he following is an extract from a diary written, by Alice, in the summer of 1948 when

Alice and I were married and enjoyed our honeymoon together.

Saturday, June 5

Our wedding was at Neerlandia. Went to Barrhead to have the pictures taken in the

evening. Had car trouble on the way home. Stayed at Bonstroms.

Went to the morning meeting. Stayed at home during the day. Left for Edmonton in

the evening. Stayed at Mr. & Mrs. Hook’s for the night. This is where Minnie worked. (Mr.

Hook was the owner and founder of Hook signs.)

Left for Calgary in the afternoon. Arrived there in the evening.

T

Wedding photos of the new couple,

left, with her parents below, and

with the Lievers clan and guests

above

Traveled to Banff for the day. Took Victor, Francis and the children.

Wednesday, June 9

Stopped in Calgary. Left for Ft. Macleod at noon. Arrived there at 6:00 pm. Mrs.

Rigel looked a sight.

Rained all day. Went to Ft. Macleod with the family. Received $10.00 as a wedding

gift.

At Rigels. Had a birthday dinner. Left for Lethbridge at noon. Visited Ann. Stayed

at a hotel.

Shopped in the morning. Left for Skiff in the afternoon. Nick was not home. Went

to Harry’s. got stuck. Went to bed at 1:00 am.

Attended Skiff church services. Went to Bill’s for the afternoon, then to Nick’s for

the night.

At Nick’s all day. I washed clothes. Visited the Collin’s in the evening. Received

some gifts.

Left Nick’s in the morning. At Harry’s for dinner. Received a Hudson’s Bay blanket

for a gift. Rained terribly and had trouble getting into Lethbridge.

In Lethbridge. Stayed at an auto camp. Visited Ann in the afternoon. Went to bed

very late.

Got up late. Because Highway #3 had washed out due to flooding, we traveled

through the U.S.A. Road to Great Falls was flooded, so detoured through Havre, Montana.

Arrived in Great Falls at 7:30 pm. Stayed in an auto camp.

Left Great Falls at 9:30 am. Had a good trip to Thompson Falls, where we spent the

night in a hotel.

Left Thompson Falls at 8:00 am. Traveled to Cashmere.

Got up late. Traveled through the mountains. Took some pictures. Arrived in

Chilliwack B.C. at 9:00 pm. Stayed at a nice motel.

Went to visit the Redicups. (A family that moved from Mealowdale, Alberta that we

knew.) Then, went to the Friesens in the afternoon. This was our destination. The Friesen

children were students at P.B.I. They invited us to visit them.

This was strawberry picking season. We were offered a job picking strawberries. We

could stay in a building on the farm, so we went to work picking strawberries in the morning.

Went shopping in the afternoon.

Trying to get limbered up in a berry patch is an impossibility. Our joints are sore

from bending to the ground.

For a change, Sam and I went out hoeing in the morning. In the afternoon we picked

three crates of strawberries for our own canning.

No change in the routine. We haven’t earned our fortune yet, and there is no chance

we will in this berry patch! We are paid 10¢ per plastic container. The most each of us can

earn is $5.00 per day.

Strawberry picking all day. Went to Langley in the evening to do our weekly

shopping.

Helen Marie and Bernard Friesen came with us to Vancouver and Stanley Park. The

scenery was simply lovely.

After a nice weekend holiday we start afresh in the berry patch.

Out in the berry patch. Oh, the aching limbs!

Picking berries all day. Strawberry social at the Friesen farm. About 150 people

attended.

Picked strawberries. Oh, my knees! In the evening went picking strawberries for our

own canning in an uncultivated field (which was an old growth of strawberries for a

volunteer crop).

Sam made breakfast this morning. (Was it ever good). Strawberry picking in the

morning. Went to Langley after lunch to buy some jars for canning. Got a ticket from the

R.C.M.P. for not having a B.C. car license while working in B.C. We were caught red

handed from the berry patch.

Saturday, July 3

The usual routine, of having breakfast and then out to the berry patch. I took the

afternoon off to wash and iron clothes, plus some other things.

Attended church services in the morning. Went home to do letter writing. Attended a

Gospel service in the evening.

Back at our backbreaking work. In the evening, picked strawberries for our own use.

The canning of strawberry jam was done on our small two burner camping stove.

Had a heavy rain during the night. Went to Langley in the morning. Picked

strawberries in the afternoon. Canned strawberry fruit and jam in the evening.

This is our last day of strawberry picking. Were at Friesen’s in the evening. Had ice

cream and strawberries.

Shipped cases of strawberries to Edmonton, by train. We prepare to leave for Alberta.

Started travel at 5:00 am. Traveled 400 miles to Spokane. Treated ourselves to a

luxurious cabin. Celebrated Sam’s birthday with a generous feed of strawberries in the

evening.

And so the summer of 1948 went. By July 13 we had returned to Edmonton, after

which we spent some time at summer camps. In August Sam found seasonal work, driving a

cat, clearing land. Alice began to make a home at Neerlandia, and settled into a routine,

helping her family, canning, threshing, and housework.

On October 7, at 9:00 am Sam’s father passed away.