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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 2002-02-06, Page 17• Colour Printing • Posters • Letterheads • Envelopes • Business Cards • Business Forms • Brochures • Flyers • Carbonless Forms • Labels PARM POWER a total, reliable fuel service • Ethanol Gasoline • Clear Diesel • Dyed Diesel • Furnace Oil BELGRAVE CO-OP AUBURN CO-OP 357-2711 OR 1-800-267-2667 526-7262 Frank Workman Electric 20 years serving Brussels & area •Farm 'Home 'Commercial R.R. #3, Brussels 887-6867 Affordable CAR AND TRUCK RENTALS Large & Small 'trucks fridgecarts - piano dolly" moving blankets Complete Selection of Cars Our rates qualify for Insurance replacement Passenger Vans full size or mini STRICKLANDS 344 Huron Rd. 524-9381 GODERICH 1-800-338-1134 O BDO Dunwoody, LLP Chartered Accountants and Consultants Offering a full range of services: auditing, accounting, business planning, income tax. planning, personal financial planning, com- puter and management services. Wingham Walkerton Hanover Mount Forest Port Elgin A.P. Reed, CA B.F. Thomson, FCA J.J. Hunt, CA K.L. Drier, CA M.S. Bolton, CA R.J. Millen, CA G.H. Munro, CA K. Oelschlagel, CA 323-2351 P. Thor, FCA R.G. Thomas, CA 357_323, R.J. Wilkinson, CGA A 881-1211 IBD Kincardine S.D. Watson, CA, CFP 364-3790 396-3425 832-2049 Residential & Agricultural Structures Construction • framing • siding • drywall • roofing & trim Estimates & Prints R.R. #3 Blyth 523-9354 WARD & UPTIGROVE. LLP • P.O. Box 127 145 MAIN STREET EAST LISTOWEL, ONTARIO N4W 3H2 PHONE: (519) 291-3040 Fax: (519) 291-1850 Email: wuca@ w-u.on.ca - COMPLETE MECHANICAL SERVICE - COMPUTERIZED TUNE-UPS - TIRES - BRAKES MUFFLERS - VEHICLE INSPECTION STATION DAN'S AUTO REPAIR Owned and Operated by Dan & Heather Snell RR 3, Blyth, Ont. NOM 1H0 (on the Westfield Rd.) DAN SNELL, Automotive Technician 523-4356 Kathy Lorentz-Hare R.M.T., C.S.T. Facilitator of Healing • Registered massage therapist • Cranio-sacral therapist By, appointment 412 Queen St. Blyth 519-523-9400 PAUL COOK ELECTRIC Home, Farm & Commercial Wiring BELGRAVE 357-1537 ( McKILLOP\ MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY 91 Main St., South, Seaforth Office 527-0400 1-800-463-9204 FARM, HOME, COMMERCIAL ;AUTO COVERAGES AGENTS Graeme Craig 887-9381 Bob McNaughton 527-1571 Donald Taylor 482-9976 Banter & Mac Ewan & Feagan Insurance Ltd. 524-8376 Gaiser Kneale Insurance Brokers Inc. 482-3401 Thames Insurance Brokers, Exeter 235-2211 Cockwell 11surance Brokers 356-221,6) THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2002. PAGE 17. Ethel United Church Sunday school is sponsoring bowling for the congregation at Molesworth Bowling Lanes on Saturday, Feb. 9 at 7:45 p.m. Joan Golden will be away on Sunday, Feb. 10 and the guest speak- er scheduled for the service is Gloria Wilbee. Everyone is invited to par- take in the "musical service". I just wanted to mention that Cecil Raynard of Ethel remembers as a young boy watching the Ethel United Church being moved down Main Street to its present location. Apparently this would have been in 1917! As I was driving home from some errands in Listowel Friday evening, the radio announcer was sending out area wide warnings about the horri- ble storm that was blasting our area and closing our roads. I found ' myself wondering about a time when a storm in the Ethel area was really a storm, a reaffirmation that mother nature and God were,forces not to be reckoned with! To explore my theory, I enlisted the memories and recollections of three long-time Ethel area residents: George Pearson, Donald Dunbar and Bob Cunningham and through them was transported back to the storms of 1947, 1971 and 1974. Please grab a cup of cocoa and_ stoke up the fire. There's a storm coming on! George Pearson vividly recalled that January 1947 had been a fairly clear, calm winter thus far. Little did people know when this storm started that it was planning on staying for six more weeks until mid March. (Was Wiarton Willie around then?) George explained that there was so much snow accumulation that the teams of horses could not travel on the roads and came prima- rily through the fields. As an exam- ple of the amount of snow, George told of tree stumps visible in the spring that were driven over without any notice. George also recalled one particu- lar day when he watched 14 teams of horses pull into Ethel inside of an hour, all coming to get supplies from one of the four groceries stores or the bakery. Mrs. Pearson remem- bers a feed truck being stuck in the snow on what is now Molesworth Line (near the Earl, Glen and Jones farms) that stayed where it was for more than two weeks. As the farmers needed that feed from the truck, many came with sleighs to the truck and took their supply. Mrs. Pearson went on to say that when the truck finally made it back to the mill, all the feed could be accounted for and no one took more than what they needed. (A refreshing comment on honesty and integrity sometimes not so prevalent today!) Bob Cunningham also recalls that 1947 storm, he was supposed to be arriving home from a three month stay in the Listowel Hospital after having broken his leg in the bush. Bob was scheduled to take the train from Listowel to Ethel (roughly a 20-30 minute ride between the two towns, as Bob recalls) but had to stay longer as the trains could not always get through the snow. George, Donald and Bob all explained that there was an engine with a "V" snowplow on it that trav- elled ahead of the train to clear the tracks but occasionally, as was the case in Ethel in 1947, it deiallea off the track. People in the community had to be recruited to dig it out. Bob finally made it home and was picked up by his brother with the sleigh at the Ethel station. Donald Dunbar was teaching at Elma Public School on that Tuesday in January of 1971 when the storm hit. Donald . recalled that a gentle- man in Walton kept a barometer and on this particular morning he had never seen the barometer measuring such low atmospheric temperature. He warned the person in charge of busses for the area and Grey Central was then closed. Elma school was not and Mr. Dunbar remembers that by noon that day the children and teachers had to be billeted with families near Atwood, most not returning home until Thursday and Friday of that week. In April of 1974, Mr. and Mrs. Pearson were on their way to a Wednesday night bowl in Molesworth when a storm came on. The Pearsons had to stay in Molesworth until Friday when they could be brought home by a friend and his tractor. , George explained that John Smith looked after his own chores and the two barns of cattle and pigs for the Pearsons while they were away. I asked all three gentlemen two questions about storms then and now; what the main differences were and if there was any warning of the storms coming. The main difference seemed to be the amount of snow and the much February Heart & Stroke Month colder temperatures. The snow blew harder, packed harder, and froze harder and as everyone recalled, one could not see over the enormous snowbanks. Bob mentioned that the cold, blowing winters made trying to heat much more challenging without fur- naces! To answer the question of storm warnings, George, Donald and Bob felt that although there were radios, the weather forecasting was a great .deal different back then. None of this -"five-day weather" forecasting (which never seems to apply to the Ethel area anyway!). And as Bob candidly explained "the storm was here before even the radio knew!" Business Directory umn Video and &um-) Computer Sales and Service DTH Satellite Systems millirmaglik Steve slake Owner, lechniclan RR #2 Brussels, Ontario NOG 1H0 Phone/Fax (519) 887-6710 blakey@wightman.net