was the first baby born in the Paddockwood Red Cross Hospital, Gladys Aspvick.

Marie Kilden
Marie Kilden, nurse and matron at Saskatchewan Red Cross Outpost Hospitals during the period from 1919 to 1951, was born on April 14, 1897, at Ostby, Trysil, Norway. She came to Canada in 1907 with her parents who homesteaded in the Domremy district.
She graduated as a registered nurse from the Holy Family Hospital in Prince Albert in 1919. During her training period in 1918 the terrible flu epidemic struck and the hospital soon filled to overflowing. Despite long hours and valiant efforts by the staff, including Marie, the death toll was high.
Following the First World War many veterans were settled on new lands in wilderness areas where health services were non-existent. The Canadian Red Cross established what it called Outpost Nursing Stations to provide medical and first aid services to people in these isolated communities. Marie Kilden worked from 1919 to 1951 at various Red Cross outpost stations providing health care to pioneers.
Pioneer families in the districts around Bjorkdale, Cut Knife, Rabbit Lake, Carragana, Arborfield, Big River and Loverna had reason to be grateful for medical aid provided by this dedicated nurse. Doctors only came to the outpost for periodic clinics and Marie Kilden was expected to provide a full line of support medical services by herself between these infrequent visits.
She delivered hundreds of babies and counselled their mothers. She dealt with disease, injuries and even gunshot wounds. Those needing operations were assisted to the nearest hospital. She aided many a doctor in conducting operations in homes and outpost hospitals and on one occasion with lighting provided by automobile headlights.
When the Red Cross closed its outpost stations in 1951, Marie Kilden moved to the Wakaw Union Hospital where she was a nurse and matron until her retirement in 1962.
Marie Kilden received honors and tributes for her work in bringing much-needed medical services to districts being opened up for agriculture. A citation from the Cut Knife community commended her skill, thoughtfulness and dedicated service. She received a scroll from the Canadian Red Cross for 30 years of service and an honorary life membership in the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses Association. Recognizing her value to the communities served, a group of seven Homemakersí clubs in Northeast Saskatchewan in 1953 named their new district organization the Marie Kilden Homemakersí District,î later known as the Marie Kilden District Women's Institute.
"Nominated for the Saskatchewan Agricultural Hall of Fame, 1985by Bethania Lutheran Church, Northern Light BookFund and Marie Kilden District Women’s Institute."

To Those of Us Born In The 50's

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can. Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets
and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.


As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.

Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one
actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid
made with real white sugar.

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were
back when the streetlights came on..
No one was able to reach us all day. And, we were OKAY.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride
them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem .
We did not have Play stations, Nintendo's and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no
surround-sound , no CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms.

WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no
lawsuits from these accidents.

We would get spankings with wooden spoons, switches, ping pong paddles, or just a bare hand and no one would call child services to report abuse.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in
us forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks
and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or
rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who
didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.
They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem
solvers and inventors ever.
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to
deal with it all.

If YOU are one of them, CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up
as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.

While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave
and lucky their parents were.

WE MADE IT!

I remember the day in 1960 my dad came back from picking up the mail with a telegram; my grandpa Theodore Rundvall died in BC.

Remember the TB trucks would come to the

town hall and us kids would line up for

a x-ray and a blood test.