Tag: Lethbridge

52W Mark III – Week 42: Full House

Growing up in a household with two parents and five children, it may have felt like we had a pretty full house. However, given the gaps in our ages, it wasn’t until I was 15 that there were seven of us sharing one home. Moreover, for the most part, despite all the moving around, by the time there were three of us children, the houses we lived in usually had three bedrooms. Until I was 15, that meant that there were never more than two in a room. I think my youngest brother was still in a crib by the time I moved away from home.

I compare that to my mother, who lived in the same house from age one to the time she married my father. She grew up in a tiny house in Lethbridge, which was built as part of the housing stock developed for veterans after World War II. My grandparents, Leo Burgess (1920-1995) and Helen Lerner (1921-1984), moved into the house in 1949, along with my mother and her older brother, Leo Jr. (1945-2014). Two more siblings followed, my Aunt Diana (1951-1999) and Uncle Curtis (1957-2024). In addition to her three siblings and her parents, my mother’s youngest uncle, Herb Lerner (1937-2004), also lived with them for a period of time.

May 1995, shortly after my grandfather Leo Burgess passed away. My mother and Aunt Diana are on the stairs at the front entrance. We were there to go through some things as part of cleaning out the house and settling the estate. The window on the top floor is for the bedroom that my mother and aunt shared as kids.

While it was a three bedroom house, in reality there was a tiny master bedroom on the main floor and two little shoeboxes in the attic that served as bedrooms. Because they were in the attic, the ceiling in both bedrooms was slanted to the floor. Not much fun for my mom’s brothers, who were both well over 6’5″.What was fun were the hardwood stairs that went up the middle of the house from the main floor to the attic. We treated it as a slide. Bumpy, yes, but loads of fun when we were little.

My uncles and their uncle Herb shared one room; my mother and her sister shared the other. By the time I was born, my Diana and Curtis had their rooms to themselves. By the time I was six, my Uncle Curtis had the whole floor to himself.

My grandmother, my mother, and her siblings, around 1959. I don’t know who the kid lurking in the background is.
My mother, her siblings, and my grandmother, about 1965.
My mother in the living room, ready for Grade 12 Prom

My grandmother, Aunt Diana, my mother, Uncle Leo, and grandfather, probably around 1955.

My grandfather renovated the interior a few times. The one I remember most was when he knocked out some of the walls between the dining room and living room. It made the place look palatial. Later they added a bay window to the living room at the front of the house. The least-best thing he did was when he installed shag carpet in the living room, covering up the gorgeous hardwood floor. It was the trendy thing to do at the time, something that definitely fell out of fashion a couple decades later. My grandfather also occasionally renovated the exterior, particularly the front and back entry ways.

My grandparents hosted a small reception at their home for my parents after their wedding ceremony. Here, everyone is gathered in the living room. My maternal grandparents are at the left of the photo; my paternal grandparents are on the right. My parents are flanked by the Maid of Honour and the Best Man.

We moved away from Lethbridge about a year after I was born. Nearly every summer vacation afterwards involved a road trip to Lethbridge, no matter where we were living at the time. Sometimes we visited for Easter or Christmas, as well as special occasions like weddings. Almost every time we visited, we spent half our time at this house. The other half we spent at my paternal grandparents’ house, although it seems like more often than not we spent more time at my maternal grandparents’. By then my aunts and uncles had all moved away, so my folks and siblings and I would use the upstairs rooms during those visits.

My first Christmas, with my grandparents in their living room.

My grandmother passed away in 1984; my grandfather passed away in 1995. My mother and siblings sold the house shortly after they settled my grandfather’s estate. The new owners were quick to renovate. The house has passed through several owners since then, each one renovated to some degree. I wish I had taken screen shots of the listing the last time it was listed for sale, which showed all the work they had done. The sellers had completely renovated the interior, plus they had finished the basement, something my grandfather never really worked on beyond installing some rough framing. Plus someone had gotten rid of that awful shag carpet.

One of the great features of Google Street View is that it allows you to view the various images of a location taken over time, particularly if it is a place that Google frequently revisits. Using that function, I can see the evolution of my grandparents’ home from 2009 to 2024.

Click “See More Dates”…
…and you’ll get a set of options for past views.

52W Mark III – Week 28: Trains

My grandfather, Leo Burgess (1920 – 1995), worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway for 32 years. I’ve written about various aspects of his time with the railway, such as the fact he was a proud member of his union and his brushes with Hollywood, including meeting his movie idol Glenn Ford.

Some of the items my grandfather used as a conductor, which are now in my possession

Leo was based out of Lethbridge, Alberta. He started as a brakeman and worked through the ranks, later becoming a yard manager. Early on, because of winter layoffs, he chose to work for the CPR in Cranbrook because there was more work there during the winter to provide a steady income. In 1972 he became a conductor, performing that role until his retirement in 1982.

One of my earliest memories was travelling on the train from Medicine Hat to Lethbridge. I’m sure my mother would correct me if I’m wrong, but in that memory I am sure my grandfather was travelling with us.

My grandfather often brought me to the train station in Lethbridge when I was little. Of course, the highlight was always getting to go on to the caboose. Of course, I’m showing my age in being able to recall a caboose as an everyday working part of a train and not just as a museum piece.

One of my favourite photos, showing me with my grandfather. If there’s any doubt, he’s the one on the left.

The station building still exists and has been designated with heritage status. In the 1980s, the railyard was relocated a few kilometers west of the city and the tracks were removed from central Lethbridge. In 1987, the station building was converted into the Lethbridge Community Health Centre and it still serves in that capacity.

