Everybody does indeed have a story and inspiration can be found anywhere. Grade 4 students at St. Vital Catholic School in Battleford found that out recently when they undertook a project for gathering and sharing memories as part of their language arts studies.
It offered a special opportunity for students to connect and build relationship with people of another generation, learning about how life was different for them when they were children, but also about universal commonalities that defy age.
The students, working in partnerships, interviewed seven residents of the Battlefords District Care Centre. They recorded their stories and created written summaries and, with the help of artist Holly Hildebrand, built story box art projects depicting some of the memories they鈥檇 collected from their new senior friends.
Teacher Kelly Waters says the idea for the Grade 4 Living Stories project came from an exhibit that had been hosted at St. Vital and Bready Schools titled Hello in There, Hello Out There.
Living Sky School Division learning consultant Sherron Burns says the Organization of Saskatchewan Arts Councils initiated Hello In There, Hello Out there, created by senior citizens in retirement homes and care facilities in Saskatchewan under the direction of project artist Chrystene Ells.聽
It was a year-long residency working with senior citizens to pull their memories out into ways they could express in a story, resulting in the creation of story boxes, says Burns.
Seniors from BDCC came to see the exhibition hosted by St. Vital and from there the Living Stories project grew.
Last week, at the opening of their Living Stories exhibition in the school, the Grade 4 students invited the seniors to a celebration, showing them the results of their project.
鈥淣ow they鈥檝e come together so the seniors get to see how their memories are told through story boxes,鈥� says Burns.
Waters says, 鈥淚t has been a very special project for students and senior citizens to forge relationships.鈥�
The Grade 4 students worked with seniors Tina Beak, Marlene Christie, Albert Varga, Rosemary Pilat, Maurice Prince, Joyce Campbell and Vince Bartrop.
Beak was impressed by the story boxes.
鈥淚 think that they are gorgeous,鈥� she said.
Tina Beak was interviewed by Ethan, Noah and Calista.
In his summary, Ethan wrote, 鈥淭ina was born in the Netherlands in 1927. She talked about sitting on her rocking chair with her cat sitting on her lap and her dog sitting on one side on the floor. The cat was sick. Tina gave her water and food and took her to the veterinarian and it got better.鈥�
Ethan liked Tina鈥檚 stories about the Netherlands.
鈥淚 hadn鈥檛 heard of the Netherlands before so I enjoyed hearing about it,鈥� he wrote.
That Tina loved animals was clear to all three students. In fact, each student chose direct quotes from Tina to include in their summaries, and Calista鈥檚 choice of quote was, 鈥淚 love animals.鈥�
In her story box, which featured Tina鈥檚 pets, Calista put a sticker that made her think of Tina. It said, 鈥淓njoy the moments that make you smile.鈥�
Calista wrote, 鈥淚 enjoyed Tina telling me her stories and making a special friendship connection.鈥�
Noah noted Tina also liked knitting, so he put buttons on his artwork and, because she lived in the Netherlands, known for its flowers, he put a garden in his story box as well.
鈥淚 lived in the Netherlands where there was lots of flowers,鈥� Tina had told the students. 鈥淚 had a garden with red, blue, yellow and white flowers.鈥�
She also told them, 鈥淚 would go for walks,鈥� and, 鈥淚 like to go swimming.鈥�
Marlene Christie, whose biographers were Grace and Andrew, said the project was fun. She told them stories about growing up on a mixed farm, her chores and her school days, her travels and her family. They asked a lot of questions, she says, but adds with a laugh, 鈥渂ut I offered a lot, too!鈥�
Andrew explains in his summary, 鈥淢arlene was born on a farm in 1950. She had to do work with her family on the farm like washing clothes and feeding the animals. She had horses, cows and sheep. She had to cook the food for her family and get the water every day from the well. Her father died when she was young so she had no dad when she grew up which made her sad.鈥�
Andrew said it made him feel good to meet Marlene and hear her stories.
Grace鈥檚 summary included Marlene鈥檚 love of sewing and that fact that she moved a lot.
鈥淲hen she was still a kid she moved to Edmonton and lived with her grandma and grandpa. Her uncle was a singer and played guitar. Marlene and her cousin would go to the lake and sing her uncle鈥檚 songs and laugh until their tummies hurt.鈥�
Grace chose this memory to build her story box around because, 鈥渋t was her funny memory that she shared. I like to make people laugh; this made me laugh and made me feel good about myself.鈥� S
am and Coralee were partnered with Albert Varga, who was born in 1936 at Melville.
鈥淚 enjoyed talking with Albert, because even though he is much older than me, we have a lot in common,鈥� wrote Sam in his summary.
Sam鈥檚 story box was all about Albert growing up on a farm.
鈥淚 painted the box Albert鈥檚 favourite colour, John Deere,鈥� wrote Sam. 鈥淚 liked talking to Albert because he used to live on a farm and had lots of animals such as Hereford cattle which is my favourite type of cattle. He used to like hunt animals just as I like hunting animals.鈥�
Coralee was captivated by the story about Albert鈥檚 farm being hit by a tornado in 1946. Hail destroyed the house and crops.
鈥淲ith everything gone, they could not make any money to spend or live.鈥�
In her art work, she depicted what she thought the farm looked like after the tornado.
