I was born in Schönfeld, Russia September 18, 1923 and came to Canada with my parents and three siblings the following year.
My first memories go back to Pelee Island where a group of Russian Mennonites, including my family, settled in the 1920s. It was on Pelee that, in 1927, little Mieche (Mary) Driedger died at the age of seven months. There was no undertaker or funeral home. Bernhard Konrad Senior built the casket, coated it with a black substance and before this dried, the surface was sprinkled with crushed coal. Tante (Aunt) Liese Dick prepared the body, sewed frills around the casket and trimmed it with myrtle greenery. A grave was dug in the Island’s cemetery; vaults were not used at that time. Songs were sung before the grave was closed.
In 1936, the Driedger’s lost Katie, a second daughter. 19 year old Katie had been skating with a group of friends. She slipped and fell and died of head injuries. The funeral service was held in the Driedger home on Middle Island Road. Katie’s body needed to be suspended in the barn to preserve it. I helped my Tante Liese Dick prepare the body for the funeral.
Our family moved to the Arner farm in Kingsville in April, 1937. In 1939, we moved to the Wheatley Town Line near the 11th concession. Here we lived for three years. We bought a 1929 Chevrolet with orange curtains. On Sunday mornings we drove north to Wheatley, then turned west on #3 Highway. When we reached Wigle Street of Leamington, brother Cornie, the driver, needed to stretch his left arm out the window to indicate that we were turning south. We went on to Oak Street and the church. Gasoline was expensive and so we brought our noon meal with us which we ate in the church basement with the Rempel and Janzen families who had also come from a distance. In the afternoon we visited with our relatives before heading home.
I finished elementary school when I was fourteen and got work as a maid at Foster and Helen Jackson’s for $3 weekly. They lived on Talbot Street West of Leamington across from what was then the Post Office; in 2008 it is the Art Gallery. The Jackson’s had a son Robert and a daughter Margaret and owned Jackson’s Furniture Store just down the street, near the four corners of town. They were members of the Knox Presbyterian Church on Erie Street South.
When the Jackson’s entertained, I needed to wear a black dress with white cuffs and a white apron to wait on the table. I always ate at a separate table. On Monday, I washed the laundry and hung it outside to dry. On Tuesday, I ironed all day. I cooked, baked, and cleaned. On Friday evenings, I walked to German school at church. I had every other Sunday off. Then I could attend church.
I was happy when my future sister-in-law Anne took my job at Jackson’s and I got a job cutting asparagus for Tilden’s at Point Pelee. Here a group of girls lived in the cabins. I also tied tobacco at Brown’s on Concession 2. During the winter months I worked in the Imperial Tobacco Factory on Oak Street and boarded at Wienses who lived on Victoria Avenue of Leamington. I slept in the little upstairs room.
In the fall of 1943, Jacob Neufeld and I were married; we lived on a farm on Concession 7. We have three children. My husband was ordained pastor in 1950 and Ältester (Bishop) in 1955. He became the leading pastor of the North Leamington United Mennonite Church where he served faithfully until dying of a heart attack in 1974.
AK 2008
