Although thc Morrison Sub was considered the Dogpatch of Kimberley, we who lived there thought it the best area in town. At one time, Mr. Morrison owned the whole valley, hence its name. Tn our minds, there was the Upper Sub and the Lower Sub. I'm not sure where the dividing tive was but I think it was at Waldie’s.
“The Upper Sub was farthest from town and ended at the Gulch. To enter the Gulch, you had to walk through Masichs yard.
We weren't very old when the Masichs moved into our area. We were all excited as Mr. Masich drove his flat-decked truck through the neighbourhood. He had a huge wooden-butter- box full of licorice allsorts and whenever he saw any of us kids he stopped and gave us as much candy as we wanted. It didn’t take long for the word to-be spread that candy was being given away. What pigs we made of ourselves, in fact many of us ate until we were sick. I can still remember piles of hall eaten licorice on the side of the road.
The Masich family, like ours, was big with childrén of all ages, Bill, Margaret, Helen, Gwen, Ruth, Trene, Dorothy, David and Tom. They lived at the very end of the road and didn’t join in our games very offen although they were always welcome.
Leaches were next. Mr. and Mrs. Leach were from England. They had five children, Shirley, Beverley, Warren, Sheila and Myma. Their house was at the top of the hill. We used to make Mr. Leach mad in the winter as we rode down the hilt on our sleighs and bobsleds. Naturally, the ruts became icy and slippery which caused a slight problem for Leaches coming and going.
Kotushes lived af the bottom of the hill. Their property was large enough to house a small farmyard, which was home to one milk cow and hundreds (or so it seemcd) of chickens. Mrs. Kotush was a crack shot and whenever any of us saw a hawk hovering over the chicken yard, we'd yell to her. Out she would come with ber “22” rifle and in no time she would aim at the soaring bird and pull the trigger. She never missed. When they cleancd the chicken coop they burned the old straw. Tt STANK. Tf we were playing on the road and smelled the straw burning, every kid whose mother had clothes drying on the line would run home selling: “Momma, Momma, Chicken-Shit-Bill is burning again!”. Every mom ran out to take the clothes off the line whether they were dry or not. Behind the chicken coop was a large rock which we loved to climb thinking we wre scaling the Rockies. It was one of our favourite playing spots.
The Kotush children were Peter, Ella, (who later called herself Ellen); Kay and Bill. They, along with the Leaches, were always part of the gang. There was no age, nor sex discrimination in our group as the bigger boys and girls would let us younger ones play ball and other games with them.
Douglasses lived next to Katushes. Their son, Bill, was too old to play with us.
Everyone had outdoor toilets in the early days. Douglass’s toilet was at the back of their garage. One year, Bill hung a banner over the toilet door proclaiming the area “YELLOW-. STONE PARK”. Sometimes, when our “outdoor” was busy “Dougie” would Iet us use her facilities. I once told my classmiates, in September when we had to tell what we did and where we went on our Summer Holiday, that T had beer to “Yellowstone Park”.
We lived next to Douglass’s. Whenever our cousins from Rossland were coming we really cleaned up the yard. Dougie would come out on her porch and we could hear her say, “Ye Gods, the Rossland Conroys are coming!!!” That meant four more kids, yelling, laughing and fighting around her house.
Streichs lived next to us. Besides Martha and Andy, who were Finlay and Bud's age, they had Bernie and Edgar who were around Joe’s age. Mr. Streich was killed in a car accident coming home from the mine. Bernie and Edgar were preschoolers at the time. Mrs. Streich was a tremendous gardener. To my knowledge, she was the only one who grew cucumbers. She planted them in a cold frame on the bank above the house.
Conds lived next to Streichs. Their house was close to the road. Mr. and Mrs. Cond were from England. Their children: Len, Doris and Margaret were in the samc age group as Finlay and myself. Mr. Cand had an old Ford truck parked-in the yard. Even though the truck had no tires or engine, it travelled all over the world depending on who was driving.
As I recall, Leightons lived in the next house. When they moved, the Lewises moved in for a short while before they moved to Summers Sub. They eventually returncd to England before 1939. Finlay and Marion lived in the house until they moved to the West Kootenay prior to Finlay joining the army. Clande and Bea Simpson then bought the house. Their boys Keith, Enos and Barry were around Joc and Danny's age.
