Preface

So much has been written of our pioneer heritage, and rightly so, as it should be recorded for all posterity. Without those roots and humble beginnings of those brave souls, our country would not have been settled, and become the proud nation it is today.

It is a later era of which I write - a "linking time" between then and now - an age when my husband and I were youngsters, growing up at our respective farm homes north of Neudorf and Wolseley, and the many remembrances we have of those "olden days", as our children now refer to them!

To both of us it seems important to set down the events of this small space in time (our childhoods - approximately 1943 to the 1960's), for our children, grandchildren and their children, so that perhaps some day this small link with their past heritage will be interesting and meaningful to them in establishing their roots and identity, recalling through these jottings the way things were for us in an era about which very little has been written.

When we think back, it seems like another lifetime ago, and yet recalling events and happenings of those days, some seem like they took place only yesterday...so much has changed since then. While I will endeavor to include excerpts of Gordon's heritage and memories from time to time, this journal will, for the most part, encompass the recollections of this writer.

Naming this collection of memories South West 17 (A Prairie Girl Remembers), seemed especially appropriate to me as it was this quarter section of land that became the "home quarter" to our family, and is where the majority of the following recorded memories took place.

In 1994, my sister Connie and I became joint owners of the South East and West quarters of Section 17, when our mother Margaret no longer wished to manage the farm business, and in 1997 I became sole owner of these two parcels of land, buying out Connie's share, as she wished. The decision to own this half section of prime farm land, once owned by our parents, has been an especially meaningful one for me, and makes my heart glad. It will always remain dear to me because of our parents struggle first to obtain it and then to maintain it and make their living from it. It wasn't easy, but provided a good life for us all I think, and a wealth of memories, looking back...