Homewood Reunion

November 2017

Homewood Reunion. How many of you were a bit astounded when you read the article in this week’s Valley Leader (‘Marking Homewood history with helicopter cairn’, Thursday, November 9, 2017, p.4) and learned that Homewood was the site of the first helicopter flight in Canada and second only in the world? We would bet it caught a bit of attention amongst readers and that it will swell the ranks of folks who head to the community on July 15, 2018 for the local school reunion. Co-chair Stuart Breckon kindly forwarded the following information about the event:

In April, 2017 a group of former Homewood School students met to organize a reunion and arrange for a cairn to be placed in memory of the school. A committee was set up with Deanna Mutcher and myself (Stuart Breckon) as co-chairs.


Homewood School 1952

Here is the progress to date:

The date of July 15, 2018 has been set for the reunion and dedication. As Homewood tended to be the center for several other local schools, the organizers wish to celebrate Homewood village as well as the school.

All friends of Homewood are welcome. Whether it was school picnics, field days, curling, skating, church or just going to the co-op, grain elevators, or Latham’s store we’d love to see old friends.

The reunion will be an afternoon event with lots of time to visit with old friends. Events will include the dedication of the school cairn and a walking tour of “old” Homewood. At the end of the afternoon there will be a meal served with more time to visit.

Prior to the dedication of the school cairn, the Canadian Aviation Historical Society will be dedicating a cairn for the first helicopter flight in Canada. As many know, in the 1930’s three Froebe brothers built the first helicopter in Canada that actually got off the ground. It happened right in Homewood. We are excited that this dedication will be part of the day.

Another part of the reunion will be the “History of Homewood” project. This will include the overall history of the school and the village plus histories of individual families that lived in the area. Copies will be available at the reunion. Merle Kluczkowski (nee Cutting) is coordinating this project. Merle’s email is: [email protected]

What you can do:

1. Plan to attend and let us know that you are coming. Send a reply email to Deanna or myself or respond in the Reunion section of the web site. We need to know you’re coming so we can plan accordingly.

2. The dedication events are free and open to everyone. There will be a charge for the meal. The meal tickets will be sold in advance and a further email will outline the details.

3. The school cairn will be funded by individual donations. Particularly if you went to Homewood School please consider a donation towards the costs. The donations will be tax deductible. A follow up note will outline the cairn, the costs and where to send your cheque.

4. Help us with contact information. If you have any information about former students or any friends of Homewood who should be at the reunion, please send their names.

5. Plan to get your family history written up so that it can be included in the Homewood history. Many will be able to update their family history from the Dufferin Municipal history book of 1980. Others will have to start from scratch. Please note that the histories will also be turned over to the Carman/Dufferin Municipal Advisory Committee (CDMHAC) to be sure that none of the old history is lost.

6. If you would like to volunteer to help on July 15 or help with the histories or with other preparations, please let us know. Everyone is welcome to join the committee.

We look forward to seeing you on July 15, 2018!

Deanna Mutcher: Co-chair.  Phone: (204) 745 2719
Stuart Breckon: Co-chair. Phone: (281) 450 1884

If anyone has photographs or information they can share with the committee, or can assist them in any other way, let’s help Homewood community make this an event to remember!

August 2018

Homewood Reunion. A year and a half of hard work by the Organizing Committee more than paid off July 15th when around 300 residents of Homewood from past and present turned up for the reunion. They gathered to pay tribute to former Homewood School #1456 and to honour the Froebe brothers who are credited with having made the first helicopter flight in Canada. Two cairns were unveiled to mark these significant reminders of local history.

To see a larger view of the cairns, click on the images.

The Reunion Committee had a full program planned for the day. Official events included greetings from Reeve George Gray and MLA Blaine Pederson, a brief history of helicopter flight by Jim Bell of the Canadian Aviation Society and stories of Homewood’s past by MC Charlie Froese and Co-Chair Stuart Breckon.

A highlight of the afternoon was a surprise visit by the Stars Air Ambulance crew who paid tribute to the Froese achievement by landing where the first helicopter flight took place back in 1938. Volunteers put together displays of past memorabilia, vintage machinery, video interviews and an informative walking tour of Homewood. At the dinner that evening, former teacher Gwen Last gave an entertaining account of her days teaching at Homewood School.


Early Threshing machines

Stars Helicopter Ambulance Crew

Small sample of displays

And those were just the organized events. The highlight of any reunion is sharing memories with old friends and neighbours and, in this case, with former classmates from Homewood School. Many of these tales will resonate with anyone who grew up in a small Manitoba community and attended a one-room school—snow forts in winter, hide-outs in the lilac bushes, the smell of wet wool garments in the cloak room in winter, playing hide-and-seek, prisoners’ base, or softball at recess, school picnics, Christmas concerts, pranks that might just warrant getting ‘The Strap’ — more stories than tadpoles in a spring pond. Then there are memories of small-town prairie life— the elevators, country stores, curling rink, spring floods, catching gophers.

