Ernestly ?!Ernestly ?!By ERNIE NEUFELD, Weyburn Review Associate Publisher
Having come to Weyburn over 40 years ago, it is not surprising
that this is where my roots now are. But having arrived, complete
with family, at the mature age of 30, there has always been a
residual sense of connection with my native Manitoba, where I
was born in the 1920s.
This connection might have become a mite fragile, except for
the fact that we left behind two clans, which multiplied as commanded
in Scripture, and achieved the material well-being with which
Canadians in general have been endowed.
The result was that there have arisen over four decades many
reasons to return to our roots; beside visits undertaken for their
own enjoyment and merit, there have been weddings, deaths, children
visiting cousins at summer cottages, anniversaries and reunions
of either of the two clans.
A reasonable estimate - and it seems reasonable, even allowing
for the occasional emergency flight - is one Manitoba visit a
year - which obviously adds up to about 40 return motor trips
between Weyburn and southeastern Manitoba (Winnipeg or Steinbach)
over the decades.
The route allows for little in the way of variation. Sometimes,
on the Manitoba side, the Trans-Canada was the highway of preference
between Winnipeg and Brandon or Highway 21. Once in a while circumstances
favored more southern routes. But the western portion almost had
to be Manitoba Highway 2 and Saskatchewan Highway 13.
Southwestern Manitoba is much like our part of Saskatchewan,
so the trips offered relatively little in exciting discoveries.
It got so that we noticed new barns or farm homes (nice changes
from deserted farmsteads); perhaps a decorative windmill on a
handsome farm lawn, or a new motel or diner at a crossroads.
Then about 20 years ago we spied something new a few miles
west of the little town of Reston. On a concrete pedestal and
protected by a little steel fence, just inside a barbed-wire fence
separating a small clearing in a wooded area from the highway
right-of-way, was a tiny building. You didn't have to stop to
realize that it was a miniature of one of the thousands of country
schoolhouses that once dotted the Canadian prairie.
Every time I passed it, I vowed that "next time"
I would have my camera with me, conveniently within reach to enable
me to stop for a quick picture, and to write down the inspiring
words which surely must be etched on the cairn's plaque.
So last fall, after almost two decades of good intentions,
I remembered to have my camera beside me on the car seat, and
stop I did for that long-intended photo.
The photo is reproduced here, but I must confess to some disappointment
with the inscription, which merely told me that "To honor
the pioneers this replica commemorates the site of Prairie Rose
School #967. Dedicated July 28, 1979 - 1899-1963"
Not much for a lifelong newsman to hang his hat on there, right?
But a great gesture on the part of former students.
Returning to Weyburn in May, I happened to run short of gas
near Reston. There was no service station at the highway, so I
drove into the town and caught a station operator about to lock
up for lunch before going to the Chamber of Commerce meeting.
While he was filling my tank, I remembered a few stops I had
made in Reston in earlier years to say hello and perhaps share
a cup of coffee or glass of lemonade with long-time Reston Recorder
publisher "Rusty" Manning and his gracious wife .
Realizing that I had not laid eyes on them in years I asked
the man whatever had happened to the friendly couple.
He told me I could just find out for myself, because "there
they are, just back from visiting their daughter in Staveley,
Alberta." He nodded his head toward a house directly across
the street, where a grey-thatched pair were just unloading luggage
from the family car.
Under the circumstances, a long stay or chat was out of the
question; just "hello" and "see you again."
But I hadn't driven many miles before I remembered Prairie Rose
School and a little mystery that must be responsible for the touching
memorial.
So within days of arriving back in Weyburn, I wrote Rusty,
and begged him to send me whatever might be available on the schoolhouse
and the testimony to its past existence.
As I expected, Rusty was not long in answering, and I got the story. I'd like to share it, and my enlightenment, with you next week.
My address (also listed on the Review's Website) is ernestly@pathcom.com.
Box 400, 904 East Avenue
Weyburn, SK
S4H 2K4
Phone: (306) 842-7487
Fax: (306) 842-0282
E-mail: weyburn.review@sk.sympatico.ca
This web page and its contents are copyright of the Weyburn
Review (1987) Ltd.
