Merton Elizabeth (McAffer) Friesen

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, uprisings occurred in Europe against the power, authority and abuses of what was known as the Holy Roman Empire. Many of those persecuted began to emigrate to other countries. My ancestors ended up in the Orkney Islands. When Canada was being settled, war broke out between the French settlers and those from Britain. Both Britain and France sent troops to fight in this war and my great-great grandfather, Pierre Levesque, was sent to Canada by Britain to fight the French. When that war was over neither country recalled their armies and left them in the new land to fend for themselves.

Pierre (1837-1881) settled in Grand Ligne, near the Vermont border. It happened the area was rich in granite, an excellent building stone, so Pierre developed a quarry and sold building stone for years. Pierre married Rubina Johnson and they had one son, also named Pierre.

Pierre (1859-1938) grew up in Grand Ligne and continued in his father’s farm and quarry. He married a widow, Elizabeth Hart (ne Smithers). Elizabeth had two children, a daughter Susan and a son Charles, who were raised by Pierre. Pierre and Elizabeth went on to have six sons: Walter (1880-1970, Leonard (1882-1947), Louis Russell (1884-1972), Clifford (1886-1965), Melbourne (1888-1981), and Nathan (1890-1972),

Louis Russell (1884-1972) was my grandfather, known as Big Papa by the family, because he stood six foot four, quite unique for his generation. My grandfather, at the age of 19, joined the St. Albans and Vermont Railway working as a Trainman between Montreal and Albany, New York. At the age of 20, he came west to work for the CPR. He started out as a fireman and worked out of Red Deer, Alberta. It was here he met his future wife, Ethel, a ward of the Methodist minister and his wife. On June 1, 1905, Louis moved to Medicine Hat, Alberta, to work as a Trainman for the CPR.

He was promoted to Conductor after ten months. He served the CPR in that capacity for 44 years, the longest tenure as a conductor in the history of the CPR.

My maternal grandparents married May 28, 1906, and had four children: Merton Elizabeth born April 1, 1907; Edith Florence born November 18, 1908; Russell Pierre, born October 29, 1910; Ethel Alberta born October 12, 1912. 

Apparently, Grandad was in England during World War 1 working at the Woolwich Arsenal making big guns. Grandad was also a steam engineer and later was sent to Toronto, with his family, to install the boilers for the Borden Milk Company. The family returned to Scotland for a few years, and eventually came back to Canada settling in the West.

My grandparents had four children: Elizabeth, Ronald, Eddie and George.

Ronald McAffer, my dad, was born in Scotland, March 2, 1903. He moved to Canada with his family and lived in Medicine Hat the rest of his life. As the oldest boy, he was required to leave school after Grade 8 and go to work. He worked at the Medicine Hat News as a Devil’s Printer (joe boy) and earned $2.00 a week, which he was required to turn over to his mother, in full. He started working at Ogilvie Flour Mill in 1925. Over the years, he took many correspondence courses and received his Steam Engineer ticket from LaSalle University and later his Electrical Engineer ticket from Calgary Technical School.

My mother, Merton (Levesque) McAffer, was born in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Apri1, 1908. After high school, she attended Garbutt Business College and worked as a bookkeeper in a men’s wear store until her marriage. Both of my parents were active in sports. Dad was a boxer, runner, played football and lacrosse. My mother played tennis and was also a runner. Both of my parents were strong swimmers and excellent skaters, none of which was passed on to me.

Both parents were active in the community as well; Dad ran a gym for kids, and Mum was on the School Board for eight years. Both worked at summer camps for children, Mum in the United Church camps, Dad in the Kiwanis Kids camps. In later years, both were active in the local drama group, Dad building the sets, Mum handling tickets and the office.

Now we come to this Merton! I did all my education in Medicine Hat and then went on to the University of Alberta. Over the years, I attended summer schools, took courses in various things, but the only degree I ever achieved was my Mrs. Like my parents, I was active in the community as well. I had a CGIT group, played the piano for the Sunday School, went to camp as a leader, ran a winter gym class for underprivileged kids, worked as a Director of Summer Recreation and also curled in the winter.

Late August in 1956, my buddy, Jeanette, and I made our first trip up the dusty old Alaska Highway to take up residence in the Steele Street Teachers’ Residence and began our new jobs at Whitehorse Elementary School. In the 50s it was a great town for single girls! There was a bit of shortage of females at the time, so what to do on a Saturday night just was not an issue. Also, both military bases were in operation, which resulted in excellent sporting events. The competition between the Airforce, Army and the Town teams was spirited.

