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| Red Lake Net News Michael Barrett P. O. Box 80 Redby, MN 56670 Telephone: 218-679-5995 |
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| DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN...?
All the girls had ugly gym uniforms? It took five minutes for the TV to warm up? (My dad used to give me static about sitting too close to the TV because he said it would ruin my eyes. But the TV we had at the time--almost a half a century ago--was a 13 inch black and white model that had to be hit sometimes to stay on.) Nearly everyone's Mom was at home when the kids got home from school? Nobody owned a purebred dog? When a quarter was a decent allowance? (It could get you into the Redby Theatre on any Sun. Mon or Wed. and Thursday and another dime could get you pop and popcorn. I can still picture very clearly Sonny and Jean Locken, and Wendy and George. Sonny was the kindest man I had ever knew, while Jean was a school teacher and the one that you always gave your money to for the ticket. And wasn't Wendy hot, while George was one of the best catchers I had ever saw. I can still see him sitting there in front of the "Show Hall" in the catcher's stance, with Billy or Jr. Pemberton, or Gary Chaboyea throwing the ball.) You'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny? Your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces? All your male teachers wore neckties and female teachers had their hair done every day and wore high heels? You got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped, without asking, all for free, every time? And you didn't pay for air? And, you got trading stamps to boot? Laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box? It was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents? (Remember the Coffee Shop or the Wii-Sin-In Cafe in Red Lake? Or back farther for the Swirly Top at my Uncle Archies, Martha May's or Clem McKenzie's Stand between Redby and Red Lake.) They threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed. . ...and they did? When a 55 Chevy was everyone's dream car...to cruise, peel out, lay rubber or watch submarine races, and people went steady? (Donovan English's turquoise and white 57 Chevy; Preston Graves' blue 64 Chevy; Tom Boy Wilson's black 63 Pontiac; Nick McKenzie's dune buggy; Fred King's 61 Chevy; Quentin Good's yellow Dodge; Rex Strong's Charger; Buffalo Neadeau's Ford convertible...) No one ever asked where the car keys were because they were always in the car, in the ignition, and the doors were never locked? Lying on your back in the grass with your friends and saying things like, "That cloud looks like a ..." and playing baseball with no adults to help kids with the rules of the game? Stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals because no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger? And with all our progress, don't you just wish, just once, you could slip back in time and savor the slower pace, and share it with the children of today? When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited the student at home? Basically we were in fear for our lives, but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! But we survived because their love was greater than the threat. Can you still remember Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Laurel and Hardy, Howdy Doody and the Peanut Gallery, the Lone Ranger, The Shadow Knows, Nellie Bell, Roy and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk. As well as summers filled with bike rides, baseball games, Hula Hoops, bowling and visits to the pool, and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar. (Powwows in Redby; setting nets or hanging them for a dime a net; eating bread with lard and sugar; hardly any traffic on the roadways; always being treated like a son or daughter at a friend's house...) Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say, "Yeah, I remember that"? I am sharing this with you because the perfect age is somewhere between old enough to know better and too young to care. How many of these do you remember? Candy cigarettes Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles Coffee shops with tableside jukeboxes Blackjack, Clove and Teaberry chewing gum Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers Newsreels before the movie P.F. Fliers Telephone numbers with a word prefix....(Raymond 4-601). Party lines Peashooters Howdy Doody 45 RPM records Green Stamps Hi-Fi's Metal ice cubes trays with levers Mimeograph paper Beanie and Cecil Roller-skate keys Cork pop guns Drive ins Studebakers Washtub wringers The Fuller Brush Man Reel-To-Reel tape recorders Tinkertoys Erector Sets The Fort Apache Play Set Lincoln Logs 15 cent McDonald hamburgers 5 cent packs of baseball cards - with that awful pink slab of bubble gum Penny candy 35 cent a gallon gasoline Jiffy Pop popcorn Do you remember a time when... Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-moe"? Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "Do Over!"? "Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest? Catching the fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening? It wasn't odd to have two or three "Best Friends"? The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was "cooties"? Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot? A foot of snow was a dream come true? Saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute commercials for action figures? "Oly-oly-oxen-free" made perfect sense? Spinning around, getting dizzy, and falling down was cause for giggles? The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team? War was a card game? Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle? Taking drugs meant orange-flavored chewable aspirin? Water balloons were the ultimate weapon? If you can remember most or all of these, then you have lived! And if you want to add a memory or two, email me at mbarrett@rlnn.com and they will be listed below. |
| What about the movie theatre at the old Tribal
Council? The dances at the Red Lake Center. The awesome pow-wows especailly during the 4th of July. When you had at least 10-20 girls competing for the Red Lake Princess contest. People helping people - when you knew a family was having a hard time - you would put meat or fish in a box - go through the brush - knock on the door and take off running before they saw who put it out there. The Swan Ice cream man would let you buy ice cream right off his truck for 25 cents. I hope one of the elders would tell about their Christmas during the War. My aunt would tell me about everyone putting their gas stamps together to purchase a tank of gas and they would take a ride out west to the Little Rock Center. If you didn 't have gas - you would hitch up the horses to a cart, put bells on the cart and pick up people, sing while taking them to the center. When they got there - no one had presents - they all shared oranges, popcorn, maple sugar candy and something to drink. They would have music and dance and than a couple hours later - they would go home - those were the days that she missed and talked about quite a bit. She would even talk about when the sirens would sound and people would go for cover thinking that enemy planes could be coming. She would also tell me that when someone needed something to eat - they would walk in - even in the middle of the night - eat, clean up after themselves and than leave. I remember the water bucket she had - and people would come over and get water and than leave -sometimes people would leave apples or bananas. Red Lake use to have some really good times - what happened? J. If a disagreement was not solved with a "I'm sorry" then it was a good old fashioned "meet me after school" which usually ended up with a game of horse rather than a fight, but if it came down to a fist fight thats all it was-no NEED for parents or police. Our parent did not intervene at our every whimper. We were told to take care of it ourselves, Yet we grew up to raise a bunch of crybaby little thugs who solve their problems with guns and knives. We are a generation of hovering parents who have not instilled the same values that we were taught. I remember if you did something illegal (smoked or drank) you hid it from your folks, NOT did it with them as so many do today. I often remember all the things you mention. I remember every nickel I could earn went to Swirly Top.(cone with sprinkles) or to the "Coffee Shop" (Lasley's) for a game of Foos-ball where Jim and Delores made you fell so welcome and if you got too loud or unruly all they had to do was look at you and you better tone it down- your punishment...no juke box! I remember all that stuff....lol. I also remember if you had a "whip antenna" you were kool even if there was no CB in the car....lol. I remember when the police sirens went off for more than 10 minutes it [usually] meant they were chasing Jr. Jones. I remember waiting on the "path" for Tippy and Kicken to drive by so as to see who could out run them for the longest. Jk. |
| Remember when it was perfectly normal to swim in ditches, especially at
the
cross roads in back of town. Remember the Ponderosa, known for a safe and fun place to party with the Needham boys? Remember the dances at the Red Lake Center and how everyone danced to the "Wipe Out" - I remember Sherri Garrigan was the one to beat. Remember the awesome softball games under the lights at the fields...a time to gather with friends, sit on car hoods and cheer on your team. I could go on and on but I have to get back to work. It sure was refreshing to be reminded of "the way it used to be". MC |
