Reminiscences of Brooklands school, 1929 - 1938
By Mary (Hrenchuk) Pankiw, Ph.D. (June 1, 1923 -)
“How excited I was when September 1929 ushered in the day I was to begin school! I could hardly wait to arrive and begin the three R’s.
| bounced out of bed, and hurriedly washed in a porcelain basin, for which the water had been warmed on a cast-iron wood stove. Next, I slipped on the clean cotton dress, which my mother had ironed and laid out, and combed my auburn brown hair. I would have darted out through the door if my mother hadn’t reminded me, in Ukrainian, to sit down at the table and eat. Breakfast consisted of a fresh egg, that was contributed daily by our hens. Prepared sunny-side up, the egg was accompanied by golden homemade bread, topped With fresh creamy butter. Hot steaming cocoa, in a china cup, invited me to take regular short sips.
When I had finished breakfast, I brushed my teeth and rinsed my mouth with water, carried by pail from the village pump, a short distance away.
“Is it time to leave?” I persistently questioned. “In good time,” my mother replied. “We mustn’t leave too early.” Meanwhile, the seconds stretched into the minutes, and the minutes dragged into heurs. Then it was time to leave! Passing final inspection by my mother, we left our house, situated at 1880 Pacific Avenue.
This site, approximately an acre encompassing Pacific and Ross Avenue, was also the location of Brooklands Fuel Company, founded by my father in 1911 . Arriving in Canada, from Ukraine, in 1903, he was elected the village of Brookland’s first Councillor of Ukrainian origin in 1921. Students will remember the rides, on their way to and from school, on his sleigh or cordwood rack, pulled by two brown Belgian horses delivering fuel orders.
94