HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1985-05-08, Page 94or
Par ,13
Familyjoins two oldest i ns
Frank ;e• i2
farm.
The rest of the family left Holland on
, April 26 and arrived in Quebec on May 6,
1951. From Quebec the family boarded a
train bound for Toronto and then on to
Stratford where John and Jim were
waiting, The boys took the family to the
John:feyink home in Blyth for the night
and moved to a rented home the next
day: It was furnished with furniture from
an auction sale because their furniture
did not arrive until the end of June.
That fall Mr. Greidanus and seven of
his children were hired by Canada
Packers poultry plant in Clinton.
"I'm 52 -years -old now, and at that time
my dad was 51 and he had to start from
scratch again. He didn't know the
language or how to drive a car.
"Often we feellike slowing down when
we reach that age, but dad had to start
from the , beginning," marvelled Mrs.
Haak "But he always enjoyed living
here. Re was never sorry he came and
wasn't homesick. He never even planned
a trip (back to Holland. )"
Workers at Canada Packers carried,
out a variety of jobs which included, kill-
ing, plucking and cleaning the chickens.
"We haft a lit of fun there. It was like
our own'littl utch colony. We would
sing Dutch songs from morning 'til night
and play jokes on each other,'' laughed
Mrs. Haak, "Four happy marriages
came out of there too."
Mrs. Haak met her husband Gary at
Canada Packers and her sister Jenny
met her husband, Albert Valkenburg at
the plant. The third happy marriage is
Mrs. Haak's brother Don who met his
wife Greta at the plant. Her brother Bert
also married a fellow employee, Rika.
Family of 12
lived in three
bedroom house
Other Dutch employees from this area
include Herman Gerrits, John Suk,
Albert Siertsema and John Bakelaar,
who have all passed away. Those still liv-
ing in the area are Pieter Westerhout of
Londesboro, Tilly Westerhout of Sum-
merhill and Nick Heykoop who lives near
the Bayfield Road.
The women who worked at the plant
received 65 cents an hour with the men
making 75 cents. They were not paid any
overtime although they would often work
until 1 a.m. during the Clwistxnas season.
During the slack months, such as
January, it was not uncommon for the
employees to,:lpe laid -off.
The Greidanus children turned their
pay over to their father at the end of the
week to help pay the expenses. However,
Mr. Greidanus did allow the children to
keep some spending money.
In the -fall of 1951, the Greidanus family
purchased a small house and barn on
Clinton's Vinegar Hill. The barn came
with two cows which supplied enough
milk for the fainly.
The house was small, with only three
bedrooms to accommodate the family of
12.
"The three oldest girls had one room,
the other girls had one room and mom
and dad had the other. All the boys had to
sleep on the large porch where it was so
cold," explained Mrs. Haak.
The following May the family bought a
100 acre farm in the Londesboro area
where Jim now lives. The family con-
tinued to work, at Canada Packers, work-
ing on the farm after they had put in a
day's work at the plant. The farming con-
sisted of taking care of the cows and a
Turn to page 54
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