Interview with Joe Norosky 1.2

Segment Synopsis: In the 1930s, there were very few cars, so people could not get their photographs taken for their weddings. If people had cameras, they would take pictures, but they couldn't always get them professionally done.

There was singing at the weddings. Joe's mother taught Joe's sister many wedding songs and she would often sing the songs. Joe remembers some of the songs, but he doesn't sing them often enough.

Joe's father made some home brew liquor for the weddings, otherwise liquor had to be bought. Oftentimes, the home brew was better than the store bought stuff. Neighbours were much closer in those days, but now they are far more spread out.

Fall was the most popular time for weddings as it was after the harvest. Joe doesn't remember a large number of different nationalities marrying. That was mostly due to the fact that the community was entirely Polish or Ukrainian. There was the occasional Englishman, however.

Segment Synopsis: Joe's house was "great". Because the family had to move from one section of land to another, the house was built from logs and plaster. The logs were cut and the siding was put on the outside, while gyprock (drywall) was put inside. The floor was wood, but not hardwood. The one room downstairs was the room for everything (dining room, living room, kitchen), and they had 2 bedrooms upstairs. The walls inside were painted. Joe's mother put a lot of religious pictures and decorations up. There was a large wood burning stove in the living room.

On the farm there was a lake where they would bathe. They would fish in the lake, as well. There was a barn and granaries on the farm. They had a well by the lake which is where they got their water.

Segment Synopsis: Joe's family did not travel in those days. People didn't travel except for Easter or Christmas when they might visit family. People went to church or town, but nowhere else. People didn't have to travel. People used horse and buggy, but the occasional farm did have a Model-T Ford. Joe's family did eventually get a car of their own in 1944 or 1945 (it was a truck).

Joe started school when he was 8 years old. They would be at school from 8:00 until 4:00. At recess, they were off from 12:00 to 1:00. They played football or baseball, depending on whether or not it was summer or winter. When the bell rang, the kids were inside until 4:00. They walked home from school: winter meant walking across the lake, summer meant walking around the lake.

There were two people sitting at every school desk. There were as many as 62 kids in a single room school with a single teacher. The first teacher they had was Ukrainian and the teachers would stay for one or two years before moving onto another school. Arithmetic, spelling, reading, geography, and history were the subjects taught. They had to get their own supplies and books. The parents bought all the materials from town. There was no punishment for speaking a language other than English in school. The teacher they had would teach Ukrainian after school.

Joe spoke Ukrainian at home with his parents and it is his first language. Joe learned English at home as his siblings were at school and could speak it. Joe was never taught to think about what he wanted to be when he grew up. He thinks that people with a good life don't think about that much, so he didn't think about it. Joe doesn't have any special memories about school. He only received the strap once for protecting his younger brother.

Segment Synopsis: Joe's sister sang Ukrainian songs that their mother taught her. Joe's older sister did not sing. His mother and sister sang at weddings, but he was never at home when they sang together. Joe sometimes sang, but not like his sister.

Joe's father always read story books for Joe's mother. Joe's father never went to school, but he could read Ukrainian and English (but not Polish), so he would sit for hours reading story books to Joe's mother. Nobody in Joe's family really told jokes. Nobody read newspapers or magazines at the time. However, Joe's father did get one Ukrainian language magazine for a time. The magazine would write mean things about people, but never about the people that bought the magazine. Joe doesn't know where the magazine was made and it only lasted a year.

Segment Synopsis: Joe's family had a radio. The radio had an antenna outside. One time, because the wires the were coming in through the window, a lightning strike carried electricity through the house and damaged the roof.

Joe often thinks about how different life back then was to how life is now. Joe didn't have things bad then and he doesn't have things bad now. Joe enjoys life.