| WHEN WE WERE IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, WE USED TO GET IN THE SHOWER, AFTER RECESS AND SOAP UP OUR BUTTS AND KICK THE WALL AND SLIDE ACROSS THE FLOOR HITTING THE SKINNY ONES. OH MY GOD, WE USED TO HAVE FUN. WE WOULD BE ALL SCREAMING WITH LAUGHTER UNTIL MRS, ANYWAUSH CAME IN AND TOLD US TO KNOCK IT OFF, SOON AS SHE LEFT WE WERE ALL SOAPED UP AGAIN, KICKING OFF AND SLAMMING THE SKINNY ONES OMG WE HAD FUN J |
| Remember Superintendent James Poisaunt walking down the High School halls with his 'cool' heel plates? I can still hear them clicking--along with everyone else who used to have them on their heels--Willy Strong and Fred King, especially. I wonder if Poisaunt started that fad? And I wonder if Poisaunt and that French teacher really were having a fling as everyone said. So many memories of the 'old' high school. And to think the last little section of what stood in the early 70's was demolished this summer to make way for the new. Remember Staberg's Store (which is now The Other Store) and how Darlene would add up everything you purchased on the paper bag you received your groceries in? She could really add fast and that was your receipt. And if you had a bill there--which my dad did--he always got something free like a half gallon of ice cream or something for paying his bill. Remember Claude and Gert Beaulieu's Restauraunt in Claudette and Clarence's old trailer house in Redby? I loved working there--she paid me good and I could always eat anything I wanted. Iggy Sayers was a regular customer there--always got California burgers and that was how I think I was introduced to them. To this day nothing beats a good California burger. Yes, I remember the dances, the sock hops, the fun little things to occupy us as teenagers. I can still see a darkened area with lights and kids dancing or just hanging out. And the way we used to dance....LOL. Dave Dudley had his own dance that he moved his feet, legs and arms twice or three times the beat of a song; John A. Smith would have his hands up in the air like he was riding a chopper; Art Thunder used to kind of twist his feet on the floor and that made his bell-bottoms move to the beat; I thought no one could match the way Valencia Smith could dance to Wipe Out; And Nellie (Beaulieu) Charnoski, sorry that I made you look bad when we danced in a competition at the Redby Center (stepped on her feet during the waltz part) and we ended up taking second place to Mavis Strong and Art Thunder...LOL. That was actually the first time I think I ever tried to waltz...(Excuses, excuses, right?) I remember the local bands we had then, too, with Verdell Beaulieu, William 'Billy Whistle' Brauchaud, Gary Jourdain Sr., the Maxwell brothers, Loren Zephier, Terry Adams, Addy Omen, and many others in different bands. They were good. Remember the baseball games they used to have in Red Lake? Royce Graves Sr. used to coach the Red Lake team. Some of the best players--and how I learned to play the game by watching them--like Preston Graves; Rex Strong (Rex's knuckler was hard to hit and his fast ball hard. And he was good at shortstop and he could hit, too; Harry 'Pee Wee' Hanson (hit the longest home run I ever saw in Red Lake and the ball went clear over where Red Lake Housing now sits); Joe Thunder; Leon and Lavern Donnell; Ogie White; Gary Graves; Danny King; and many others. And remember Blueberry Hill...? I think I should stop now...LOL. In Ponemah, their Blueberry Hill was at the Point--according to Adrian White, anyway. In Red Lake it was the Lagoon, and in Little Rock, the Gravel Pits...LOL. |
| If you drank Tang maybe one day you could be an astronaut. Pop Tarts were a brand new suitable breakfast substitute. Roller Derby was something to look forward to on Saturday afternoons on the Mpls. station Casey Jones and Roundhouse Rodney would entertain you while you wolfed down your lunch. Though they chafed your legs, you wore your winter boots well into April, just in case. You couldn't wait for your lake to freeze so you could play hockey or broomball. And how sad you felt when spring finally came and all your games came to an end. The Twins played in the World Series for the first time -- my personal hero was Harmon Killebrew. Thanks for this great time to remember. H.L. |