It did not take long to get involved in the town. A house full of single girls was a great outlet for help. We were on deck to usher at various functions, work at the Drama Club, and serve as “decorations.” A fellow teacher was married to the CO at the airbase and when he had VIPs visiting, a call would come to the residence and those available would get all dolled up and the CO’s car (with the flags on the fender) would arrive to pick us up. We would be delivered to the Officers’ Mess, where we would be met by CO Art Ireland and his wife Jan, and then introduced to the visitors. A cocktail hour and dinner followed, and at the bewitching hour the car would be at the door and we would be all safely delivered home. No hanky-panky on Art’s watch!

Of course, I eventually met a fella named Frank. We dated spasmodically for four years; then Frank presented me with a diamond ring—on Valentine’s Day! How romantic! The next move was to get married but Frank worked out of town a fair amount, on the DEW line, building bridges at Pelly and Stewart; I was teaching and attending summer school. We finally found we were both free during the Christmas break so I flew home to Medicine Hat to finalize the wedding plans I had started in the summer, and Frank drove out. As it is today, available housing was slim. However, through a friend of a friend, Frank was able to track down an available house and bought it sight unseen. The little house at 405 Steele Street served us well for 14 years. When our family got older and we seemed to have billets around all of the time, we built our present home on Alsek Road.

We went down the aisle, December 29, 1960. The newlywed couple departed almost immediately to head back up the Alaska Highway. The going-away outfit for the bride was baggy ski pants, mukluks and parka! We arrived back in Whitehorse late Sunday afternoon and entered our newly acquired home. Next morning, I headed back to school and left my new husband to finish unpacking and set up housekeeping.

Eventually, we added to our family: daughter Diane arrived August 28, 196l, and son David on March 17, 1964. Frank took a bit of ribbing about producing a Friesen on St. Paddy’s Day.

The next few years were spent raising our family. I did teach the music at the Anglican Kindergarten, played for evening church services and accompanied the junior church choir. I worked part time at a craft store and then was coerced into taking over the afternoon kindergarten class in the basement of the Catholic Church. About that time, the Department of Education decided to get into the kindergarten business, the purpose being to give the native children an easier start in school. Nicky Harrison was the first kindergarten teacher in the village and her experiences would certainly fill a book—a very funny book! In order to become kindergarten “instructors” we were required to go back to summer school for two summers, at our own expense, of course. The fact that most of us were already qualified teachers did not mean a thing to the Department. My new kindergarten class was in the basement of the United Church and my first set of supplies from the Department was six hula hoops!

 My next job was at Challenge—working with the handicapped. My job was to find jobs for them. Eventually I decided I missed the classroom, not enough to return full time but as a substitute teacher. And that is what I did for the next 15 years.

Meanwhile, Diane and David grew up, married and then came the big news—the first grandchild was on the way! About then, I decided being a grandma was far more interesting so I quit answering those early morning phone calls and concentrated on being Grandma, which turned out to be my favourite job. I have two grandsons who were my saviours in 1999 when I lost my mother in February and my husband in December. Of course, now the grandchildren are grown and I have the sweetest great grandson. But, unfortunately, that family does not live in Whitehorse. But, great Grandma has an Air North share!

I have become active in the various seniors’ groups, having served on the boards for the ElderActive group, the Golden Age and the Yukon Council on Aging. I have also travelled to the Senior Games since 2002. I participated in Track and have achieved several gold and silver medals. Also, I worked on the committee when we hosted the Games in 2004.

I continued to take assorted courses and one was for officiating at curling. I achieved my Level 2 certification and officiated at curling playdowns for a number of years. Other volunteer jobs included working at the Food Bank and over 25 years at the Arts Centre. Oh yes, I became a Can-Can dancer! Lana Dowie had instructed Can-Can dancing for a number of years and put the word out to any senior ladies who were interested. And, so I became a Can-Can dancer for ten years. At first, we wore the leftover skirts of the young dancers, but they had teeny tiny waists, and we didn’t. So, we spent one summer making our own skirts when we discovered to have them made professionally would have cost $500.00 per skirt.

My main activity now, pre-pandemic, is to go on cruises. Not sure why a prairie girl is so fond of bobbing around on water!