ville and it seemed like quite a venture. The exams took three days and we stayed in the rooming house which was then operated by Mrs. Wood- manse and her two daughters who took good care of us. My desire was to be a teacher or nurse, but I was not able to continue my education. I grew up helping on the farm at home and working out doing housework until my marriage in 1939 to Dow McDonnell. We made our home in Homebrook where we farmed and operated a small store, then later in 1948 we took over the Post Office from Karl Weaver. We had four sons, Lar- ry, Lovell, Michael, and Howard, who are now all married. I now have five grandsons and four granddaughters. Dow passed away in 1963 after a lengthy illness. With the boys help I carried on with the cattle, store and Post Office for five years. By this time the boys were all working away from home and I could no longer look after the cattle by myself. That same year the Post Office closed. For a while I did spare work in the Gypsumville and St. Martin Post Offices and in 1970 was given the opportunity to work full time in St. Martin Post Office where I still am. Larry and Howard live in the St. Martin area with their families, Lovell at Medicine Hat and Michael in Edmonton. Florence was married in 1933 to Ed Carbon- neau and left the area, first living in Winnipeg and in the spring of 1935 they took up farming in the Ashern area where she still lives, Ed having passed away in 1973. They had one adopted son, Wilfred who is now married and lives in Ashern with his wife Lyn, daughter Candace, and son Steven. Written in 1978 1990 Update on the Throssell Family Flo moved into the Ashern Senior’s Home in March of 1979. This is where she enjoyed living until January, 1987. At this date she took ill, then moved into the hospital and from there to the Care Home. She stayed there until she passed away in November, 1987, after a long battle with cancer. Her son Wilfred and his wife Lyn and family live in the town of Ashern. I retired from St. Martin Post Office in the year of 1979. I moved to Ashern in 1981, where I live in my own home and am very happy with my move to Ashern. It gave F10 and myself much more time together which we enjoyed very much. The homestead in Homebrook is no longer standing. It was pushed over and burned in 1984. Lawrence and Ruth Topnik Family by Ruth Topnik Lawrence and I grew up in the Thalberg, 585 Greenwald, Manitoba district. In 1955, Lawrence and I were married and made our home in Win- nipeg where Lawrence was employed at Swift Canadian. After seven years of city life, and our family of three children, Malcolm, Alan and Pen- ny, we decided in September 1962 that city life was not for us and purchased our store at Fairford from Henry and Nellie Remple, Lawrence’s sister. \ ,7' Exiflj’z 1 ..:.“n"1:&"‘n. ‘ Pi Topnik’s General Store, Fairford, MB. Living in Fairford was quite a change from liv— ing in Winnipeg as we did not have many of the facilities we were accustomed to such as running water and indoor plumbing. The store building was heated with wood fires which had to be kept fuelled through the night. The building was not very airtight so on really cold and stormy winter days, the house was very cold, but we did get used to it. Summer was always welcomed when it fi- nally arrived. Our days in the store were very busy as the hours of operation were from 8 AM to 11 PM or later. This left us very little time for ourselves as well as our children. People in the area used to dig seneca root which kept us busy during the summer. In the winter people did a lot of fishing. During those early years in Fairford not many people had vehicles, so Lawrence was often asked to take some of our customers to the hospital when Ruth and Lawrence Topnik.