Doris’ memories paint a picture of the past

By Joan Janzen

KINDERSLEY – It was my pleasure to spend some time with Doris Kellington, who resides in Kindersley at Dawnview Apartments. The 95-year-old senior shared memories of rural life on the prairies when life was much different than it is today.

Doris (née Miller) was the youngest of eleven children, born on March 3, 1930, on her parents’ farm near Smiley, Sask. The family consisted of nine boys and two girls, and even though the oldest siblings had moved out and married by the time Doris was born, there were still a lot of children to fit in a very small house.

Kindersley resident Doris Kellington painted a picture of the past by sharing a wealth of memories gleaned throughout her 95 years. PHOTO BY JOAN JANZEN

A photo of Doris Kellington (née Miller) when she was 19 years old.

“A granary was pulled up to the main part of the house. That was the boys’ bedroom,” she explained. There were two remaining bedrooms, one for the girls and one for her parents, plus a main living area.

“The house wasn’t insulated, and it was cold. I remember lying in bed and counting the nail heads in the roof that were all covered with frost,” she recalled.

She attended Ryerson School, a one-room country school. “My dad’s brother lived two miles from us, and he had 15 children, so the school consisted of our two families and just a few others,” she reported. “But we had fun because there were so many of us, and we got together for all the holidays.”

Doris may have been young, but she vividly recalled the years of drought. “The thistles would come blowing across the field and pile up on the fence, and my dad would make us throw them over the fence,” she remembered. “I used to walk barefoot in the dust. I can still feel it.”

Whenever there was a dust storm, her mother would send the children into the cellar with their faces covered so they wouldn’t breathe in the dust. There wasn’t much of a crop, but their garden still managed to produce some much-needed vegetables.

“People don’t realize how tough it was back then. We had years when all we had were potatoes and turnips. I remember Mom boiling some, mashing some, just trying to make something different,” she recalled.

The family didn’t eat meat very often, except when one of her brothers would shoot a rabbit. “They were delicious, but I don’t think I’d like it now,” she said.

“We never had a car growing up; never had a tractor. We had beautiful work horses,” she reported. “I was harnessing horses when I was 12 years old, and I helped with stooking. That was a hard job. There weren’t many men to help during the war years.”

The Ryerson school building was later moved to Kindersley, at which time Doris attended Teo Lake School, where she completed her Grade 10. She stayed home helping on the farm until she was 18, when she moved to Kindersley and worked at the hospital as a kitchen aide.

One night she stayed at a girlfriend’s house and met her friend’s cousin, John Kellington. “He took us to a dance, and from then on we were never apart,” she said.

When I asked if it was love at first sight, Doris replied, “Oh my! He had the most beautiful blue eyes I’ve ever seen!”

They were married seven months after they met, on November 15, 1949. “My husband’s father had a farm near Eston, and we helped them on the farm,” she said. Their son Gordon was born in 1950, and in 1961 they bought the farm from John’s parents and continued to farm until 1974, when they moved to Kindersley, where they were both employed.

The couple enjoyed their years of living on an acreage and operating Highway 7 Gardens along with their son and daughter-in-law before they moved to Dawnview Apartments in 2012.

Doris lost the love of her life in July of this year. They shared 75 wonderful years together, which is a milestone that not many couples reach.

Now Doris keeps busy doing puzzles, playing games on her computer, and enjoying phone calls and visits from her son and daughter-in-law.

Doris is a beautiful soul who continues to pass on a legacy of love to her family and friends. Thanks for painting us a picture of the past by sharing your memories.