New Horizons Project: Seniors Interviewing Seniors - Valuing and Sharing Rural Narratives Citation: New Horizons Project: Seniors Interviewing Seniors - Valuing and Sharing Rural Narratives (268 pp.) Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute, Kempt, Nova Scotia 2015 Printed on 100% post-consumer paper New Horizons Project: Seniors Interviewing Seniors - Valuing and Sharing Rural Narratives INTRODUCTION Seniors Interviewing Seniors: Valuing and Sharing Rural Narratives was a project co-ordinated by the Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute (MTRI) in the summer and fall of 201. The communtiy-based project of provided seniors an opportunity to preserve the oral history of western Annapolis County and Queens County. The goal was to reach out to seniors and involve them in interviews relevant to their past livelihood in terms of their skills, knowledge and experience on topics such as past land use, lifestyles, forestry practices, farming, wildlife, and concerns for the future. Through sharing their memories and anecdotes, local seniors provided a comprehensive overview of the past lifestyles, communities and biospheres of these counties. This historical knowledge and information is important to record as it is in danger of being lost as our population ages and it will help in understanding changes in land use, and vegetation and animal populations in southwestern Nova Scotia. The project also addressed concerns regarding the isolation of seniors by encouraging their social participation and inclusion. The participants felt respected and valued as their knowledge, observations and opinions were sought. The information that seniors shared gave valuable insights that MTRI and others with interests in the biosphere and history of the area can use in future research and initiatives. A senior coordinator, Joyce Grant-Smith, was hired and volunteer interviewers were trained. Local seniors were contacted and interviewed by the coordinator and trained volunteers. Interviews were digitally recorded, written in text form, and photos were taken and annotated. Training session at MTRI for seniors who conducted Joyce Grant-Smith, the project interviews coordinator, and Amanda Lavers, MTRI’s Executive Director, during a volunteer training session NEW HORIZONS PROJECT: SENIORS INTERVIEWING SENIORS - VALUING AND SHARING RURAL NARRATIVES Learning sessions for seniors were also planned and presented at multiple locations as part of the project. Seniors in the area became more aware of MTRI and its projects, and received information about the Southwest Nova Biosphere at afternoon sessions in the rural communities of Kempt, Maitland Bridge, Port Lorne, and Caledonia. Over 100 seniors became involved in Seniors Interviewing Seniors; as coordinator, interviewees, interviewers and audiences at presentations. There were some unexpected results from this process. Friendships were formed among the seniors that took part in the project, and seniors who were isolated enjoyed sharing conversations with other seniors. They felt respected and valued as they took part in an important community project. Transcripts of the interviews will be available to the local community at the North Queens Heritage House Museum and on MTRI’s website. Jane Barker, MTRI’s Forest Stewardship Coordinator, at a presentation to seniors in the beautiful setting of the Mersey River Chalets 5 NEW HORIZONS PROJECT: SENIORS INTERVIEWING SENIORS - VALUING AND SHARING RURAL NARRATIVES R A L P H D ou G ( ‘ D O U G ’ ) Ad AMS I was born in Yarmouth on May 2, 193. Having the same name as my father they called me by my middle name Doug, rather than calling me Junior. I was born right in the middle of the depression and like many others we were very poor and didn’t have too much. We lived in a two story house with three bedrooms. This home had no insulation and single pane glass [windows]. For heat we had two stoves, one in the kitchen and the other in the living room which burned both wood and coal. There was no central heat, therefore the house was not too warm in the wintertime. During this time a lot of the homes including ours, didn’t have electricity. If the power poles were on the streets, most people couldn’t afford to have the wire installed in their homes. Not having electricity meant that there wasn’t any running hot water, just cold water. In order to take a bath, the water had to be heated on the top of the stove and one had to use the wash tub. Sometimes, privacy was a real problem but we all managed. Our bathroom, if you could call it that, had only a toilet. I had three brothers and four sisters all born at home. I was the second to be born of the eight siblings. Not having electricity meant that we used kerosene oil lamps. They were not very efficient, but they served the purpose. Without television in those days, we played a lot of board games in the winter nights. Homework had to be done by oil lamp light; not very convenient but we got used to it. We were not alone. Most of the poor were in the same circumstances. My mother was second to none. We had a lot of love in our home. Dad spent a lot of time out to sea, but when we were all together it was great. Dad claims that he had a grade eight education, but I would say it was more like grade six. He could read, write and grasp things well. I guess that was all one needed back in the teens and twenties when you had to go out to work at an early age. He was a good self-taught mechanic and did a lot of the engineering on the boats that he sailed on. He went to sea a lot of time on these boats during the depression years, taking salt fish and other goods to the West Indies and returning with a load of salt. These boats were also used in the rum running trade. He was back and forth a lot of the time. When he wasn’t doing that he was offshore fishing. At that time they would get 2 or 3 cents a pound for haddock if they were lucky. He made a modest living at that. During the war years Dad worked in the Merchant Marine, sailing from the eastern United States, mostly New York and Baltimore to Newfoundland which was a foreign country at that time, carrying supplies for the war effort. He did that for the duration of the war. After the war Dad got a ticket to be an engineer on coastal boats and tugs. He “A lot of the worked out of Saint John, NB as an engineer for a tugboat company going as far as the St. Lawrence River, but worked mostly in the harbour in Saint John. small birds have He worked there in the 60s and 70s. disappeared On his weekends off, Shirley and I with our two boys on our way to Yarmouth would pick him up at the ferry wharf in Digby and then take him back on from here. There Sunday afternoon on our return to Halifax. My mother worked in the home all of her life. Mom and Dad were married in 1931. are not as many Mom was a Roman Catholic and Dad belonged to the Salvation Army. They decided that they would visit the minister at the United Church of Canada in as we used to see Yarmouth. They joined the church, were married there and we were brought at the feeders.” up in the United Church. My mother had very little to work with in those days. With no electricity, she 6 NEW HORIZONS PROJECT: SENIORS INTERVIEWING SENIORS - VALUING AND SHARING RURAL NARRATIVES D ou G A D AMS didn’t have any of the amenities we have today. Today there are washers and driers, everything you need. In those early days Mom had a scrub brush and a scrub board and a wash tub. She would heat her water on the top of the stove to wash her clothes in. In those days there were no disposable diapers. Can you imagine the cleaning and washing of these diapers by hand? Mom always had a lot of dirty clothes with all those kids. I don’t know how my mother did it, I really don’t. She kept her house clean and I can tell you one thing. We were not, any of the kids, ever dirty. We were always well fed and well looked after and clean. Mom went to school in the late teens and twenties, she wasn’t very well educated but taught herself to do many things and do them well. She was a beautiful seamstress...in those days flour was purchased in 25lb cloth bags, Robin Hood, Regal and Purity flour - cotton bags. Mom would wash these bags and make things from them you would never believe today including diapers and some clothing. Mom also taught herself to knit and she could knit almost anything. We all took Mom for granted; we really didn’t know what we had back then. It wasn’t until after the war that people’s situations got better and they could afford to have electricity in their homes. Then life got a bit easier. I recall that water was run through lead pipes into the houses. I’m still here, I’m still healthy.... lead is condemned now but it was quite the thing back then. In the 1930’s there was no primary, so before you enrolled in grade one you would have to attend kindergarten. In 1938 I attended the John and Douglas free kindergarten on East Street in Yarmouth. I could walk there as a little fellow, where you would learn new things to ready you for grade one.