Chapter 22
Signs of Prosperity

In the early 1960's a few new farm houses were being built in our community. There wasn't any family that needed a better house more that we did, Natalie and I talked many times about it and tried to find a way of financing such a project. We didn't arrive at any satisfactory solution and it had to be postponed, almost indefinitely, we thought. Even though our two oldest children were married and in their own homes, we very much felt the need of a better house. The old house was cold in winter and uncomfortable in summer, and the lack of room for bathroom facilities and running water made it inadequate to renovate. Accordingly in the fall of 1964 when Charlie and Robert were capable of doing the few chores and keeping an eye on the cattle that were grazing across the road, I decided to make a "long trip" to Illinois. When I say long, it was because I first went to B.C. and Washington to visit with sisters Pearl and Nellie and going across country to Illinois. It was about 5000 miles of traveling, entirely by bus Motor Coach. We had hoped at times that Natalie could go but with four children still at home, it didn't seem the least bit practical to leave them by themselves for a month. I made that trip on a thirty day $90.00 ticket called "Ameripas", meals were extra. It took two days and two nights to travel from Tacoma, Washington to Davenport, Iowa at times through very unproductive country. One sees many interesting incidents and a variety of bus drivers traveling that many miles through almost all kinds of country, much of it picturesque but of little productive value. Cousin Glen Truman met me in t Davenport, Iowa and we were home at their place by midnight. They were just getting started harvesting corn as it was late October when I arrived there. Corn was still being harvested "on the ear" with pull type or mounted corn pickers. It was about ten times as fast as picking by hand as was still being done in 1938 when I first visited Illinois. Picking corn with mechanical equipment was an early morning job when the husks were damp and tough and the ears came out clean. By three or four o'clock in the afternoon there was much more husk material in the corn. so they quit early and fueled and greased up ready for an early start the next day. It was quite normal to be out in the field ready to work by daylight. This was fortunate for me as it was easy for someone to take me to visit many of our relatives in the evenings. Uncle Charlie had just come from hospital and was recuperating from some minor surgery. They were living in Seaton and I stayed with them one or two nights. Uncle Charlie wasn't able to drive so some of Glen's or Melvin's family called every day to check on developments. I soon grasped the feeling that Uncle Charlie didn't enjoy a semi-invalid life. Glen's wife Beulah and Melvin's wife Marion were both very good at providing for family gatherings while any of us were visiting, even at such busy times as corn harvest. I don't remember any of them even suggesting that they would be working on Sunday, and so the day was spent visiting with other family relatives. At this time I believe Uncle Clair and Aunt Rhoda were living on a 40 acre farm they had bought, should I say to retire on. It had some rough hilly areas not suitable for growing corn. Uncle Clair was very successful at raising hogs. He apparently spent much time at chores and knew exactly what was going on. He allowed his hogs lots of pasture freedom and he had very little sickness among them. He also bought a few calves and used the timber pasture for grazing. They owned their land and lived and worked there very comfortably until ill health overtook Uncle Clair.

Uncle Elmer and Aunt Maud were still in quite good health and Uncle Elmer liked to go squirrel hunting in Uncle Clair's timber. They were always present at any family gathering when relatives were visiting. I didn't get over to Galesburg to visit, or to Rapatee to visit any of Mama's relatives who lived in those areas. But I believe Beulah took me in to see Aunt Celeste, who was widowed by this time. She was living alone in Aledo. She probably had help with looking after quite a large house. I believe Uncle John Johnson was with us that afternoon also. His family was quite scattered and I hadn't seen them for several years. John Johnson was Mama's oldest brother.

This trip to Illinois was the last time I saw both Uncle Charlie and Uncle Clair. Uncle Charlie spent several months in a nursing home and he passed away in August 1970. I still mourn his absence. his upright character of honesty, kindness and patience were a wonderful example to all who knew him. Uncle Clair had eye surgery about 1970 or 1971. He never quite recovered, perhaps the surgery wasn't that helpful. He and Uncle Charlie had been so close all their lives. having farmed together at one time, moved to Canada together and moved back to Illinois under equal circumstances. I really believe Uncle Clair missed his brother so much that it was impossible for him to go on without him, and he passed away in September 1972. It is not my intention to tread on emotional areas but to me, it seems they were inseparable in life and in death.

