THE BOX SOCIAL DATE
In our rural community, and I expect in many others, an annual event at the local school, Wolf Hill, was the “Box Social”. This was a gathering held at the local school to which the ladies of the district brought a box, containing food, that was auctioned off without the identity of the supplier being revealed by the auctioneer. The boxes were normally decorated using basic materials available, such as ribbons, pictures etc.
I’m not sure what was done with the proceeds, they probably were used to buy supplies for the school.
In practice a husband who was not astute enough to buy the box contributed by his wife risked censure, or worse, if he failed to bid on her contribution. Out father always made a point of telling us to be sure to advise him when our mother’s box came up at the auction. Those boxes contributed by young people were identified as such and normally sold at more affordable prices.
I decided to bid on one of the juvenile boxes and was the high bidder, probably in the range of fifteen cents. It turned out to be the box contributed by a girl, about my age of 12, who was visiting relatives in the district. I am reasonably confident that I never saw her again. However, as I remember it, the food was excellent so the adventure was well worthwhile.
THE BARGAIN DATE – TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE
When I started High School, at the age of fourteen, I went to live in a dormitory in Big Valley, thirty miles from home. There were about fifty students from different parts of Central Alberta living in the dormitory and going to the local High School. It was an opportunity for young people who otherwise would not have been able to finish their education. The cost of $10 per month could be offset by donations of food, in my case, truckloads of potatoes grown at home. As well we were required to do the chores associated with the dormitory, such as cooking and other tasks associated with the building. I was assigned the task of milking two cows which were boarded at a nearby farm and bringing the milk back.
One of the diversions which provided entertainment, involved selecting one of the boys each week to take a girl to the local movie house to see the Saturday night movie. The rules were fairly straightforward, if the boy selected the girl he had to pay the admission price and if the organizers selected the girl they paid the admission price.
One of the girls was a very attractive blonde who was desired by, more or less, all of the boys. She thrived on the attention and encouraged it. I was captivated by her but didn’t have the courage or experience to do anything about it. When my turn in the movie lottery came up there was considerable interest amongst the residents in seeing how I would cope with the challenge.
A girl, who came from a district close to mine, so that we shared rides home, was “going steady” with one of the boys. However, she sent word, via the jungle telegram, that her “steady” was going to away that weekend and that she would volunteer to help me out of my predicament.
With more naivety than wisdom I was determined to resolve this situation by asking the blonde to be my date. Somewhat to my surprise she accepted. The walk to the theater and the movie went alright but when we were walking home she made it clear that this had been two dates, our first and our last.
I eventually recovered from my infatuation and life went on.
THE DATE THAT NEVER WAS
When I was going to University I had a summer job working in the shop of a contractor working on a land clearing project in the Peace River area. This involved helping the welders and mechanics with the repairs to the equipment.
One day I was busy welding something in the shop when I heard the foreman say, “This is George, one of our welders”. I raised the welder’s mask to see what was going on. A man and woman and two teen aged girls, who I assumed were their daughters were being shown around by the foreman. One of the girls said, “That looks like fun. Can I try it?” Naturally, I replied, “Sure! Why not.”
So I got a mask for her and she sat down beside me on the bench. I put my arm around her so that I could guide her with the welding equipment. She snuggled in and we successfully completed one welding rod. At this point her mother said, “That’s enough of that”. It was obvious that she didn’t see anyone in greasy coveralls in her daughter’s future.
The next year I went back to a different job on the same project. My job description was fairly simple. “Keep all the machines on the night shift running until morning”. This involved welding, mechanical repairs and filling in for any “catskinner” who didn’t show up for work.
One of the “catskinners” was a premed student at the U of Alberta. He couldn’t imagine anyone lower than an engineering student and from the U of Saskatchewan of all places. He delighted in needling me and telling me about things in Edmonton. Especially the man whom he expected to be his future father-in-law, whom he described as a famous surgeon. This didn’t really bother me much as I felt that if it kept him amused it wasn’t a problem for me. One day he announced that his girl friend was coming to see him. I shrugged this off as more hot air.
Sure enough, a few days later while I was sitting in the cookhouse waiting for supper before starting my shift he walked in with the two girls from the previous year. My welding pupil rushed over and said, “I remember you! You taught me how to weld.” We had a chat until they were ready to go to town to the Saturday night dance. The next day my tormenter said, “I had no idea that you knew Susie. She talked about you all night. She didn’t know that you were a University student. It’s too bad you didn’t come with us.” I commented that I had to work my shift and that was the end of the imaginary date with Susie.
THE BLIND DATE
After I finished University I went to work at Fort Macleod with the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration. One of my fellow workers proposed a trip to Montana over a long weekend. Since I had a car I would provide the transportation and his girlfriend’s cousin would come to keep me company. Because I had nothing better planned I agreed.
We drove to Great Falls and checked into a motel. Then we went out for a night on the town. Since I was driving and basically a non-drinker I didn’t keep up to the others in the drinking department. They were fairly intoxicated by the time we got back to the motel. My date, Irene, and I stumbled into one of the rooms and wound up in bed. Fortunately she kept enough of her clothes on so that nothing serious happened between us.
We were awakened shortly by the other girl banging on the door and demanding that the room situation be straightened out. This was followed by the manageress of the motel telling us to keep the noise down or get out of the motel. During the next two days relations between Irene and me steadily deteriorated. It was apparent that we were poles apart on almost everything, career aspirations, education, religion and almost anything else one could think of. We were both glad to get home and see the end of the weekend.
Occasionally over the years, when I briefly remember this incident I can’t help wondering how different my life would have been if a “shotgun marriage” had resulted from this escapade.
THE DATING TRIO
While I was working in The Dominican Republic I somehow got acquainted with an attractive young lady, named Margarita. I don’t remember exactly how we met, but in any event I invited her out for dinner and a movie. When I went to pick her up it turned out that there was an unexpected bonus, una dueña (a chaperone) came as part of the deal. With some embarrassment Margarita explained that one of the customs of the country required that her mother accompany her on any meetings with men.
Apart from extra food and drink that her mother consumed, with considerable relish, she wasn’t a problem as she remained more or less in the background and didn’t take part in the conversation. I think she would probably have preferred to be at home. By the time we had gone out two or three times Margarita and I had concluded that we weren’t destined for an ongoing relationship so we agreed to end our friendship and the chaperone could relax.
THE LONG TERM DATE
When I came to Edmonton, in 1955, the minister at McDougall United Church was the one who had been at the church in Saskatoon where many of the students attended. I decided try attending McDougall because of my previous contact with him. Through involvement with a Young Adult Group I became acquainted with the members. One of them was a young lady named Nora. I invited to go with me to the circus which came to town and we got along reasonably well, so our relationship continued.
Later one of my sisters, whose husband had recently died in an industrial accident, her one year old son and two of my other sisters who were attending the University needed a place to live, so I rented a house and we all moved in. Some time later a letter from England, addressed to Mrs. George Knowles, arrived in the mail. This caused considerable concern, especially for Nora’s parents. After doing a bit of detective work, I was able to establish that a former renter of the house had also been named George Knowles. This cleared me of suspicion and I was able to continue to enjoy my future mother-in-law’s above average cooking.
Nora and I have been married for 56 years and, until she was forced to go to a long term care facility because of Alzheimer’s, we lived reasonably happily together along with our two children. On a few occasions she has commented that what she first noticed about me was the fact that I had a new car and three suits. I’m not sure how important this was in establishing our relationship, but I guess it didn’t do any harm.