Good memories growing up in Steveston
by Yvonne Piatocka (White)
As a kid, going to the Do Duck Inn and then Marine Grocery to get our candy... nice people. And dad taking us to Pete Rolston's store for ice cream cones in the winter. Working in the cannery, cleaning herring and salmon. Steveston always smelling like fish, and the dykes for the parties. And going there to just watch someone comin' or goin' fishin'. Steveston will always have a special place in my heart for all the people I knew. The bakery mom use go to gave out hot dogs, and the gossip that was told at the post office. Well, so many stories, some true and some you wonder where they got them from. Miss those people and our (self-proclaimed) night watchman, Gordie (Fink), who use to walk around checking all the doors to make sure they were locked. I use to join him some nights. And Paul Small, another guy who was always around. Also, running to the Interurban to take us to Woodwards in Vancouver. Also, growing up having our milkman bring the milk and put it right in the fridge, no worries, his name was Tony. Then my grandma, Rebecca Lumley, the Head Lady at B.C. Packers. My mother, Marguerite Lumley, at the age of 12, also worked there. And when I did it was $3.25 an hour and overtime is when you made your money. My grandpa, Ed Lumley, also worked there. He would get rid of the waste to another cannery. Around March there was this run with Ooligans. My father and I use to love eating them. They were so good but, I believe they are getting scarce. Now, moving over to our Army, Navy, Air force Club 284, my mother was their secretary and a couple years later my father, Bill White, became the president. It was a popular place to go and they had this jukebox there which we brought over to the house for a big party with over 100 people. As kids, we took over the jukebox and had lots of dancing, which everyone did in those days. My mother every year for awhile use to give out hot dogs. She would go down to the bakery and buy 12-dozen buns, and it worked out to 8 cents cheaper than a chocolate bar. Mom would give some to everyone new in town. On Hallowe'en some kids would exchange masks so they could get one more. All the kids on Hallowe'en enjoyed my mother, because at the end of the night all 12 dozen hot dogs were gone, with a trail of napkins all down the street. In the winter time we had back fields to skate on, so everyone use to get together to make a rink not only for skating, but to play hockey on. So, we had alot of fun. There were a lot of Japenese in town. Good people... some became real good friends and taught us how to prepare Japanese food. I forgot to mention Heroes Grocery Store. My father use to go there all the time for rice. We always had a pot of rice on the stove to go with the fish... fried, baked or boiled. I even took Japenese lessons with a sensei, or teacher. Such a great place. When we were kids we didn't have computers, so we had to make our own fun. A bunch of us use to have rafts that we made and big ditches we floated down. When we were a little older it was kick the can and that was fun, too. It use to be that kids from all over Steveston use to get together to play. Then baseball. that was fun. We all got together to make two teams. It was a good place to live. Will always remember growing up in Steveston. It started in 1952, that's when I was born.
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