Mrs, Robertson was organist and Sunday School teacher for twentynfive years at Stony Mountain United Church.
Mr. and Mrs. William Robertson submitted by Anne Dawson
William Gillies Robertson, in 1920, arrived in Stony Mountain, Manitoba from Scotland. He re- sided and worked for a time on his uncle‘s farm, that of Andrew Gillies.
Bill found permanent employment with the Federal Penitentiary at Stony Mountain until he re tired in 1958.
A few months after his arrival in Canada his bride to be, Rose, came from Scotland. So on July 2, 1921 Bill and rose were united in marriage by the Rev. J. W. Anderson in the Presbyterian Church.
They lived in rented houses until such time as Bill built his own home. Many of his friends namely Mr. R. Drysdale Sr. , Mr. B. T. Dawson Sr. , were his right hand volunteer workers.
From that time on Rose and Bill became very active in all village activities. Bill was a veteran of the first World War serving in the Royal Navy. He was a member of the Stony Mountain Legion, the Masonic Lodge, the Curling Club, the United Church and served a term on the local School Board.
In the fall of the year, the Ladies’ Aid held a Church fowl dinner and Bill was their first class “Turkey Carver".
When the new United church was being built, Bill was a full time volunteer worker. By this time he had retired from the Penitentiary.
Rose was active as member of the Ladies’ Aid of the church and gave willingly of her time at church dinners, socials, picnics and quilting bees. She gave a helping hand to her neighbors when they wereyin need. She enjoyed curling with the ladies’ group.
Rose and Bill enjoyed the game of bridge, on a regular basis, with a group of friends.
Rose made the best “Scottish Scones” which her friends enjoyed when having a cup of tea in her home.
Rose and Bill raised and educated four daughters and one son.
They celebrated their Golden Wedding anniver— sary in 1971. The family and their children came home for that occasion. Bill's three nieces came from Scotland to spend this happy time with them.
Rose passed away in 1976 and Bill in 1978. Their entire married life was spent in Stony Mountain.
Bertha and Gordon Ross On November 19, 1906 on the family farm Sec. 17-14-212 north of Stonewall, Bertha Mae Willis was
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Bertha and Gordon Ross.
born to Jack (John Thomas) and Margery Marcella Willis. She was the fourth child in a family of two boys and two girls. In the following years another five daughters were also born to the family. Bertha’s schooling began at Centre School, a rural one room school which was near by. She continued here until Grade two when consolidation took place at Bal- moral and then attended there. One year of high school was taken in Stonewall while she lived in a boarding house there, as the five or so miles from home was too far to travel during the week. Her education continued in Winnipeg with a year of stud- ies at Norma] school during the school year of 1928—29.
She taught at numerous schools in Manitoba in- cluding Rondeau (near lnwood), Good Hope (near Stonewall), Chatfield and again at Good Hope, then Teulon and Stonewall. After Bertha was married, she also taught a few years at Sandy Point School in Alberta (part of the Medicine Hat School Division). With the nearest post office at Burstall, Saskatche- wan, she and Gordon received their mail there.
Salaries for teachers in those days were around $75.00 a month. With World War II on and the promise of better wages in the ammunition factories, Bertha decided to leave Stonewall at the end of Janu- ary l942 to travel cast to Peterborough, Ontario. Here she took a one month course with General Electric to become an examiner with the British Supply Board. From there she was transferred to Sorel Industries in Quebec to examine the 25 pounder field gun. For several months she worked on small parts, then on the assembly line, signing her first gun off the line in October 1942.
A transfer to Providence, R.l. in December saw Bertha on loan to the American Navy. While there she went to Pawrucket, R.l., to train on the 20 mm gun, a small gun used on boats and planes that could