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A little snow and schools shut down

My brothers and I lived on a farm in Gordon Head on Ferndale Road in the 1940s and 1950s. We had to walk to school in two feet of snow. There were no snow plows.
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My brothers and I lived on a farm in Gordon Head on Ferndale Road in the 1940s and 1950s. We had to walk to school in two feet of snow. There were no snow plows.

The janitor would also walk to the two-room schoolhouse to put on the stoves in each classroom. All the chairs were put around the stoves to get dry and warm. We would toast our sandwiches at lunchtime on the stove, then go outside and play on Ash Hill.

The bottom of the hill was blocked off for all the kids to sleigh ride. My father built a four-person sleigh. We had snow every winter.

The couple of inches of snow today and they close it all down. I don’t know why. Maybe we were tougher.

We moved to Smithers and lived on a cattle ranch. Our kids walked two miles downhill with lots of snow, 20 below, and caught the school bus. The school system never shut down.

So what’s the problem, Sooke?

Gordon Stewart

Otter Point