Village Squire, 1980-07, Page 31PEOPLE
ORVILLE OKE
Orville's hand made doll houses
Charm little girls
BY HERB SHOVELLER
Seaforth's Orville Oke could be sitting on
top of a small financial gold mine, but he's
really not interested in marketing his trade
for profit.
Orville's craft is making miniatures of
buildings, dollhouses and barns, and he's
been at it for about a year now.
"I'm most interested in putting in the
time," says Orville, who retired as
Seaforth's postmaster in December.
"When I was about to retire I was worried
about how I would fill the time."
Mr. Oke says he "just works when the
mood hits me", but it must bowl him over
quite often considering the number of
projects he's completed in the past 12
months.
His first completed effort was a doll-
house which he gave to his granddaughter
Alanna Baker for Christmas. If anything,
his granddaughter has shown him his work
is of a pretty sturdy quality.
"The house is on casters, and she hauls
it around by the chimney," he says. "It
hasn't fallen apart yet."
Orville has made two other dollhouses, a
barn, and is now about one-third of the way
finished on another house in his basement.
He gave one of the houses to the daughter
of his next door neighbour, and the other is
being raffled off by the new Seaforth
Lioness club.
Mr. Oke was in no way interested in
carpentry 35 years ago when he served in
the army as an electrician, but when he
came back from the war he let the son of a
friend use his basement to do some
woodwork. That stirred his interest.
"When 1 came back from overseas," he
says, "as far as 1 was concerned, for
sawing a board, I'd use an axe."
His interest never seems to have stoppedl
growing since then, but he hadn't
developed a serious interest in the doll-
houses until a situation arose by chance
last summer.
"We were in a small town in New York,
and my wife was in one of these
knick-knack shops," he says. "As far as
I'm concerned, you've seen one, you've
seen 'em all."
Orville waited in the car.
DOLLHOUSE IN THE WINDOW
"I was sitting in the car, and I saw this
dollhouse in the store window. I went over
and the guy wanted to sell me a ticket on
it."
Mr. Oke explained to the shopkeeper it
wouldn't be worth his while to come down
from Seaforth to pick up the prize if he
won, then his host told him to" come on in
and take the measurements".
The hobby was born.
"The idea of the whole thing is great,"
he says. "Looking at the reaction of my
granddaughter and the girl next door, it's a
shame lumber is so expensive.
"I just make them for kids to play with."
ter'i i ilii
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r
A CHRISTMAS
COUNTRY FAIR
DISPLAY & SALE
OF LOCAL ARTS,
CRAFTS & COUNTRY BAKING.
Wednesday, October 15 and
Saturday, October 18, 1980.
Saltford Valley Hall
north of Goderlch
WOODEN TOYS—Alex Shev-
chuk, Mr. Woodchuck of
"The Old Same Place", Bayfield,
Ont.
ARTIST—Gwen Smlthers-Klar,
Goderich, watercolours — pen &
ink renderings.
LAWN FURNITURE—Tables,
swings, etc. -Robert McCabe,
Colborne Twp.
VILLAGE SQUIRE/JULY 1980 PG. 29