Old Mr. Radke, a bachelor, had the next yard. He too was a gifted gardener. He also did woodwork and had many colourful flowers, birds and other ojects fronting the eaves over his doorway. He was one of two bachelors in the Sub. Mr. McCall was the other; he lived in a log cabin, the first house when one approached from town. Centennial Hall now sits on the McCall property. We girls were not supposed to visit Mr. Radke alone and the boys were not supposed to visit Mr. McCall. 1t didn’t take us long to send boys to Mr. Radke and girls to Mr. McCall to get candies.
1 think Blackwells lived in the next house. They had Jessie, Fred, Richard and May, whose ages corresponded to Finlay’s all the way down to Wanda.
Like Cand's, Simpson’s and Radke’s, the Blackwell's house was built close to the road whereas Kotush's, Douglass's, ours and Streich’s were on the hill side of the creek. Blackwell’s had a white picket fence alongside the road. Mrs. Blackwell was a Scots woman and much taller than Mr. Blackwell, an Englishman, Whenever they had an argument, we would stop whatever game we were playing and head for Blackwell's picket fence. We knew the argument was over when we would hear Mr. Blackwell say “BULLSHIT” and Mrs. Blackwell would reply, in her Scottish accent: “Slide in it”, then back we would go to whatever game we had been playing.
For a whilé, Margaret and Howard Anderson lived in the next home. When they moved to town, Houston's moved in. Louis and Robert Houston were around Joe's age and quickly became part of the younger gang
Waldies were next. Margaret was my age, then came Lydia, Robert and Ary. Robert went to China as a missionary when he finished school. Unfortunately, he suffered a ruptured appendix and died. After Waldies moved to town, a family. named Crane moved in. I don't remember them as I had moved on.
Katie and Tina Pedroti and their younger brother, John lived in the next house. They moved to town when Katie was a teenager. We missed them.
For several years the Tams family lived in the next home, against the hill. We enjoyed the friendship of Dorothy, Audrie, Margery, Howard and Lome for many years. Alas, they too Ieft the Sub and moved all the way to Marysville.
Another Anderson family lived next to Tams. We called Mr. Anderson either “Gasoline Tom or Second Gear Tom” because he had once used gasoline to encourage a fire fo burn and suffered a few burns of his own. Tt was reported that whenever he drove his car he never went above second gear, Their children were Bessie, Albert, Robert, Margaret and Ralph. Ralph had difficulty pronouncing his “R's”. One day he knocked on our door and when Mom answered Ralph said, “Mrs. Conwoy would you like to buy a ticket?”
“What's it on, Ralph?”
“A piece, of codbowd”, replied Ralph, It was in fact a raffic ticket sponsored by the United Church.
Shannon's house was next, close to the road. Most of the Shannon children were adults, Charlie, Harry, Jim, Bob, Frank and May, who was a year-or two older than Finlay. The younger children were Mary, Bud's age and Melvin, a few years younger than I. Although he Was younger, Melvin and I were the best of friends until I reached my teens. For years, we had two Christmas dinners, the first at noon with Mom and Pop Shannon and the second in early evening at our house. Unfortunately Mary suffered a brain tumour and died at the age of six- teen.
McKenzies were next door, Anna and Doris were around Finlay’s age. They were followed by Duncan, Gordon, Rath, Verna and John. Apparently, an older brother, lan, drowned in the crock but it was before my time. They too moved to town when we were teenagers but Gordon and John always remained loyal to the Sub. Duncan died at a young age, the result of an accident at the mine.
McWhirters lived next to McKenzies. Their boys were Barry and Don, around Anna and Joe's ages.
Other kids who lived in Lower Sub at one time or another were Eleanor and Kjell Sandberg, Ole Olson, Martin Hansen, lngred Erickson, Les Fregin, Betty-Lou Erikson and her younger brother. The Thorliefson and Pearson children, Marie Hansen and Corrine Erickson were all older than us.
Later the Seredicks, who were Kotush’s cousins, moved in, as did the McLennan’s daughter Lorraine; Charlie and Dorothy Shannon, whose children were Loma, Jean, Linda and Larry.
Bill and Katy Cox joined the group adding Dianne and Bobby, whom we used to babysit.
Last but not least, was the Morrison family. The Morrison children were all older than us with the exception of Jack. He and his wife, Jean, still live in the family home which they call “Sunnybrook”.
Aside from Jack, Bernie Streich is the only one who still lives in the Sub. He and his wife bought the Blacksvell property. They built a new home close to the hill and demolished the old Blackwell home, fences and all.” Bernie is now called Bamey but Edgar and 1 still say “Bemie".
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