Baljennie became a ghost town for a few years, but three interested families moved in and it grew up from a ghost town to a small town with a population of close to 10 people. Warren and Cecilla Parksinson and family and their son Glen and family of Martensville moved in two trailers and built in the east end of the old townsite.
Robert Stinson and his family of North Battleford moved into the old Fullterton trailer site and built a little house. Bob and his son spent many summer weekends in the little town. We were shocked to hear of Bob's passing in late March. The funeral was held April 4 and Bob is buried at the North Battleford Cemetry. Baljennie is now back to two families of seven people.
Sympathy goes out to the Heilman families of North Battleford on the recent passing of Battleford's Eva Heilman at the age of 91. In the last years Eva was called the Button Lady of Battleford and she had a collection of many thousands of all kinds of buttons. Eva and her husband were very active in the Battleford Treasure Hunters Club that ran for over 20 years.
Eva was a collector from day one and had many collections of different items such as dolls, salt and pepper shaker sets, Avon bottles as well as other fancy shape bottles and a good variety of antique items. Their house was full of all sorts of things. She had real talent in drawing and painting on fabric and went to many craft sales with her art work. She made and painted many quilts.
She also had the garage sale bug and loved going to all the different sales each week. Many Saturday mornings you would meet Eva and Joe at the sales. She was a member of the Hillcrest singers and had a lovely voice. She worked in a local hobby shop for a good number of years. She will be always remembered and missed by her family and friends. The funeral was held in Battleford, with burial at the Battleford Cemetery.
Sympathy to the D'Arcy family of Lizard Lake and Biggar on the recent passing of Ann D'Arcy. Ann and her husband Jim farmed many years in the Lizard Lake area, before selling out and moving to Biggar. Ann kept busy with the local Lizard Lake Community Club as well as a being a quilter with the Crane Creek ladies' group. She helped sew and quilt a quilt every winter to raffle off. Ann had been in poor health for some time. She will be missed by all family and friends. The funeral was held in Biggar.
April is here and so are more and better signs of spring. The steady weary east winds have at last moved to the westerly direction. That east wind seemed to last for days.
The snow is quickly melting, making mud puddles and running water. The sloughs in the fields are all full. The silvery pussy willows are all bursting out of their buds. The little chipmunks are out and about as well as the gophers. Crows, hawks, gulls and Canada geese are all about now. Green grass is starting to show up along the roadsides. A few warm sunny days will soon take all the winter snow away and start to dry things up.