| In the winter time we shoved the snow off the lake so we could ice skate. At night we would build a fire and skate at night. How about sliding in an old car hood. They were dangerous but we had fun. You could pack a lot of kid on one of those car hoods. We even went sliding in the summer on card board. One time we ran over a bee hive and my sister had a bunch of bees in her hair and got stung up pretty bad. I remember we got clothes three time a year. Once for the beginning of school, Christmas and for the 4th of July. I don't know why we got clothes for the 4th of July. I remember when us kids got off the bus after school our mom was always there. You could smell what was for supper when you got off the bus. Does anyone remember smoking rushes? Nailing a jar cover on a stick and cruise that stick down the road. How about the out house or slop pail? L. |
| Let me tell you a story about the good ole' days when we used to swim at the Dam in Redby, well anyway, in the late 60's, a bunch of us kids would go swimming at the Dam, we would dive in from the top of the bricks and do the "swan" dive, then... we would do the "cannonball", to see who would make the biggest splash, plus dive in an come up under the bridge, sometimes we would dare to stand under the falls...that was really cool. This one time me and Bubba Stately ran and dove in at the same time from each side of the bricks, we dove over the railings and collided in mid air and flipped into the river, that was cool...and this one time, three or four of us were swimming and I dared my friends that I would dive off the bricks "B.A.". I said I would dive when the first car came around the corner from town. Well anyway, I was standing (B.A.) on top of the bricks ready to dive in when the first car came around the corner, didn't take me long to dive in. LOL. That car just happened to be my brother and couple of his friends, they stopped and were really laughing. What fun we used to have in "the good old days" at the Dam in Redby. RC |
| This is great Mike. Here we go with my contribution: Remember When (Some More Tidbits) Students would wait for the Ponemah bus in the morning at school High School Sports from long ago. Red Lake Post Office - Gurno's Jensons Store in Red Lake Playing tag football in town. Card games in town with Chuck White, Roman Sayers, Skippy Carl. Whiteport and Strawberry Hill wine. Bingo at the recreaction hall in Red Lake. Walking to Redby for a movie, then walking back. Church on Sunday. No questions asked. You ate at the table when the time came. Picking blueberries in Sayersville and Neptune. Getting a haircut at BushStone's. Pee Wees Pool Hall. Richard Hanson's burgers and fries. Baseball in the summer with Joe Thunder, PeeWee, Snuffy Smith and others. Ball games at Shamogen with the Donnel boys. Banking the house in the fall and unbanking the house in the spring. Digging a new outhouse hole. Whipping my brother in basketball outside in the snow. Koogies football hit on Parmeter 1967. SED |
| Running water ………you had to run up and down the hill to get it. Those old cars Hudson ,Ford, Pontiac ,Chevy, etc. were so darn slow to pass by you, by the time you got the water home it was almost to late to use for cooking. Hauling firewood was a butt breaker, If you didn’t do it your butt would get broken. There were only 2 gangs on the res. West-End and Across the River. The Copper City road was gravel and tree limbs hanging across the road. Old Joe Lussier would be in town waiting to scare the hell out of all the little kids People had to go down to the Redby Mill to get water in the winter. Old George Pemberton hauling ice to Ponemah with his big Chevy truck (he was one tough-guy he could throw those big full ice boxes way the hell up there) The Catholic church was right next to the high-way in Redby. That old Guild Hall was right next to that. Heckie and Thern Hegstrom’s house was almost 'on' the High-way Going to church all week and had to go on Sunday’s too, or the nun’s would pound you up if you didn’t go. Father Cashion would go over to the Esienrich home every Sunday and get ripped with Jim. Sitting and kneeling in church every day praying like a holy little devil and the sister would come slap you if the prayer wasn’t said right. Sister Eugene hitting you across the knuckles with a ruler, or her long finger poking a hole in your head, or stretching your ear across the classroom. When the old hospital had real doctor’s, and Betty Beaulieu worked there. Joe Capskinner driving the Mission school bus with a cigar in his mouth When Copeland first came into town and always wore that big white hat and smoked a big cigar when he’d walk to the stores he owned. All the area softball teams would come up here to play.(especially for beer games) That one old crabby guy that used to live by the lumber yard he would shoot you with a salt and pepper gun when you stole crab-apples off his trees. When you did something wrong, you had to go pick out the stick that was going to be used [on you]. H. |
