Without a Doubt

Submitted by: Betty (Radford) Puddicombe

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I grew up in the small town of Amesdale, Ontario. There was a CN station where my Dad worked, a one room school house, six or seven other families, and a pond that you swam in in the summer, and skated on in the winter.

The year I turned eleven, my parents separated, and the decision was made that my older brother, my baby sister and I would stay living with Dad -- the best desicion that was ever made. But, life wasn't bad; and as a child, you accept what you are given.

As Christmas approached, my sister, who was five, asked lots of questions. "Would we have Christmas this year?" "What would Christmas be like without Mom?" and of course, "Would Santa still come to our house?". I told her that everything would be okay, then i prayed really hard, because I too had doubts.

Dad worked very hard on the railroad and looking after us; and often at night we would hear him up puttering around; but after all he had been through, it didn't surprise us. Christmas Eve, we were invited out, and as we walked home, I prayed again because my heart was heavy, and it was like an angel touched me and said --"Don't Doubt".

Christmas morning we woke up to the smell of turkey cooking and Dad shouting "Merry Christmas Girls!". That Christmas, my sister and I got new coats and shiny new skates. After breakfast and listening to the Queen's message on the radio ( Dad was from England, and that was important), Dad told us to go try out our new skates. That was great, but it meant shovelling off the pond first. But, off we went - only to find that somewhere between late Christmas Eve and early Christmas morning, our big brother and our Dad had cleaned off the pond.

After skating for a couple of hours, we headed home. As we walked in the door, we were so surprised -- the table was set beautifully and we sat down to turkey, dressing and all the trimmings; including Christmas cake and mincemeat pie -- all homemade by our Dad.

As I looked across the table at my Dad, I knew without a doubt, that my Dad was the most amazing and loving Dad in the world. As I gave him a hug and said thank-you, he just smiled and said "Didn't I always tell you all that I loved you as big as the world?"

That, without a doubt, was my most memorable Christmas!!!!

Queeny and Bessy

Queeny and Bessy belonged to George and Bill, the inseparable Radford brothers who owned one of the few teams in Amesdale. Although purchased to haul wood out of the bush for loading onto railway cars and shipment to Winnipeg, they served the community as ambulance, hearse, and taxi.

When Ote Thompson and Edward Radford passed away in the winters of 1943 and 1946 respectively, the sleigh carried their coffins to the Amesdale Cemetery. The team served as taxi, carrying the wedding party to Wick Cliff Lodge for Jim Radford and Mary Stouffer’s wedding in December, 1947. On a another winter in the 1950's, Ella Nelson suffered her first stroke and the team was used to rush her from the Nelson home at the airport to the store to meet a waiting taxi. At Christmastime, grandparents were ferried to the Radford home, and in the summer the team pulled a wagon loaded with kids, parents, and food to the Dominion Day picnics. Then there were the hay rides enjoyed by all.

First Car in Amesdale

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During the late 1920's Gordon proudly traveled about Amesdale by dog team. His team consisted of two dogs, one being a beautiful white Husky named Prince. With his small team Gordon was able to travel the whole area for pleasure as veil as hauling groceries and mail.

In 1930 Gordon's dog team gave way to a new form of transport­ation, the automobile. His car was a 1924 four cylinder Chevrolet Series F, a thinly disguised offshoot of the Chevrolet 490. This was the first car in Amesdale. Despite the inconvenience of having to lift the car over railway tracks, it was an enormous success.

Later Gordon bought a 1929 Chevrolet International AC 4 Door Sedan. Besides facilitating transport of people and goods between the Amesdale General Store and Dryden, while courting his future wife, Beatrice Radford it carried them to Dryden for the occasional movie.

Gordon later purchased a black 1948 Chevrolet truck which was better suited for hauling groceries from Dryden . . . . . . .




. . . . and occasionally one of Fred's moose out of the bush.

The Radio

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Entertainment was simple and generally homemade in the then isolated community of Amesdale. Dances, Christmas concerts, and picnics relied entirely upon home-grown talent. Imported talent arrived direct, over the airwaves to Gordon Ames’ new battery operated radio. The radio was kept in the store, where it became the focal point of regular evening community entertainment.

Phrases like, "Fibber McGee's closet" and "I gotta get that closet cleaned out one of these days", soon became part of the local vernacular as the community tapped into mainstream entertainment. These phrases were immortalised by McGee’s opening of “The Closet”, out of which would tumble an avalanche of clutter. Amid the despair and struggle of the 1930’s, such recurring gags, on the “Fibber McGee and Molly” comic drama, touched a nerve with the local audience, as blowhard McGee’s hare-brained get rich quick schemes were perennially frustrated. Perhaps, in a Depression weary world, McGee’s desperate strivings, and Molly’s loving patience, were a humorous parody on their own lives.

Another popular radio sitcom was the nightly Amos ‘N Andy show in which the then archetypes of African-Americans were humorously portrayed. Although, perhaps racially offensive to some by today's standards, beneath the dialect and racial imagery, the series humorously celebrated the virtues of friendship, persistence, hard work, and common sense, so fundamental in the audience’s daily life.

On June 22, 1938, together with an estimated audience of 70 million around the world, there in Gordon’s store, the men of Amesdale clustered around the radio to listen to “The Fight of the Century”. In a rematch, Joe Louis, the Brown Bomber faced the German Max Schmeling. Victorious over Louis in 1936 with his “right over the top”, Hitler touted Schmeling as perfect specimen of the Arian superiority, over an inherently inferior black race. In March 1938, German troops had entered Austria to enforce the Anschluss, or annexation of Austria. Keenly aware of the events in Europe, the men of Amesdale were riveted to radio as Louis and Schmeling met in what was as much “The Fight of the Century” between Heavyweights, as a match between political ideology and race. With a series of “one-two punches”, Joe Louis lifted the spirits of the Empire, defeating the German at the two minute four second mark of Round One. Imagine the scene in the store that night!

If not already enlisted, in a more sombre mood, before Gordon’s radio these same men again huddled about the radio to catch the news from “The Front”. Known as “The Voice of Doom”, chief CBC radio announcer Lorne Greene, read the news at the height of Canada's darkest days of World War II. Following the desperate evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from the beaches of Dunkirk in May 1940, they would have been inspired by Churchill’s promise:

"We will not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight in the seas and the oceans…we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, was shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large port of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggles until, in God’s good time, the new world, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and liberation of the old.”

And so they did. In total 15 boys from Amesdale enlisted to rescue and liberate the old world.

Together with that radio, through Depression and War their spirits were raised, and their burdens lightened by Kate Smith’s cheerful "Hello, everybody!" as she greeted audiences, and "Thanks for listenin'”, as she signed off the long running “Kate Smith Show”. With Kate they hummed or sang along with her theme song "When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain", and would have been cheered by her singing of “Just Whistle and Blow Your Cares Away”:

Here’s how to make everything OK!
Just Whistle and Blow your Cares Away
You’ll swing along through the day.
If you Whistle and Blow your Cares Away
You’re bound to loose your troubles and every care.

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