Sunday Family Stories - Saskatchewan Memories... family reunion part 2

I started this story last Sunday with a memory of a place... Kakabeka Falls and I was right... my mother convinced my dad to find a way to send me pictures from our trip there... his scanner is broken, so he took pictures of the photos with his camera and uploaded them for me.. so the quality is a little rough, but you'll get the idea...

I'm the taller girl, my sister Cat is the shorter one and the blond is my brother and the adults are my Nana and Pompa (grandparents)

Today's story continues the theme... but moves to Lac Vert, Saskatchewan.

I didn't know my grandfather's family as well as I know my grandmother's for the simple fact that there were far more miles between us... We had many reunions with my grandmother's family, held at various homes throughout Southwestern Ontario... but our trip to Lac Vert, Saskatchewan just outside Saskatoon was my one and only opportunity to meet most of my grandfather's family.

I have fleeting memories of this time - I was only six years old, and while I was precocious, I really didn't understand the gravity and magnitude of the endeavour undertaken by the Morris family to actually congregate together...

From my grandmother's memoirs, I've come to appreciate just how much of an undertaking it was:

"Kenneth Cecil Morris, was born on April 13, 1927 to James Albert Morris and Agnes Edna Eastwood at Lac Vert, Saskatchewan.   Ken was the fourth son and youngest of nine children.

He started school at the age of seven and a half, and was taught by Mrs. Hussey at the Lac Vert Public School.

As a boy, he delivered milk and vegetables to town; in the winter by dog sled, and in nicer weather on his Shetland pony, Tony.

In 1937, at the age of ten, his mother was gored by a bull in the pasture across the road from their home.  Kathleen, his eldest sister, who was pregnant with her fifth child, watched in horror as the bull charged.  It was later learned that Ken’s mother was menstruating and that the blood attracted the bull.  She lived just a few days.  Kathleen’s husband, Carl Wullum, had died two months earlier of a ruptured appendix.  Kathleen had a baby boy that same year, a brother for her four girls.

Ken and his sister Doreen, who was two years his senior, were left to survive on the farm with their father.  A decision was made to send Doreen to Toronto to live with her paternal aunt, Frances Morrison.  She and her husband owned a hardware store on Bloor Street and were childless.  There were many tears as Ken and his father took Doreen to the train, hoping she would have a better life in Ontario.

The farm was sold in 1940 when his father enlisted in the World War II Veterans’ Guard after having served in World War I.  Ken was left behind to work on a neighbouring farm while his father criss-crossed the Atlantic Ocean, as part of the National Guard, ferrying German prisoners who were interned in Canada.

At twelve years old, and not very big, he worked as a man; driving four horses.  Many times, his pay was the runt of a litter of pigs.  There seemed little future for him in the west, so he made the decision to join Doreen in Toronto where he came to live with another paternal aunt, Sade Lyons."

By leaving the west at an early age, and being the youngest child, my grandfather didn't know his siblings as closely as he did his sister Doreen, who still lives near Toronto and whom we got together with more often...

My great grandfather had passed away early on in my grandparents marriage and a family that had scattered to the four winds based on circumstances had drifted even further apart... my grandfather himself had not seen some of his siblings in many years at the time of the reunion and had never met nieces, nephews and their children....

The reunion took place at the Lac Vert community centre and was filled to the rafters with 'relations' and pot luck food... as an ankle biter, I wandered around in a bit of a daze with my nametag on and people asking me the same questions over and over ... who did I belong to, where did I live, how old was I and did I know who they were?

My mom was busy talking to everyone - a social butterfly... my dad was dealing with my little sister, who had sprained her ankle just before the reunion... and I think my brother was taking a nap, when I latched onto the one person who didn't ask the same questions over and over .. and was my size...

my cousin, Trevor - we hung out and danced, played chase and generally ignored everyone else - unless it was time to head to the buffet tables or get a drink...  and the time went much faster

I wish, as an adult, that I had more recollection of other relatives and their stories, but at six, I was more interested in just having a good time... and at least those memories are all good :)


Read the exciting conclusion to this trilogy here

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I'm linking up with a few blog hops again today and want to thank anyone who has landed here from them - If you leave a comment on this or any other of my posts, I will happily return the visit... 

Stop back again tomorrow for a yummy MMMmonday recipe and there are great things planned for the rest of the week too!

If you want to know more about my grandfather, I recommend checking out this post


I'm also hanging out with MannLand5 and she's got a few questions...

1. What kind of athlete has the hottest body? 

I'm pretty partial to baseball players

2. Are you a planner or a procrastinator?

Can I say that I plan to procrastinate?...  I'm pretty good at planning things I want to do, and forgetting about the stuff I don't...

3. Diet or regular (soda)? diet, if at all...

4. What's your one "must have" for Fall?  Comfy shoes

5. What's your favorite fast food restaurant? Arby's

6. What do you think is the sexiest profession for a guy? Professor... I like my guys smart ;)

7. Did you wear braces? no

8. Would you rather have a guy that's super sexy or kind? kind, all the way