| These are my memories when I was growing up. If we could just go back to them “GOOD OLD DAYS”. Remember when: - Selam Head with his 4 dogs would follow him to the store. - Going down the mill with our cream cans and getting water from the side of that brick building. - Playing in the old fisheries building-Grandpa Bill Smith would pay us 5 cents for making fish boxes. - When you snagged-it was called “Getting some jaws”. - Myrna spears peddling her moped with her white go-go boots. - Stealing fish boxes and sliding down the fisherie hill. (They were waxed pretty good). - When Gary Chaboyea’s first car was a Studebaker- his driver’s seat was a rocking chair, passenger seat was a kitchen chair & in the trunk was a couch. - Rose Graves led the traffic all the way to Redby after school. (She would go 10-15 mph). - The starting 5 on the basketball team would run out on the floor with war bonnets and the cheerleaders wore beaded head bands. - Student exchange. - Swimming in the creek down the fisheries. - Walking across the bridge over to Eisenriche’s. - Sitting on the platform at Glynn’s store. - Hanging nets at the fish camp. (25 cents if you hung a net with your partner, 50 cents if you hung your net along). - $1.00 would get a bag of chips, candy bar, a small pie & a bottle of pop. - When you went to the movies at the Show Hall and you just had to have that penny to get in… (Tickets were 26 cents). - Bell bottoms were in style. (The one’s with the big daisy’s). - Everyone wore tube socks. dc |
| Added September 19, 2007 |
| Yes, I remember Selan. He used to have this Chevy pickup truck that was a 3-speed and when he'd drive to the store in Redby or to the Fisheries from his house, he always did so in first gear. I can still hear that motor whinning. And Rose Graves, she always took her time with everything. She would always come into the store in Redby a minute or two before it was closing and they wouldn't be able to close until she was done with her business. Does anyone know how many times the Red Lake Theatre played "Little Big Man" or "A Man Called Horse?" I bet they played them more than anyone else worldwide. Remember Mr. Fink, a teacher at the Red Lake High School? Or is he still there? Saw him a year or so ago and he still hasn't aged much. I remember a few teenage girls back in the late 60's who used to have crushes on him. I won't mention any names though, Nancy and Paula, okay? They probably thought I wasn't listening when they'd be talking their girl-talk stuff. Remember the CAP Program used to serve meals weekdays at the Redby Center or that old Catholic Guildhall? August King and Katherine Erickson used to be the cooks there and they could do it all--including baking pies and everything else in between. My dad used to give me $1.00 a day for helping serve and other duties in the summer months--and of course a good free meal. Remember Island Lake, Flash's, the Nebish Bar and Puposki? I knew those places well because my mother always sent me along with my dad to try to keep him from going to those kind of places or being gone too long. Of course it never worked. I'd end up waiting out in the car but with all the goodies I could handle, or sometimes I could go in with him and play the games they had in there. I guess that's probably why I didn't mind it that much. Remember the old police cars of the 60s with their big lights on top and that loud siren, and of course the Paddy Wagon. Or the old jail near the current Red Lake Courts building. Court used to be held in that old jail building, and where Red Lake Rehabilitation Services now has it's office, Head Jailor Dave Brown used to live there. Remember Mrs. Vorderbruggen at Red Lake Elementary? She was a mean, loud, German woman who wasn't afraid to use capital punishment on anyone. And she always seemed to like to hit you on the head with a closed fist that had one knuckle sticking out more than the rest. Can't remember ever seeing her smile; do remember her taking Donald Rossback to the back of the class and spanking him with a ruler, though. Not sure what he had done. Remember the old 'bake bingos' at the Centers? You had to use beans or something on the big thick cards. Even kids could play with the adults, then. It was like a nickel a card or something and the jackpot would be this big box of food or something else. |
| Fans could go up to the football field by the cliffs and watch there favorite team. Basketball players would go over to Frank Johnson’s house and play ball with “Dead-Man” & “Danny King” Frank would keep that basketball court so clean an neat you could play really good. Big football games in town right on main street and get a pop in the Confectionary for only 15cents. Every one thought Boogie Downwind wore black socks. It was his very own skin. The “Hippie House” in Saum. Hazel Brown and Brown Oakgrove, Heckie Hegstrom, Aggie Donnell, hollering, quarrelling,,cheering, for the Redby baseball team. Nobody ever put on a bet for Johnny Garrigan, Rose Graves, Tippy Branchaud to race from Red Lake to Redby. It probably would of taken a few days. Wasay was the smallest man in Redby. Big John Smith loved his Grain Belt. Old Lady Bailey owned the store in Redby. Stealing gas from the logging trucks at the Redby Saw Mill. Even a couple of Batteries. H. |