Homewood residents also have some strange and unique stories to tell about the local sugar beet industry, such as their memories of Japanese-Canadian internment families sent to work on the sugar beet farms and of later post-war migrants to the area. There are tales of resourceful farmers who built their own farm machinery, of teenagers literally ‘riding the rails’ and of kids just being kids.

Special credit goes to Merle (Cutting) Kluczkowski who collected these stories for the printed history book Homewood Reunion 2018. This rich collection underlines what many of us already knew—that growing up as a ‘free-range’ kid in a close-knit community and attending a one-room school can be a great way to start your life.


Part of the crowd at the Homewood Reunion


Collection and preservation of local heritage are among C/D MHAC’s priorities. Thanks to the history book, Homewood has a fine record of their past. Well done everyone. You did your hometown proud.

 

May 2018

Homewood Reunion Update. The Homewood July 15 reunion is fast approaching. They are still looking for pictures of the railroad station, the Anglican Church and the curling rink.

The Planning Committee just sent out the following update:


Homewood 1950s

 

Dear friends of Homewood,

It is now only two months until the Homewood Reunion on July 15. Things are progressing well. Many of you have already indicated that you will be attending.

Here are the highlights of the Reunion:

  • 1:00 PM: Registration starts at the big tent to be set up in the old school yard (the Co-op yard)
  • 2:00 PM: Festivities – Free to all:
    • Dedication of “First Helicopter Flight” plaque
    • Dedication of Homewood School plaque
    • Walking tour of Homewood displays and socializing
  • 5:00 PM: Meal and Socializing

Please plan to join us—we’d love to see you. Well over 100 Homewood folks have already signed up for the evening meal. They are coming from California, from Nova Scotia and from many places in-between.

The dedication events are free and open to everyone. There is a charge for the evening meal at the Active Living Center in Carman ($25/person, $7 for under 12). For meal tickets send your cheque to:

Charles Froebe, Reunion Treasurer
P.O. Box 2023, Carman, MB R0G 0J0

Note that due to catering requirements the meal tickets must be purchased in advance so please get your meal tickets purchased.

If you have pictures or historical information that should be on the site, please forward them to my email address [email protected]  and we shall include them. We are short on pictures of the railroad station; the Anglican Church and the curling rink so please send any that you may have.

The monument for the school will be funded by individual donations. Please consider donating towards the costs. Forward a cheque to “RM of Dufferin” and mail it to:

Charles Froebe, Reunion Treasurer,
P.O. Box 2023, Carman, MB R0G 0J0.

This is a tax-deductible donation. And think about it, if you donate now, you won’t have us chasing you during the reunion!

Plan to get your family history written so that it can be included in the Homewood History, even if your family was there a short time. Send them to:

Merle Kluczkowski
419-21 Clayton Dr., Winnipeg, MB R2M 1G2.
Phone: (204) 299 6059 or
email [email protected]

Merle would also like you to send any memories about the school or village events that you would like to share. Jack Neufeld, who taught at Homewood School when Merle was in Grade 1, relates a story about how recess sometimes got extended when he and the students were playing football.

We look forward to seeing you on July 15, 2018! And please let your Homewood friends/relatives know about the reunion.

Homewood Reunion Committee:

Deanna Mutcher: Co-chair. Phone: (204) 745 2719 or email: [email protected]
Stuart Breckon: Co-chair. Phone (281) 450 1884 or email: [email protected]

March 2018

Homewood Reunion Update. Merle Kluczkowski (nee Cutting) from the Homewood Reunion Committee is hoping to obtain as many family histories and pictures as possible for the Reunion Book they will be publishing for the July 15, 2018 reunion. She is looking for “short little memories or stories of things that happened in the district, or to yourself, [that] would help to make the book come alive for people who are reading it.


Homewood 1950s

 

 

Merle explains that “What we are looking for is a short write up about your family with things like when your family lived in the district, how you or your parents were connected to Homewood either through the school, church, curling, co-op, sugar beets, elevators or post office. It would be great if you could share who is in your family and what or where they are now living. Pictures and memories would also be appreciated.”

One of her own memories was of “the ditches swollen with water and kids out in the middle with homemade rafts with boots filled with water.” That should bring back memories for a lot of us— that Spring run-off water was sure cold when you fell in!

You can send your history, pictures, memories to Merle by e-mail, letter or by giving her a call:

address:        Merle Kluczkowski
                              419 – 21 Clayton Drive
                              WINNIPEG, Manitoba  R2M 1G2
e-mail:          [email protected]
phone:         204-299-6059

Merle notes that: “You will not receive an immediate response from me from mid-April to about the second week of May. If you could get your information to me prior to that time it would be very helpful. I would like all information to me by the beginning of June.”

The books will be available at the reunion. CDMHAC looks forward to helping preserve this valuable heritage material and making it available later online as part of our ‘living history book’.