A senior’s story - Reta Harper
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, August 23, 2017
Wayne Hildebrand
The Neepawa Press
“Getting an education in the 1930’s was not as important as it is today,” Reta reflected. “We had a large family. Education was not the priority. I remember my dad saying, ‘We have a large family to do the work.’ Children did not have all the after school activities like they have today. It was a different time. Early in life we were taught to work: housework, milking cows, chores and looking after little ones with no modern conveniences. Aside from not having extra money, my father generally regarded other activities as wasted time. After Reta Harper told me some of her life story, I thought her work ethic lessons probably helped her through her life.
“My grandfather, Robert Patterson, emigrated from Ireland in the early 1800’s and settled in Ontario,” said Reta. Her father, David Patterson (born 1894), had a Grade 3 education and left Ontario when he was 15 years old to work for farmers in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. In 1915, he enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force at Souris for World War I. He took his training at Camp Hughes near Carberry. He served with the Canadian-Scottish 16th Battalion at Vimy Ridge and was wounded in the battle for Hill 70 in 1917. In 1918, he was discharged and returned to Manitoba. He married Vera Muirhead (her family also emigrated from Ireland) in 1919 and settled southwest of Gladstone in the Bear Creek District (near Helston). Here, they raised a large family of 12 children: Robert (1920), Alice (1922), Reta (1923), Donald (1925), Joyce (1927), Norma (1930), Geanne (1932), Catherine (1935), Jim (1936), Alex (1937), Alan (1939) and Frank (1947).
Reta Patterson was born in 1923 at the home farm near Helston-Mayfeld. There was no going to a hospital for her mother, at least not for the first six kids. Reta attended Knox Church in Helston (it burned down in 1972) and went to Bear Creek School (closed in 1967). “When I started Bear Creek School there were over 30 students, all packed into a one room schoolhouse,” explained Reta. “Today there are no signs of most of the homes, a big change for a rural community. Before I was old enough to ride a horse, I walked 2 ½ miles to school each day, and yes, I was barefoot, the same as the rest of the kids. The older boys took turns walking a half mile to get a pail of drinking water for the school every day. After drinking a glass, I remember one boy telling me he peed in the pail. I felt sick until later that day when I saw him take a drink of the water!”
“My strongest recollection of the 1930s was the dust and dirt,” said Reta. “Everything was covered with dirt. It was terrible! Our teacher gave us a cloth to wipe the dirt off our desks every morning. When it was really bad, the teacher would soak down sawdust on the schoolroom floor to keep the dust down. Summer fallowing the cultivated land was common farm practice in the 1930s. It was the only way to control weeds. The wind picked up the bare soil and the dust storms blocked out the sun. The grasshoppers were unbelievable! As a kid, I remember the feeling of green slimy grasshopper guts squishing between my toes.”
Reta married Jim (Jip) Harper at Knox Church in 1944. They farmed on the east side of the RM of Langford adjacent to the northeast corner of the rolling sand hills of the Langford Community Pasture. Reta still owns the farmland. She calls it “God’s Country” and considers it “paradise”. They had 2 children, Judith (1950) and Jim (1954). Jip passed away in 1977 after 30 years of suffering from rheumatoid arthritis.
Reta did the farm work with help from neighbors. “I loved my cows,” said Reta. “They would let me put my arms around them in the pasture. Thanks goodness nothing ever happened to me, because no one would have found me. I was on my own. Calving time was my favorite time with the cattle. I kept cattle until I was 81 years old. I also enjoyed turning over the land (cultivating) to prepare the cropland, mostly for oats. At the time, women doing farm work was not the custom. It was considered “men’s work”. Today lots of women run farms and they can do everything a man can.”
In 1962 Reta started to work in Neepawa at the Vivian and Hamilton Hotels and later at the East View Lodge as a nurse’s aid for 16 ½ years. Every day she returned home to do the farm work.
Reta married Ken Smith in 1984, and they lived west of Arden. Ken passed away in 2015 after spending 4 years in Third Crossing Manor in Gladstone. “Ken and I went to visit my Dad when he was in Third Crossing Manor,” said Reta. “Ken told me if he ever had to go to a home, he wanted to go to Third Crossing Manor.”
Today Reta lives in her own home in Neepawa. “It can be hard living alone,” said Reta. “I have outlived all of my old friends. I have a pace maker, so I try not to get my heart rate going too fast. I enjoy reading and always have. There is not much on the TV. I was blessed with having two good husbands. I am very proud of all of my family, children and grandchildren. I have worked hard my entire life. Maybe that is why I am celebrating my 94th birthday. I give thanks for the good things in my life. When I watch world events, I am glad I live in Canada.”