The former train station in Lethbridge is now the Community Health Centre. This caboose remains preserved beside the former station building. I wonder if my grandfather ever worked on this specific railcar. Heck, I wonder if this is one of the cabooses that he took me on!

Of course, I would be remiss if I did not repeat the fact that working on the train crew for Superman: The Movie was one of the highlights of his time with the CPR. During the eulogy at my grandfather’s memorial service, one of his friends told an anecdote that suggests my grandfather felt that he had gotten familiar with the cast and crew. The scene took six days to shoot. Apparently during a break in filming, Ford was talking to a group of railway workers when my grandfather sauntering up, put his arm around the actor, and said, “How’s it going, Glenn?”

My grandfather was working in the engine during the filming of this scene. My parents live about a 30 minute drive from where this was filmed. The tracks are gone, but the memories live on.
My grandfather is the man wearing a cap standing on the right side of the photo.

52W Mark III – Week 20: Taking Care of Business

When I was a kid, we moved around a lot. People often asked my if my dad was in the military. No, he was a Woolworths manager.

My father entered the Woolworth manager training program right out of high school. Back in the day, the program involved a lot of moving around. Later, promotions almost always meant a transfer. He was with the company for 28 years, leaving the company about six months after Wal-Mart bought it out in Canada. That’s a story for another time.

My sister and me at the Woolworths in Regina

My dad began his career with Woolworth’s in Lethbridge, Alberta as a management trainee. He once told me that his very first assignment on his first day was to unload a shipment of bras, and the female staff stood there giving him a hard time. Next, my dad trained in the Regina, Saskatchewan and Medicine Hat, Alberta stores, where he was an assistant manager.

Dad’s first store as manager was in Flin Flon, Manitoba. After Flin Flon, dad was transferred to Terrace, B.C., and shortly afterward to Duncan, B.C., where he opened a new store there as the Associate Manager.

Grand Opening of the Woolworths in Duncan. My dad is second from the right.

At one point, the Canadian head office in Toronto transferred dad to Kirkland Lake, Ontario. However, when the international head office learned about the transfer, they cancelled it. They thought it was too much to move a man with young kids halfway across Canada.

My dad (left) at the Canadian head office in Toronto.

Dad transferred to North Battleford in 1974 and was General Manager when Woolworths opened a large new store there as the anchor tenant of the Frontier Mall in 1975.

Big news in a small town.

Dad quit in the early 80s and went into business as a sales agent for a furniture company. The new career was not what dad anticipated, and he did not enjoy being separated from his family as the job entailed a great deal of travel. He returned to Woolworth’s a few months later. As he had been replaced at the North Battleford store, he was assigned to the Woolworths in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. He commuted from North Battleford to Swift Current, a distance of about 320 kilometres. Dad was there until he was transferred to Terrace, British Columbia six months later.

Four years later, the company transferred dad to William’s Lake, B.C. In 1989 Woolworth’s converted all of its larger Woolworth stores into Woolco stores, which included the Williams Lake location.

Until last Christmas, I had no idea my mom still had these.

In August 1991, dad was transferred to the Woolco in Chilliwack. In March 1994, Woolworth’s sold its Woolco stores to Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart transferred Hans to Hinton, Alberta that same month. Dad left the company in August 1994. My parents and younger siblings then moved to Lethbridge, where we still had a fair amount of family. My dad briefly went into sales before he and my mother bought a small motel in southern Alberta. My dad has now been a motelier longer than he was a Woolworths manager. My youngest sibling and I have had much different fathers!

One of my brothers had this on his bedroom door for years.

52W Mark II – Week 47: This Ancestor Stayed Home

Stayed home??? This is not the  52 Ancestors theme for me! My ancestors never stayed anywhere for very long! Even before moving to North America, my ancestors moved around a lot.

I follow in that tradition, having lived all over western Canada. By the time I moved away from home for university, I had lived in Lethbridge AB (two places), Regina SK, Medicine Hat AB, Creighton SK (on the Manitoba border), Duncan BC, Chemainus BC, Terrace BC, North Battleford SK (two houses), Terrace BC (again – and two houses!). The longest we ever lived in one house was the second place we lived in North Battleford. I was always the new kid in the class.

We lived in one of these houses in the first year of my life. I need to ask my mother if this was the first or second place we lived in Lethbridge. The other place we lived was in an apartment on the north side of the city. Decades later, one of my sisters lived in the same apartment complex when she began university.
(For the life of me, I cannot figure out why images no longer centre!)

Even after I moved away from home I didn’t stop moving. While I lived in two different residences during undergrad, I spent the summers in Terrace, Coquitlam, and Vancouver, respectively. After graduation, I lived in North Vancouver for a short time until I relocated to Victoria BC for a six-month legislative internship (where I stayed at two different addresses). I then relocated to Vancouver for a few months until embarking on a seven-week trip to Europe. On my return, I stayed at my folks, who by then had moved to Williams Lake BC (with several moves still yet to come for them). I moved back to North Vancouver, followed by longer residencies in Vancouver, Burnaby, and Richmond BC.

By my count, to date I have lived at 25 different addresses since I was born. The longest was 13 years, a record I set in the 90s. I would be very happy to beat that record. Our children, on the other hand, have only moved once in their lives, and have attended the same elementary school for every grade. I can’t even imagine what that’s like!

I feel like I lived a Johnny Cash song.