| I SUBMITTED ONE EARLIER, BUT I WAS AFRAID TO NAME NAMES, LOL BUT..... I WOULD LIKE TO ADD SOME MEMORIES OF MY OWN. I REMEMBER MR. BJERKE , A MATH TEACHER WITH WATERY BLUE EYES, A THIN MAN WHO MEANT WELL, BUT IF WE DIDN'T LISTEN OR IF HE GOT MAD, HE WOULD WHIP A MARBLE OUT OF HIS POCKET AND THROW IT AT US!! LESTER "SNUFFY" VANWERT GOT HIT ONCE AND HE TOLD HIS MA, I THINK THEY DID SOMETHING ABOUT HIM, SO HE CALMED DOWN.. WE HAD A FEW MEAN ONES, BUT I MOSTLY LIKE ALL MY TEACHERS. I REMEMBER THE "GETTING JAWS" THING AND I REMEMBERED THAT TOO.. HA HA REMEMBER GETTING INTO THE OLD HIGH SCHOOL AND SMELLING POPCORN FOR THE BASKETBALL GAMES AND MARGARET SAYERS SCREAMING UNTIL SHE COULDNT TALK? THE WALK HOME FROM THE GAMES DOWN WEST END, SO WE COULD SNAG, HAHA IT'S SO MUCH FUN READING THE COMMENTS, NOW I GO BACK AND REREAD TO TRY AND FIGURE OUT WHO'S COMMENTING., THANKS BUNCHES MICHAEL FOR STARTING THIS. MRS.,K |
| -Mrs Waltzien the music teacher always wanted you to sing higher even though you tried but it was never enough. -You made Mr Kendal rich & didn’t get any $$$$$ from getting him all those buck tails. - Quinten Good had that 55 bel-aire jacked up so high with them wood bocks for springs. -When gas was cheap at Beaulieu's -When the day of x-mas you finally got that record player & the 45 spindle. -When saturday came you had to go outside even though it was 7 a.m. only came in to eat macaroni & beef soup for supper. -At the old powwow grounds in RL when BROKEN RUBBER used to dance.....(some guy wearing a mask haha) -When the old wash tubes doubled as a drum. D.M. |
| Pushing car tires around when out visiting friends. Gathering icicles off the roof for wash water. Daily walk for mail or shopping at Fairbanks Store. Wearing cans on shoes to make noise when running on the highway. Playing games with friends, i.e. hide and go seek, kick the can, red rover – red rover, ‘bat and ball.’ Wearing the ‘ugly gym uniforms’ to put on a Phy Ed demonstration for the public. Just can not forget the WEEKLY WALK TO CHURCH. LM |
| MORE ADDITIONS TO “REMEMBER WHEN…..” The blue Mission School Bus The Copper City Rock All the baseball fields had dug-outs Girls wore nylon stockings with a black seam down the back of the legs Mothers could remember drawing those lines on their legs to pretend they were wearing nylons during the war years Picking potatoes all day at the Mission for a quarter of a peanut butter sandwich and some milk Going to communion on first Fridays and taking an egg sandwich to eat in the classroom because you couldn’t eat before communion High school girls in their “pep club” uniforms at the basketball games Cecelia Brown and Susan Hallett cheering the team on by pounding on the wooden bleacher wall and quarreling at Ozzie Cheering for the cowboys at the show hall across from Isabel’s store down the hill Saving pop bottles to return and get the fourteen cents for admission to the show “Serial” shorts, cartoons and newsreels before the main movie Half the people hitching because not that many people had cars, and the ones that did always picked up the hitch-hikers Stealing crabapples from the “crabby old guy” mentioned before. His name was Shingobish…don’t know if that was his first or last name The “Christmas Trees” that were held at the biggest house in the neighborhood, and the gag gift that all the grown-ups dreaded getting but which made the party so much fun Hauling steaming hot water from the mill and not having to heat water outside to wash clothes on those days Thanks for doing this section, Mike. It helps us to remember that even though times were tough and we had to work hard, we didn’t have time or energy left to get into trouble. It took everyone in the family doing their part to make a go of things. J. |
| Added September 28, 2007 |
