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Another Heritage House Fills the Trash Bin! (Part two)
By Gordon H. Ficke
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After living in the McKellar house for 31 years, Milton and Eva Gorman decided that it was time to move to lower Glenrosa on property they purchased in 1920. There they had an orchard that included the precious commodity, irrigation.
Bob and Stevie (Alice Stevens) Lynn bought the property from the Gorman family in 1945. Their mortgage payment was $25.00 per month for twenty-five years!
Previously, the Lynn’s were married in Saskatchewan and homesteaded there. Bob was very good with horses, and in those early days made his living logging with horses. Stevie was a schoolteacher, and their only child; Jack was born there in 1935. A few years later they moved to Vernon, B.C. where Bob worked in a sawmill. In 1938 they packed up all their belongings and moved once again, settling in Westbank. This time he was a foreman for Ewer Orchards.
Read more: Another Heritage House Fills the Trash Bin! (Part two)
Another Heritage House Fills the Trash Bin! (Part one)
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Not far below me off McIver Road in Glenrosa, I could hear the drone of an orange track hoe. The operator systematically scooped up splintered wood, plaster and other construction debris with its articulated shovel and dumped it in a large blue bin. I realized then that the familiar green roofed house with the tall brick chimney that was nestled in the still standing fir trees was gone! A deep sadness overwhelmed me at that moment. The 97-year old wooden heritage house with the veranda had disappeared. Nothing was left behind to indicate that it had ever existed.
Read more: Another Heritage House Fills the Trash Bin! (Part one)
Snowmen Galore!
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She never imagined that what started innocently as making Christmas gifts for the children, would turn out to be a collection of snowmen too numerous to count!
When Bernice Ficke moved back to Westbank, B.C. from Princeton, B.C. in 1974 she and her sisters decided to make Christmas gifts for each other. The snowmen were made for the children as crafts. Most of the snowmen in her collection came from her next oldest sister Kay, although her younger sister Josephine and youngest sister Gwen also got in the spirit and created crafts that included snowmen.
Once Bernice’s three daughters, Heather, Karen and Sharon were old enough to hold a paintbrush, they painted the dough snowmen that hung as Christmas tree ornaments. For a couple of years while they were still in elementary school, the children would make all the tree ornaments.
Cup Holders
Philosophically speaking, the transition from glove compartment trays to cup Holders is an example of how our culture has changed over the last 50 or more years. The use of Cup holders reflect how we consume beverages in our cars or trucks today, as opposed to the way we consumed food in our vehicles during the '50s and '60s in particular.
Whack, Zip, Zap! What did I cut now?
Whack, zip, zap! The ride-on lawnmower sliced through the high weeds that bordered our property and the neighbours, with the ease of a cold knife through hot butter. I was in mindless bliss, when out of the corner of my eye, I notice my wife standing in the path of destruction. She waves her arms frantically in the air, trying to get my attention, attempting to scream loud enough for me to hear her above the cacophony of engine noises, and the whirring blades of the lawnmower. Should I, I’m thinking, stop and find out what all the fuss is about, or should I continue, and pretend not to have noticed her frantic pleas for me to stop cutting. What could be wrong?
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How to buy an article
Editors or Publishers wishing to purchase an article please e-mail a freelance writing agreement or contract to gficke@okanagan.net or mail to:
Gordon H. Ficke
3455 Gates Road,
Westbank, B.C.
V4T 1A2 Canada