Our mothers didn't have all the modern convenience in those days, such as washers, dryers and vacuum cleaners. Not many houses had carpets; mostly we had throw rugs and braided rugs. Also there were very few telephones, just maybe four or five in the whole town and no television. Not many homes had radios either. In the community hall, there was a movie every Saturday night, which we all looked forward to. For 25 cents we could enjoy a movie. There was a public health nurse who used to come out to give us shots for childhood diseases. I remember the first time I saw a dentist. I was twelve years old and I needed only three fillings. Some years later, when I was 18 years old and working in Summerland in the fruit cannery, I met up with that same dentist.

My fondest memory was at Christmas time. Each year, the school Christmas concert, in which every child had a part big or small, took place. After the concert was over, we kids on the stage used to stand still and wait for the jingle of the sleigh bells telling us that Santa had arrived. On Christmas Eve, my sister and I would wake up in the middle of the night and we would crawl to the end of bed where we hung our stockings. We would feel the stockings. They were full, so we crawled back under the covers until morning. We always had a beautiful decorated tree with candles on it. We used to go sleigh riding and tobogganing in the winter. My older brother, when he was sixteen, went to work for the sawmill. Later when he was about eighteen, he joined the army. My sisters and brothers started coming along. My mother used to say I was mother's little helper. I helped her with the kids when they were little. When I was about 11 years old, we moved into town, in a house across from the only hotel and just across the street from the school. In this house, guess what? We had running water and electricity. We lived in that house until I was about 14 years old.