KORE LIEN
by Grace (Potts) Lien
As a child, I remember the boxes of clothes my grandmother sent from Calgary, also Dad's sister sent many boxes from Toronto. If it hadn't been for those boxes I don't know what my parents would have done sometimes.
Dad always saw that we got to school every day, even in the coldest weather, as he would take time to drive us. He wanted us to have as much education as he could afford to give us.
From the time Bert and I were old enough to crawl into the saddle, we took over the job of getting cattle home. By that time there were more fences. As George and Frances got older they took over the riding as we had other jobs to perform.
During winter, church services were held at different homes. In summer it was at Richland School or sometimes at Cook Lake, south of the water tank. Rev. Marshall was the minister. During Sunday School at Richland School he taught us many games. The minister before him was Rev. Whaley, who also held services at different homes.
In the fall of 1935 when Rev. Marshall paid his usual call we were threshing. He had never seen a steam engine work, so we took him down to the outfit at lunchtime. Pete Moren was threshing for us. Rev. Marshall was really interested in everything he saw there.
During the 20's and 30's parents took the children to the dances and concerts they attended. The children were put to sleep on coats up on the stage. I remember when the present theatre was a dance hall. The first shows were silent movies.
Ball games were held either at Richland School or in Gibson Valley, three-quarters of a mile west of where we lived. Later they held ball games at Stoney Lake every Sunday. People from miles around would come by any way they had of getting there, even walking.
I remember in the late 20's there were willows and muskrat houses in Elk Point from Habiak's garage east to the railway.
We attended Richland School until we were through Grade 9. There were about twenty-two pupils. It was a cold place in the winter so we used to huddle around the furnace in the corner to do our lessons. We had to thaw the ink on top of the stove. Richland School was the centre of activities for many years, for meetings and dances, summer and winter. My teachers at Richland were Mrs. Edwards, Miss Pauline Johnson, Miss Hazel Nelson and Miss Hitchener.
In September, 1938, the country kids came into Elk Point for higher education. They came from all over, as far as Heinsburg and Clandonald. There were shacks all over town where girls or boys were batching. I had my shack where Sumptons now live. Next to me was Moren's shack. Across from us, where Shell Service is, there was another one, with a smaller one behind it. We really worked and studied in those days. Our shacks were cold, the school was cold, so sometimes in the winter we wondered if we would ever warm up. For winter entertainment we would go watch a hockey game, which was played on an open rink.
Mr. and Mrs. Jensen were our teachers in high school.
I got married in July, 1941, to Kore Lien of Lake Eliza. Kore came to Alberta in the spring of 1930 from Norway. As he couldn't speak any English, he found it very hard at first. The times were hard and jobs were scarce but he was lucky to get a place to work.
We have two children, Ellen Ziomek of the Derwent district, and Edward, who lives at Condor.
We have moved around quite a bit. Our addresses have been Lake Eliza, Elk Point, Lindbergh and now Elk Point.
