Margaret Driedger Braun, born 1926,
Newton Siding, Manitoba
My first memory is of my fourth
birthday in 1930. We lived on Reh's road, near Rev. Gerhard Thiessens, on Pelee
Island. After school my older girl
cousins, Katie and Agatha Dick, came to our house and Mom said, “What song would
you like for your birthday?” I chose a funeral song, namely,
Schlafe mein kleiner, schlafe mein reiner....Jacob Taves, a boy
close to my age, had recently died and that song was sung at his funeral.
I was born in Newton Siding,
Manitoba in 1926. I imagine that Dad's mother Katherine Cornies assisted with my
birth. We lived on a big farm with Uncles Henry, Jake and Abram Dick, and David
Cornies (Sally Epp's parents) for one or two years. My parents
Abram and Margaretha Driedger had come to Canada from the Molotschna
Colony in Russia in 1924. My older
siblings were Cornelius and Agatha. We later lived in Glenlea, Manitoba with
Mom's family members where brother Abe was born in 1928.
We moved to Pelee in about 1929.
Our relatives, the Abram Dicks, Jacob Driedgers and N. N. Driedgers lived
on the Island. We lived on Pelee until 1938. Our first house there was across
the road from the N.N.Driedger's Cruikshank farm.
When we lived at the Camilles in
1931, brother John was born. Dad walked us to the Abram Rempel family and in the
morning he came to pick us up and told
us that we had a new baby brother! My nose was out of joint because the
Thiessens seemed to have baby girls quite often. Katie Thiessen and I would play
house so I got to have the real baby girl and Katie would have a doll.
In 1932 I started school at the
North End where my teacher was Mr. Hillier. The Rev. Rempel children, along with
John, Peter, Nick and Jake Driedger attended there, as well.
We now lived between the
Feltz house and the West Side pump. I remember Dad driving our Model T car over
the wooden bridge there which was scary because the boards all rattled and
shook.
Our family then moved to Middle
Island and here we lived beside Cornelius Taves's, next to Elsie McInnes. My
teacher was Miss Warmington who later married Reuben McInnis.
In the winter months we had German
School on Saturdays from 9am until 4pm. The teacher, George Wiebe, taught us a
Russian song which I remember to this day: Verse one began with Kack po Mario
repeated three times, then mario sinamoo. Verse two: Plala
lebig... slebig jatamee. Verse three: Genieves jalsa... sie so kreele
oriol. I remember when the teacher was practicing this song with us and we
got the giggles. Finally he said: “Leni, ich werde dir bald auf die Schnautze
hauen!” Then we all laughed!
Mennonite worship services were
held in what was then the Konrad home on Parsons Road. Jacob Driedger was our
pastor. I remember being at the Konrad home before church where we all huddled
on a bed upstairs while Ben Konrad, who was already a teenager, told us scary
stories. When we sat in church we looked at Der Breite Weg und der schmale
Weg picture on the side wall of the Konrad living room which served as the
sanctuary. Our family moved a total of seven times in the nine years we lived on
the Island. I really loved the Island.
By this time brother Cornie was a
teenager and we moved to the mainland in April of 1938. I was in grade six. We
first lived on the Wheatley Townline between the 10thand 11th
concession. Then we moved to the town of Wheatley near Rev. Janzen's place.
Bruce Coulter lived there after us.
After three years we moved to Leamington, where Dad bought a farm on concession
7.
In spring I cut asparagus at
Tildens on the point with Aggie and some other girls. After that I found winter
work at the Imperial Tobacco factory on Oak Street of Leamington. Because I
wasn't 16 yet, Betty Flaming Konrad took me to see the manager, John Gunlock who
gave me permission to work there. I
boarded at Henry and Tina Wiens's on Victoria Avenue, along with five other
girls: Katie and Alice Toews, sister Aggie, Katie and Vera Langeman. We each
paid $2 board every week. We brought our food with us and cooked our own meals.
Weekends were spent at home. I worked at Imperial every winter
until 1949.
John Braun and I met at youth
church functions and were married by Rev. N.N. Driedger in June of 1949. We
travelled to North Bay on our honeymoon. We first lived at Nobles in an upstairs
apartment. John farmed with his father on concession 2.
In November we bought a farm on 12-13 Sideroad between conessions 6 and 7
with brother Jake and Mary Braun.
Here we raised our four children.
When we no longer grew tomatoes I spent 17 enjoyable years working at the
Mennonite Home. We spent one week every summer at our cottage on
“Monahan Isalnd” with our family. We lived on our farm until 1998 when we
moved to Pickwick Drive in Leamington.
Our happiest times were spent
babysitting our dear grandchildren: 10 boys and 2 girls. My husband John died in
February of 2008. Today I enjoy feeding the residents at the Mennonite Home
daily.