Of course it is not difficult now to fully enjoy visiting in Illinois with cousins we know so well and who are ever kind and interesting to be with. But there is still a vast emptiness in my heart to have to live without our Truman Uncles who were such an important part of our younger years.

What I'm leading up to is that some how on that trip something helped me to establish in my mind that we would build a new house the next year. It took a lot of discussing after I arrived home early in November but we did come up with a plan to borrow the money to build with. We talked and planned and even argued, we had countless house catalogues to pick something from and in March we were prepared to apply for a loan from "Farm Credit Corporation". I went to the office in Estevan to learn the necessary steps to be undertaken. The first big hurdle was the mortgage on the land, especially the quarter section with the residence. It was a perplexing and painful responsibility for Natalie to sign the mortgage against the home quarter. We didn't homestead it but that is the term in use for that particular purpose. The paper work was done and we ordered our house from the Nelson Lumber Company at Lloydminster, Saskatchewan. It would arrive early in July. School was out and the boys helped to unload the perishable items and put them inside a granary. The lumber sections were unloaded close to the site to be built on. The building contract was let to a beginning contractor in Estevan. I was asked to find a local earthmover to dig the basement. Mike Sehn dug the basement hole and we were on the way. The cement blocks for the basement were delivered by semi-trailer and not on pallets, so we helped unload the load one at a time by hand. The framework went up fairly fast and we helped shingle the roof in very hot weather. We used up twice as much shingle cement as was provided. I guess the contractor provided the additional supply and we never experienced a loose shingle. The plumbing, wiring and insulating and drywalling all seemed to be delay upon delay, also the furnace which was finally installed by the first of October. We kept heat on to dry out the moisture in the gyprock and the crack filling. Charlie and Robert moved their bed over there in October, as I guess they were eager to start getting our money's worth. There was still much painting and finishing to do such as installing floor coverings and kitchen cupboards. The interior painting was our responsibility and Natalie did a good portion of it. We hired Albert Crawshaw to paint some of the bedrooms. The cupboards were in and the floor coverings on, and in the first week of December we moved in. Carl Hauglum helped move some heavy items such as the freezer, fridge and stove. It was a lovely day, the snow was soft and it was comforting to have everything moved before dark.

I dare say Natalie and I were much pleased as we had waited a long time for such comfort and convenience. It was a delight to be able to entertain in comfort and it wasn't long before our "church family" planned and held a housewarming for us which our neighbors also attended. I'm sure Natalie adapted to being at home in the new house much sooner than I did. I don't know why, but perhaps it was because she had sensed the need in a different way than I did. All I had to do though, was to take a look inside the old house. Oh how terrible it looked, how did we manage to live there 22 years. Our children were always very happy to come home to visit. I believe we all appreciated this long earned comfort. Daughter Carol was married to Marcel Van de Woestyne in January 1965 and they were to come home almost every Sunday for months and months after we were established in the new house.

The annual payments were never difficult to handle and I suppose the buoyancy of the farm economy had something to do with it. I paid the last installment three years ahead of time. Wheat Board payments each year made many of the payments. After 1965 we had only three boys at home, son Charles graduated in 1967. I believe he worked at the pool elevator in Midale under Nelson Hill. It wasn't long until he applied for work at the Co-op Oil refinery in Regina where he worked for two years. When Charles was no longer at home it was Robert's turn to learn to handle the tractor and do many field jobs, learning to do quality work just as well as I or Charlie had done. An item of interest in 1967 was that school students received a white spruce seedling which we called Robert's tree. It was planted across the driveway from the house, it has thrived and is now probably twenty feet tall. In 1952 we had planted some trees east of the house as far south as the barn, these trees now are a helpful windbreak as very little snow gets into the yard from an east snowfall. We also planted some blue spruce and scotch pine closer to the road in 1964 or thereabouts. These trees are now almost big trees. They seemed to grow ever so slow until they were four feet high. Since then I believe they have grown a foot a year.

The next three or four years are rather remote in my memory. One of those years I had trouble with one of my knees and was obliged to have surgery on it in January. Robert and Michael did the chores for ten days. I was on crutches for a week but soon was able to get out and help. In two weeks I was practically back to normal.

We had some rather unpleasant winters in the late 60's and early 70's, lots of snow and cold weather, and also in 1959 we had quite a bit of hail damage to the crop, even after it was swathed.