鈥淚 smashed a birdhouse to make it look like the tornado destroyed it. I used soldering wire to make the tornado. It must have been a sad time for his family but I am glad he told me his story,鈥� wrote Coralee.
Brooklyn and Tyson were partnered with Rosemary Pilat, who shared memories about growing up living and working in a caf茅 in Prince Albert
Tyson wrote, 鈥淩ose鈥檚 parents died when she was a little girl so she lived with her grandmother in the caf茅. She lived upstairs in the caf茅. Rose chose to wash dishes to earn money.鈥�
He chose this story for his art work because he thought it would have been interesting to live in a caf茅.
Rose also told the students, 鈥淚 went to the fair and rode horses. I went on vacations every year. We went and visited our cousins every year in B.C.鈥�
Brooklyn also chose to build her story box about Rose鈥檚 life at the caf茅, adding her love of music and animals.
鈥淲hen I washed dishes in the caf茅 I listened to the radio with my grandma,鈥� Rose told her.
I chose this memory because when Rose talked about it she seemed happy,鈥� wrote Brooklyn.
Billi-Dean and Dawson were partnered with Maurice Prince, who likes to say, 鈥淚 was born in a snow bank.鈥�
He told them, 鈥淥n the farm there was no time for fun,鈥� 鈥淚 was nine years old, I had to calf a cow myself,鈥� and, 鈥淚f your horse understands you, you understand a horse.鈥�
Born in 1930, he and his six brothers and five sisters were raised on a farm. He had a wealth of stories to share with the students. Each focused on a different story.
Billi-Dean summarized, 鈥淢ost people find elderly people鈥檚 stories boring, but I thought they were fascinating.鈥�
She based her summary and her story box on the Maurice鈥檚 farm being destroyed by a tornado in 1939 when he was nine years old.
鈥淓verything was broken and destroyed. It took four years to rebuild the farm. They spent over $5,000 to rebuild what the tornado had damaged,鈥� she wrote.
In her story box, 鈥淚 put a boy looking out the window to show Maurice looking out of his house seeing his barn getting destroyed, animals dying and hail destroying his house.鈥�
Dawson鈥檚 story box was based on a car crash Maurice was in as a young man.
He told the students, 鈥淲hen I had a bad accident and I was ready to die but I prayed to Jesus because I was too young to die and Jesus come and saved me. Best memory I鈥檝e ever had.鈥�
Dawson wrote, 鈥淚鈥檓 glad that Maurice survived the car crash so that he was alive to tell me his story.鈥�
The day farm-girl Joyce Campbell skipped school was the memory both Brode and Derek chose to interpret through their story boxes.
Derek wrote, 鈥淥ne day when Joyce was in Grade 9, it was a nice sunny day and she sure didn鈥檛 feel like sitting in school. She did not like school so she decided to skip school with her friends.鈥�
Joyce, who loved the outdoors and sports, went swimming with her friends and returned home when they thought school was over to find everyone celebrating, singing and laughing after having joined in a parade. But the truant students didn鈥檛 know why.
When her mom asked her why she wasn鈥檛 in the parade, at first Joyce said, 鈥淚 was probably at the back,鈥� then she admitted she鈥檇 skipped school.
鈥淚t turned out World War II was over,鈥� wrote Derek. 鈥淪he felt she was probably the last person in Canada to know about it.鈥�
Brode also made a story box about Joyce鈥檚 day off school, writing, 鈥淚 liked the visit with Joyce. I enjoyed the trip to District Care because I thought it was fun to talk with people and hear their stories.鈥�
Ty and Leighton were partnered with Vince Bartrop, who was born near Cut Knife in 1933. He had some interesting stories for his student biographers. He told them, 鈥淢y school was by the river and there were snakes. We grabbed some snakes and put them in the bell. When the teacher rang the bell the snakes were laying there; they made a jump towards her and she jumped.鈥�
He also told them, 鈥淚 lived in a big house. It originally was a building that pilgrims rested there in the night when they travel. It was a three-storey house with 10 or 12 rooms. It was white.鈥�
Ty and Leighton were both fascinated by Vince鈥檚 stories about his white horse and how he obtained him.
Ty built a story box featuring Vince鈥檚 white horse in the barn.
鈥淚 picked this memory because I thought how he got his special horse was interesting.鈥�
When Vince was young, he worked on a thresher on his family farm and saved his money because he wanted to buy a horse.
One harvest he had $85, and when he saw a horse he really liked, he asked the owner, 鈥淗ow much for the horse?鈥�
The owner wanted $100 for the horse, so he made a deal with Vince that he could pay the rest of the $15 the next year.
Leighton also told the story of Vince entering a horse race at Atton鈥檚 Lake.
鈥淎fter the race started, he got behind but Vince kicked the horse in the ribs and then got ahead. He won the race and then everybody wanted to buy the horse but Vince said, 鈥楴o, the horse is not for sale.鈥欌��
Leighton wrote, 鈥淚 used this memory for my project because since I thought it was interesting, I thought that other people would like it too.鈥�
The Living Stories project will now be on display at St. Vital School.
The students have discovered new friends from amongst the seniors at Battlefords District Care Centre and the seniors enjoyed their enthusiasm.
Indeed, everybody does have a story, and these students and seniors found stories through which they could relate to one another.
