William and Mae Woronuk Family

In the spring of 1944 Bill and Mae (nee Knezevich) were married and moved onto River lot 38, which they had recently purchased from A. G. Miller.

Mae, daughter of Jerry and Edith Knezevich, (born September 5,1923) grew up on a farm along the Burnt River. She attended school in Silverwood and then Rycroft.

Bill, second son of Nick and Erena Woronuk, (born January 19, 1916) attended school in Rycroft and completed eight grades before withdrawing at the wish of his parents to help them farm and to supplement their income. Through this sacrifice, his four brothers completed high school and obtained university educations.

In the early thirties, Bill made his first trip to Edmonton. He planned to go to Edmonton and then on to Inisfree where his brother George taught school, then to ride back home with George in his car after school was out for the summer. He got a ticket from L. B. Grimm (livestock shipper) to ride free of charge on the stock train. The stock shipper was allowed a ticket for each car load of stock, the passengers rode in a coach car. An average trip would have taken forty-eight hours with stops at various points to load stock.

The train was travelling along Lesser Slave Lake when suddenly there was a tremendous jolt and the train came to a stop. Heavy rains had raised the level of the lake and waves washing against the rail bed had washed out a section of track. The engines got across but several stock cars had jumped the tracks. Here the train remained for several days while a section crew restored the rail bed and track and put the cattle cars back on. By this time more washouts had developed ahead and behind the train. After the food they brought along ran out, they were able to buy some small items at a nearby store.

When the track behind the train was finally repaired, the train backed up all the way to the divisional point at McLennan. There some cattle were unloaded into the stock yards and a temporary corral was built to hold some more cattle. However, most of the livestock remained in the cars. Each day water was poured onto the floors of the cars to water the animals and they were fed grain brought in from Fahler. One can imagine the terrible conditions for the livestock.

While the train passengers waited in McLennan, they organized a ball team, calling themselves the "Pig Chasers". They played against a McLennan team but McLennan always won by a small margin. Finally the track along Lesser Slave Lake was restored and the cattle train left again for Edmonton. When Bill finally arrived in Edmonton, he stayed overnight at a friend's place, then took a bus on to Inisfree the next day. There he hired a pickup truck to drive him the few miles out to the country school where George taught. Unfortunately, George had already left for home, as school had been let out for the summer holidays, leaving Bill to go back home alone. He had left home with only $33.00 since he expected few expenses if events had gone as planned. He reluctantly got a hotel room and stayed overnight in Inisfree. He took the bus back to Edmonton the next day. He went to the the CNR station and asked for a return pass as those who went out with the stock train could return for half-fare on the passenger train. The attendant told him that he was underage and recommended he purchase a full-fare ticket. Not having enough money, he approached an older man, one of the many unemployed people in the area lounging on the lawn near the station, and asked him if he would get him a pass, which he did. When the train got to McLennan, the conductor told the passengers that the Smokey

River bridge at Watino had been washed out but that the N.A.R. would return them to Edmonton on their ticket. The passengers, mostly from points along the line from Rycroft to Grande Prairie and Dawson Creek, asked if the N.A.R. would take them on to Fairview via Peace River instead. This they did, but they had to ride in a box car as there was no passenger train to Fairview. Then they hired a farm truck to take them across the Peace River at Dunvegan, and then on south.

Bill arrived home with only a few coins left in his pocket and only slept one night in a hotel. George never did get home that summer, as the highway was also washed out along Lesser Slave Lake and he was forced to return to Inisfree.

Even at a young age Bill's interests and abilities in farming showed. He looked after both a tractor and threshing machine at harvest time, a task which normally required two people. During the war years, farm labor was almost impossible to get, so he built a stook sweep which was mounted onto George Lazoruk's 101 Massey Harris tractor. His own 201 Massey ran the threshing machine. The stook sweep replaced the field pitchers and four men and teams hauling bundles. The following year, 1943, he bought his first self propelled combine, a Massey Harris 21.

The construction of the Alaska Highway created plentiful employment with good wages. So during the winter of 42-43, Bill went to Dawson Creek and got a job as a mechanic at Wilson's Garage for 85¢ an hour. Shortly after starting work there, he heard that Fiegels Transport, who had a contract to supply fuel to construction sites along the highway, needed a mechanic badly. As they were paying one dollar an hour, Bill moved over there. As he entered work on the first morning, he met their only mechanic leaving. Left behind were several engines to repair. So Bill bought a few tools and soon learned what a mechanic's job was all about.

During a trip from Rycroft to Dawson Creek that spring, a rock pierced a hole in the oil pan of his Desoto car and he lost the oil. Being many miles from the nearest farmer, he plugged the hole with a rag, poured water into the crankcase and went on to Dawson. He replaced the bearings, and little damage was evident.

During the summer of 1944, Bill and Mae spent their honeymoon in the bush near Gordondale where Alex Lazoruk and Bill had a sawmill. Mae and Ann Lazoruk cooked for the crew who sawed logs which had been cut the winter before. They lived in tents and had no conveniences. The lumber was hauled home with a tractor and trailer where it was later planed.

Bill later purchased a Dodge two and one half ton truck with army colors and specifications. In order to purchase such equipment, a priority was required to prove that you would be working for the army or contributing to their needs. The sawmill fulfilled this purpose.

During several of the following winters, Bill worked in St. Jean's Garage in Rycroft and at his brother's George and Alex's, garage in Grimshaw.

In 1947, Bill loaded the Massey 21 combine onto the Dodge truck, hitched a little holiday trailer behind and headed for Texas. Taking his fifteen year old brother, John, to help custom combine, he left his wife Mae and an infant son, Dennis behind. They worked their way from the Oklahoma-Texas border back to the Canadian border and were gone two months to the day. They arrived home August 6, just in time to prepare for their own harvest.

Bill worked at many odd jobs around the community: he hauled grain, custom combined, overhauled tractors for neighbors, dug in many farm water and sewer systems with his backhoe and also did plumbing and heating work. He snowplowed roads for the first school bus in the Rycroft area which picked up students in Greenway.

He helped organize the rural telephone co-op, the seed cleaning co-op, and natural gas co-op. He served on the municipal agricultural service board and the Rycroft Co-op store board.

One humorous incident that comes to mind is when the rural telephone line was being built. Not all members felt safe in climbing the poles. John Lazoruk always used a ladder. One day John felt brave, put on the climbers and made it all the way up the pole. He was positioning his feet, when he got one spur into a crack in the pole. He moved his other foot, and all gave way and down the frosty pole came, landing with a thud. No one attempted to catch him, but Frank Blonski caught his hat as it floated to the ground. As John wasn't hurt, everyone stood around laughing and not much work got done quite some time.

Bill and Mae still live on the farm and with help of their children have built a modern comfortable home. They have three sons and one daughter All received post-secondary education at the University of Alberta. Dennis obtained a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering, now he and lives in his home in Calgary. Kelly graduated in Mechanical Engineering, Bryan Geology, and Irene as a Registered Nurse.