Evelyn's Biography (part 2/9)

In 2002, enrolled at Mount Royal College in a Women's Studies class, we were asked to interview a woman in our life and write their biography. Leading up to grandma's 75th birthday, I would like to share what I wrote.

Part 2/9

Evelyn’s mother Sarah was a house wife; she looked after the children and took care of house hold affairs. Dean, her father, was a carpenter, however, when Evelyn was five he went overseas to go to war. She knew that she did not want to do what her parents did, and especially did not want to be confined to housework like her mother was. When Evelyn was a mere babe, before the war, her family did not have a lot of money. Her grandmother “could make a pot of stew big enough to feed half the neighborhood with just the smallest amount of meat” – and she often did, because there wasn’t anything else. During the war it was actually better for their family economically. Her father’s wages from the war were sent home – it was an allowance which was based on the number of children that they had – and there were five children. They had a huge garden and did a lot of canning; living on an acre lot they always had a lot of food that could feed many in the neighborhood.

After the war, finances improved more as her father got a job as a carpenter. As well, after the war, Evelyn’s mother worked in the fruit packing houses in the fall. The women worked just part time, and the men would have full time or management positions. Working in the packing line however, men and women were paid on commission so some women could have made more than some men. “We would pack apples in the packing houses. Back then they wrapped and graded each apple individually, not like now how they just jumble them together in a box.”