A Senior Story: Ruby Love

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Published on Friday, March 10, 2017

By Wayne Hildebrand

The Neepawa Banner

Ruby Love was born at a farmhouse 12 miles north of Arden, Manitoba in the Rural Municipality of Lansdowne in 1927.  Her parents, Wilmot Love and Emma (Stinson) were married in 1921. They had 5 children; Violet, Isabelle, Ruby, William and Ruth (oldest to youngest).  They lived on the same farm that Ruby’s grandfather homesteaded.

By coincidence, both the Love and Stinson families were originally from Ireland.  They immigrated to Canada because of the Irish Potato Famine. One million people died of starvation in the Great Famine and a million more emigrated from Ireland.  

How did Grandpa Love find his Canadian homestead? He walked!  He took the Red River cart trail west of Portage La Prairie and then trekked north of Arden.  He found a quarter section he liked, and then had to walk to the Land Titles registration office in Minnedosa.  It cost $10 to file his claim.  Before receiving the full title to his claim, he had to build a home, reside on the land for three years, fence 40 acres and cultivate a specified number of acres. Ruby has a Century Farm Certificate hanging on her wall recognizing the 100 years that this farm was in the Love family. When Ruby was 11 years old, the family moved to the “Murdy Farm”, located 10 miles northwest of Plumas.

Ruby, like most children in the area, grew up on a mixed farm. They raised chickens, turkeys, pigs, sheep, cattle and horses, and they grew hay and grain crops. Everyone worked to support the farm. Ruby recalls helping to raise and dress the turkeys for sale. This was important work, because this was where the Christmas money came from.  Compared to today, Ruby thinks it was easier for families to stay together, because they worked together.  

As a young girl, Ruby remembers First Nation families from the Amaranth area would ride by their farm looking for Seneca root.  When they found some they would set up a tent near their farm. Seneca root was used as a traditional medicine for respiratory problems, such as pneumonia, headache and stomach ache.  In the first half of the 1900s, it was an ingredient in many patent medicines.  During the Depression of the 1930s, many First Nation and prairie farm families earned extra money by digging Seneca root.  In the mid 1940s, as antibiotics came on the market, the use of Seneca root declined.  The Loves let the First Nation families keep their horses in one of their corrals during the evenings and they would give them milk, a plentiful commodity.  The First Nation families often bought a loaf of fresh baked bread from Ruby’s mom.  The price was 10 cents a loaf. Ruby said they always got along well.  

Ruby attended Eddington School for grades 1 to 4 and Molesworth School for grades 5 to 8.  She completed grade 9 by correspondence.  To continue onto high school, you had to go to Plumas and pay room and board, because travelling 20 miles a day by horse was not feasible.  Her parents were not able to accommodate the expense.  Ruby particularly enjoyed riding the sleigh to school, the forerunner of today’s school bus.  Reminiscing, she said, “We would sing all the way!”

Ruby’s favorite school memories were of the dances and picnics at Molesworth and Ivanhoe Schools.  Everyone came, young and old, rich or poor.  The women brought food that was shared by all.  They were fun community events.  Hydro didn’t arrive in the area until the early 1950s, so no one stayed at home to watch TV.

As a young lady, Ruby loved the weekly dances at the dance hall above the Red and White Store in Plumas.  It was all old time music.  Everyone danced with everyone and all knew how to square dance.

In the early 1940s, Ruby recalls a young pilot from the Royal Canadian Air Force Training Base in Neepawa had to land his plane in their farmyard due to zero visibility from a heavy fog.  She recalls many times having to run out and calm the horses when they flew too low over the farm.  Some say that the frequency of low fly-bys was directly proportional to the number of teenage girls living at a farm. On occasion, a note tied to a stone could be seen dropping from a plane.  

Ruby married Albert Ursel in Plumas in 1954.  Albert was very musical and played the guitar and violin.  He was self-taught and played in several bands.  Ruby plays the piano, also self-taught.  Albert and Ruby raised five children:  Karen (1955), Brian (1957), Arlene (1959), Glen (1961) and Alan (1962).  Ruby’s husband Albert passed away 10 years ago.

Today, at 90 years of age, Ruby enjoys living in Kinsmen Kourts in Neepawa.  She stopped driving a year ago.  To be honest, she says, “I never took a driver’s test.”  When she went to the driver’s license agent in Plumas he said, “I know your dad trusts you to drive, so here it is!”  Ruby loves to play her piano, make puzzles and listen to music.  I noticed the disc on the top of her CD player. In hand writing it was labelled, “Old Time Music - Songs by Albert Ursel.”

Wayne Hildebrand is documenting the stories of are seniors.