| Hey Mike; this is fun reading things from way back when. I have a few from really way back when.... .I don't know how many are around who remember when they used to put up a really big Christmas tree at the boys building at the Mission and the whole community could go and get a present and a sack of candy and fruit. (the boys building is long gone, I was probably living off the rez when they tore it down) but anyway that was a fun time. And Red Lake had a cool choir, I can still hear Bill McGraws big bass voice, and there were many good women singers back then. I think the Mission had a school choir which was very good too. I remember when Father Florian has some deer penned back of the grotto. They were fun to watch. At one time there were four classrooms in the school, two grades to each room. We used to have some cool spelling contests, too. We used to have plays which were so much fun to put on. I was in a play where I had to say my night prayers and crawl into bed. I don't remember what the play was about but I must have done a good job because Father Simon came into the dining room the next day and gave me his dessert for doing such a good job. (probably for remembering my prayers) I was maybe 7 years young. Geez!!!!!!! Many years later, we used to snag rides to Redby either to see a movie or just to hang out down the Fishery. We'd get a ride back to Red Lake on the back of fish trucks. Remember going out shining in Clearwater in Hurr's field or back of Barrett's field? That was exciting. Many of the things that are in the list of these rememberances I can remember well. I didn't realize what innocent fun we had in those days. We worked hard but it was well worth it. B. |
| Remember... When Baseball games were played at the baseball field in Red Lake where the Sanitation Facilities Office is? When people would steal “rhubarb” from Lizzie English’s. I remember Mr. Bjerke during High School; you had to watch him close because he would come after you with his yard stick and you never knew when he was going to throw chalk or marbles at you. Mrs. Headley in Home Ec; making jumpers (all the girls had the same). Water pumps in Red Lake were at Jane T’s and at Tippy’s. Tipping toilets over on Halloween. Washing clothes in the winter and hanging them out; then they would freeze and you would have to bring them in and hang them to thaw out and dry. Girls played “jacks” and boys played “marbles.” NYC job when you were in high school. When Billy Sayers and Dash Lussier and others would play football on the Highway in front of Copelands store in Red Lake in the evenings. Was anyone scared to walk by the Society Hall at night in Red Lake ? Richard Hanson’s homebrew? R |
| Mike, here is my remember when....... Remember when Mke Barrett used to walk around school with his camera and reported news for the school newspaper? It sure is paying off now, this was a great idea!!!! Anyway, I remember Buddy Bosh the bus driver, He always looked so cool, with his hair slicked with that Berylcream--alot of guys used that stuff. He wore that old time aviator cap you see the airline pilots wear now. He always had a cool looking pickup with a bunch of CB antennas on it, mudflaps, lights on the top of the truck, you always knew when you met that truck that it was him. Yeah, I remember "the Renegades" they always had some fine dance music. Verdell's band was great too. You could always count on them to play that round dance song and everyone would join in. Sharon Summer would dance to wipe-put, Terry Adams would play that drum solo just right. The high school did not always have a girls basketball or volleyball team. We had to use the same uniforms for both sports. Those converse canvas tennis shoes were what almost everyone wore when these sports were played. You could buy a small bag of penny candy for a dime at Jenson's store in Red Lake. Remember Copeland, he always had the big white hat. When you took fish out of the nets, you had to hang the nets after you got done, so they would dry and you had to hang them just so, otherwise you would have one side hanging down. When you got a bike everyone had to take turns riding it, you only got one bike There were only three or four channels you could get on TV and you needed a big antenna on your house to get a decent picture When we moved back from Chicago we had to live with our great-grandmother, she did not speak English. Then we moved to a small tar paper shack, we did not have running water, our mother would put us in the car and we would go to the pump by Mountains house and get water in the big cream cans. There was not alot of traffic on the roads, and if it was nice you would have to walk to the movie hall in Red Lake if you really wanted to see a movie. I remember Rose Graves the high school secretary, she would have paper and pencils to sell. She always wore her hairnet and beige stockings and sensible shoes. The high school had a band, when I hear other school bands play now, I always remember our school band, we had to know how to play the school song and the national anthem. We would always join in with the cheerleaders when they were spelling out W-A-R-R-I-O-R-S!!!! I thank Mr. Kembitsky and Mrs. Weltzen for teaching music, they had so much faith in us, the band even played pomp and circumstance at graduation. Larry Gerhardson played trumpet, Kathy Annette played Alto Sax now she's a Doctor. rd |