Posts Tagged ‘Crash Rescue Firefighters Cold Lake’
Cold Lake High School Years: The Journey Begins
Early in the 1950’s the largest RCAF Station ever constructed in Canada was taking shape in Alberta. The small, remote, communities of Cold Lake and Grande Centre, that grew ever so slowly over the first fifty years of the century, would be shaken to their foundations as they struggled to come to terms with a massive influx of workers and their families. Our family was one of the many seeking to find their way.
Dear Reader,
For the several months, I struggled with how to write this post about our return to Cold Lake. To this point, it was easy to tell the stories as they were all generally positive. Even though our family was constantly on the move over the twelve years until this story, everything was relatively stable on the home front. All that changed in 1953 after arriving in Cold Lake and it continued in one form or another until our Dad passed away suddenly in 1965. While I will not dwell on the very difficult parts, and there were many, I felt compelled to express the feelings that enveloped me during those tumultuous years as a means to better understand myself and, perhaps, as a message to others.
I rather expect at least a few of my school friends shared similar experiences and might even take solace in knowing they were not alone. The background to this story is alcohol abuse, but it could easily have been any of a dozen other things that cause family units to fracture – drugs, infidelity, mental illness, etc. Children and teenagers, in particular, are vulnerable when this happens and need to know they are never alone, that even when things get really bad, the future can still hold a great deal of promise.
The full story, including this Chapter, is now in book form;
This Book is available from
Kindle Direct Publishing
Book 2 -Trails North an and West: The Pioneer Way 1824-2024 is now available from Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) You can search by book title or author name. A preview of the first seventeen pages is provided (link on bottom left on the KDP order page). The preview also includes the Table of Contents.
Note: When ordering four or fewer books, they will be printed and shipped within Canada. An order of 5 or more books may be printed and shipped from the United States. Postage is included in the purchase price when ordering from either country.
If you are thinking of sending books as gifts to others, you may consider having those books mailed directly to the recipient(s), by Amazon, at time of ordering. In this way, you would avoid Canada Post fees which currently run about $20.00 (plus tax) for one or two books, if enclosed in a single mailer.
For more background information on the story, go to the lead story on this blog.
Cheers,
Harold
End Comment
While life was often tough at home when things went sideways, it was all about learning to handle life. How we respond when life throws a curve is what makes us stronger, not weaker. We all need to work for the best and learn to deal with the bad as it comes along. Mom is an excellent example of how she motored her way through the difficult times. Dad, in his own way, also passed along his best as you will noted in the previous stories in this series.
In the next part of the Junior and Senior High School series, I will zero in on more of things that made the school years so special – sports, cars, girls, liquor, parties, and, yes, a little study (not necessarily in that order, but pretty close).
As I write those future stories, I will draw upon the experience of family and friends while being sensitive to their privacy.
Harold
Further Links:
(Link here to additional photos that accompany this story)
(Link to Chapter 17, Cold Lake High 1955 -1960)
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