Louise Gladue, 86: When times were hard and days were tough

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FISHING LAKE - How many people can remember back to the days when a pound of baking powder cost 10 cents and the same amount of tea could be bought for a nickle, when cars were virtually unheard of and roads were only a wagon trail through a grassy field.

The soon to be 86-year old Louise Gladue remembers them, and others, when days were hard and times were tough.

Born in Edmonton, February 11, 1901, Mrs. Gladue now makes her home near the townsite of Sputinow on the Fishing Lake Settlement.

She shares a house trailer with her son Philip, but is alone most of the day while he attends AVC upgrading.

Across from the kitchen table in the home of Mrs. Gladue, a curio cabinet, filled with teacup sets and glassware, holds some family pictures. Old pictures of a couple of her many grandchildren and a more recent picture of herself and three remaining sons, taken last year on her 89th birthday. A vase of assorted silk flowers serves as a backdrop for the frames. One of the Virgin Marys in the trailer, a white ceramic statue, shares the table space.

Mrs. Gladue, a small woman wearing a floral blouse and a blue skirt sits at the table fighting off the small white kitten that insists on biting at her well-worn pink slippers.

In the past, Mrs. Gladue lived in St. Paul for some time before moving out to Fishing Lake in the "early twenties" to raise her family. She "used to go out working with her old man to make a living."

In those days, work meant brushing by axe and saw and clearing roots for local farmers' fields. The ladies used to help by burning the brush the men had piled. Payment for work was sometimes chickens or pigs. Even cows were sometimes traded for. Everyone had a large garden and the men would shoot deer or moose for fresh meat.

After the passing of her husband in 1947, Louise Gladue moved a couple of times within the Settlement from the house on the hill, to a home she bought closer to where the town is now located.

The closest store in those days was hours away. Mrs. Gladue had a team and wagon she used to drive the 10 or 13 miles to the Frog Lake store. She would leave in the morning, have lunch in Frog Lake and get back home in time for supper.

It was a team and wagon that also took Mrs. Gladue and others to the annual pilgrimage that used to be held at St. Joseph's hall in Kehewin. Years ago people came from miles around to camp and pray.

Still a woman of strong faith, Mrs. Gladue proudly displays a couple of calendars with large pictures of Jesus. She likes the church being within walking distance and the size of it.

"It's a nice big church," she says. For many years Fishing Lake had no church at all. The faithful would travel to Frog Lake to attend Mass.

About 22 years ago, Mrs. Gladue moved back to Edmonton where she remained until the fall of 1980 when she returned to the Settlement, to the trailer she calls home today.

She liked both places equally well, but as for Fishing Lake, "things are a lot better now. Today everybody works, boys and girls. It's good."

Her sight has never been very good. As a small girl in grade school, she was taken out after only a couple of days when the teacher told her mother about the problem. "My mother told me I couldn't got to school no more," remembered Mrs. Gladue, "because my eyes were not good."

Painful corns on one foot, a recurring asthma condition and slippery road conditions prevent Mrs. Gladue from venturing too far outside. She hopes when the seasons change she can again walk the quarter mile to the general store. She likes to go Fridays, combining a bit of shopping with mail day visiting.