Joan Schuetz
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When you mention the “Roaring Twenties”, one might conjure images of flappers and extravagant spending, but this wasn’t the norm for the average family during this decade. While daily activities were different for people living in rural and urban areas, family values in the 1920’s remained relatively constant. For the Hall family, it was all about family time and working hard.
Joan was one of eleven children, born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan on October 22, 1925 to Bill and Lydia Hall. She grew up on a farm with dairy cows, chickens and wheat fields in a small hamlet called St. Boswell’s. “It was a very good life growing up on the farm; we were a very close knit family”. “It wasn’t uncommon to have a pile of kids playing ball in our yard and mom dishing out homemade ice cream” says Joan. After her school years, Joan went to work for a family in Regina, taking care of the children earning $35.00 a month. Although she loved this work, her sister needed some help running her store in Neidpath, Saskatchewan so she moved back to give her a hand.
This little store worked its magic and became the meeting place for what would be 70 beautiful years of marriage to Louie Schuetz. They met on January 17th, got engaged on March 10th and were married on June 10, 1944 in Joan’s family home. Joan and Louie brought two girls into the world, Lee and Nadine. They endured all living conditions including no indoor plumbing and hauling water up until they moved to Manitoba in 1968; Joan thought she had died and gone to heaven when she finally had running water. Joan worked hard alongside Louie hauling grain and at one point in her life she was a telephone operator.
“Being a telephone operator, you are talking with people every day, I was beginning to think I was a doctor, a cook, or even a social worker; everyone would call and ask questions” says Joan.
After 25 years in Manitoba, Joan and Louie would move to Armstrong and settle in their home on 2560 Rosedale Avenue. They enjoyed some travel together including an Alaskan Cruise and a trip down the Oregon Coast, where Louie proposed to his love for a second time! The couple participated in lawn bowling on the very same property that Heaton Place sits today. She and Louie even travelled to Australia to bowl! Joan became an active member of the Woman’s Institute and the Rebekah’s, volunteered for the UCW at the IPE, and was the Bridge Club Seniors Center President.
Joan is the proud grandma of 4 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren. The couple moved into Heaton Place Retirement Residence in 2013 and Joan said farewell to her beloved Louie on January 24, 2015. After Louie passed, Joan’s girls took her to Hawaii. With a twinkle in her eye, she tells a story of how this handsome Italian singer held her and sang her “Fly me to the moon”. Joan says, “Both my girls had tears running down their faces.“ Joan now stays busy with playing cards, watching curling and visiting family. When I asked Joan what message she would want to leave with her family she said, “Always look on the sunny side of life, don’t be looking for trouble; and help your fellow man as much as possible.”
“I am once again touched by the lives of our seniors”, says Carrie O’Neill. Joan looks like my grandma, and so I am blessed with feeling her presence as well. Thank you Joan for sharing some of your story!