From, ah- well, once after I was old enough I became an altar server at the church, and, ah, you-know, was involved in the- in the parish from- from grade- I would say maybe- maybe grade-three right up to grade-thirteen before I left, you-know? I was still- still an altar server there, you-know?

Speaker: Ah, I mean most ah- I have a nephew that he actually in grade-thirteen, he won the big prize for English. And he- ah he was in science. Interviewer: Yeah? Speaker: He w-- he- he- he won the science and the English prize, 'cause he was so good in English. But that's- that is rare. That is very rare.

Speaker: But to this day I'm amazed that these nuns were able to handle sixty students and teach these different subjects and- when I was in grade-thirteen, it was thirteen subjects. Interviewer: In one (inc) total. Speaker: In one year. Thirteen subjects. Geometry, chemistry, physics, algebra, trigonometry, thirteen, and you had to pass I think it was eleven of those before you could go onto university. Different, eh?

Interviewer: Um, you had grade-eight, or grade-nine, in Saint-Joseph's? Speaker: Ah- ah, we had grade-thirteen. Interviewer: Oh, okay, yeah, it became a full- Speaker: Yeah, yeah, in a high-school. I went to grade-eleven.

Interviewer: So, um, did you also go to high-school in the area? Speaker: Yes, I went to, um, yeah, M-V-D-A- D-H-S, here, at the high-school, for ah, it went, well, up to grade-thirteen, they had grade-thirteen back then, and I- I planned on, um, going to college, like I was interested in- in nursing, or something medical, I was really interested in- ah, sort-of, I loved biology, in s-- in high-school, and I was very interested in it ...

Well in Barry's-Bay, they only had one high-school. Ah there was an elementary school called Saint-Joseph's and then the high-school was also called Saint-Joseph's. And um the- actually the year that I wanted to go into grade-thirteen, which doesn't exist in Ontario today. Which I think is too bad. I think it's a great year. It gives ah young people who are only seventeen years old another chance to stay at home and not spend big money going to university and perhaps finding out that they were too immature and they waste the money. Interviewer: And you didn't know what you wanted to do and you took the wrong major.

So ah the year I was going into grade-thirteen they ran out of having enough grade-thirteen students. So all the kids in my class had to go to other places. Some went to Renfrew, some went to Eganville and there was a school in- a high-school in Cumbermere, so I went there.

Speaker: It- it was the friends that I was hanging around at the time that caused that problem. Interviewer: Bad influences. Speaker: Yeah. And back in those days, ah we didn't even have kindergarten. Interviewer: Oh wow Speaker: We had grade thirteen at the extreme end but no kindergarten, so I was six years old when I started school.

It was grades one to eight and then they had a high-school, Saint-Joseph's-High-School, which was also taught by the Sisters-of-Saint-Joseph, and that was from grade-nine to grade-twelve, and there was no grade-thirteen in Barry's-Bay at the time so I went to Renfrew.

Speaker: Then I went to teachers-college. Interviewer: Yeah, yeah. Speaker: In Ottawa. Interviewer: Was it everything you thought it would be? Speaker: It was diff-- ah- Interviewer: (laughs) Speaker: It was different in the sense I had had nuns teach me all the way from grade-one to grade-thirteen and when I went to teachers-college there were men teachers, male teachers and women teachers, it was different.

Speaker: 'Cause teachers-college was just one year. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: You went after grade-thirteen. And then after as I was teaching, ah, Barry's-Bay had an off-campus centre through Ottawa-University and that's how I got my degree and then finally got my Bachelor-of-Ed.

The grain runs out in bushels- bushels ah on the side of the mill and (inc) you have to have a man carrying them to the granary as they come out.

Interviewer: What other little buildings for animals did you have? Or for- did you have a- a s-- separate building for storing the grain? Or did you- Speaker: Oh yes, for the granary. Interviewer: Yeah. Speaker: Oh yes for the granaries- they were right beside the byre. Interviewer: Mm-hm. Speaker: By the byre.

Interviewer: Can you think of any other buildings that- that we haven't talked about that you had? Speaker: No, all we had was just the- the granary. That's where we kept the grain. Interviewer: Yeah. Yes. Speaker: And the haymows where we kept the hay.

Interviewer: Mm-hm. Where did you store the grain? Speaker: You had to have a granary. Had to have a granary for it. Interviewer: What d-- what was it like? Speaker: Just an ordinary building with a good tight floor and good tight walls.

Interviewer: Where did the grain go? Speaker: Well, sometimes you'd set up- at that time they had a lot of uh, uh, wooden granaries- Interviewer: Yes. Speaker: And they'd have a- a whole up near the top and they just maybe- Interviewer: They'd actually thrash into the granary? Speaker: That's where you'd- that- And then sometimes they- they had wagons and the wagons took them right out- they weren't too far from town ...

... there was pigeons in the barn but this one fell out of the nest or-something, got quite (inc). Dad liked it, he was getting old then, and he didn't move around so much, and he used to go to the granary and get a quart of wheat, and then he'd raise his window and put it on the sill of the window, and the pigeon would come over and eat it.

... if there was too much and wouldn't fit in the barn, and then there was somebody to cut the bands on the sheaves, band cutters, and ah, then there was feeding the mill the sheaves, and ah, carrying the grain to the granary. And I think that covers most of them.

Speaker: And um my parents were both from Saskatchewan, and my mom came here to marry my dad. Interviewer: Okay. How about your grandparents? Speaker: Um my mother's father worked um in a granary elevator, and um my grandma was um a seamstress. Interviewer: Okay. Speaker: And my dad's parents ah they worked um mostly in um and farmer (inc).

... the straw that would come from- i-- if they were in the straw mow, they would be filthy. Ah, and then there'd be somebody bagging the oats, I-guess or putting them into the granary or-something.