"The Boarding House" by Keith Dyon

Antler Boarding House

I think I'm correct in saying that my grandmother Dyon started the first boarding house in Antler - at least the one she started lasted for a long time as such.  My grandparents came from Ontario, a place called Mountain Grove.  They came west and settled near Deloraine, Manitoba close to the village of Whitewater.  They were there for a few years and during that time my grampa ventured up into Saskatchewan which was ten still in the North-West Territories. He took up a homestead in about 1898 and there were one or two others there before him.  There were also a few French settlers at what is now Bellegarde.  Grampa apparently couldn't get any more land where he was at Deloraine thus his reason for venturing futher.  
For a couple of years he went back and forth which was quite a trek in those days - about 80 miles across country.  I think about 1899 or 1900 they moved there to what is now known as Antler, to stay.  His land was right near the village so he built his house in town and that house remains and is occupied to this day (at the time of the writing of this letter).  There was no Hotel as yet in town though one was built shortly after.  My grandmother Dyon

Grandmother Dyon

started taking in boarders and roomers which she kept at until she died in 1931.  I often wonder if she ever made anything out of her labours because from what I have been told, and from what I recall, she was half the time looking after some waif or raising somebody else's kids.  The Doctor at the time was Dr. Carnduff, her son-in-law, and very often he would bring in some patient from the wilderness and she would nurse such back to life and in one case, the young lad stayed with her as he had no home, until he enlisted in the first world war.  His name was Tom Badman.  Then, there was a commercial traveller cam along one time and he had a wee girl with him - apparently his wife had left him or he had left her, anyway he wound up leaving this kid at my grandmother's and she raised her until she got married about 1930.  Then, another time there were a bunch of harvesters came along and when they weren't harvesting, some of them lodged with her and one of these guys sort of made his home at Gramma's.  He would go out working from time to time but he would always come back between times and she sort of treated him like a son.  His name was Slim (Charles Edgley), and a guy we all liked.  He came from Chicago but was English and he joined the Winnipeg Grenadiers in the Second World War.  He wound up in Hong Kong or Singapore where he stayed and was eventually killed by the Japanese.  Gramma died in 1931 as did Grampa Dyon so of course, she never knew about Slim.  Yes, Gramma Dyon was sort of a home for strays.  She was a big, stout woman and she worked hard with few conveniences and I think often for little reward.  She looked after us kids a lot, along with the Leverton kids (my cousins).  There were three families of us.  One of Gramma's daughter's, Frankie, was married to Dr. Carnduff and he died when his two kids, Mary and J.D. were quite small.  Another daughter, Mary, was married to George Leverton and they had three kids - Gord, Art, & Francis.  Mary died when these tykes were quite young as well so Gramma raised them too.  Then, her son (my dad) was married to Kathleen McVeigh (my mother) and she passed away in  1929 so there were the 3 of us kids as well.  Gramma helped with all of us until her passing in 1931.  As I look back, she had a hard life with lots of work, and few holidays.  How these people carried on I don't know - no refrigeration, no electricity, no water works - everything had to be done the hard way.  As I said, the old house still stands here and is still occupied - believe me, it could sure tell some stories!  For instance, there used to be a dentist who would come along once or twice a year and he would set up his apparatus in Gramma's parlour and  there he would torture his victims with an old drill that he pumped with his foot.  I remember often watching the victims squirm.  Then, there was also a traveling eye man who, likewise, would set up shop for a day or every once in awhile in the same parlour.  I remember that I got my eyes tested for the first time with this man when I was eight years old and got my first pair of glasses - small brass ringed things.  Also in those days, there was a guy came along once in awhile tuning pianos.  He would stay at Gramma's where there were two pianos and an organ.  I suppose he pretended  to tune them up and likely as a result, got his keep for nothing.  Winnie, the girl I mentioned above, was a wizard at playing the piano by ear.  Aunt Frankie was a good player too and Gramma also had a good ear for music and often on Sunday evenings a bunch would gather in the parlour.  Aunt Frankie would play the organ and there would be a real hymn sing.  I haven't mentioned much about Grampa Dyon but he was always there.  Most of the time he sat by the parlour heater reading - he was a great reader.  He could read through storms, music, kids making a racket - when he was reading, he heard nothing else.  Grampa farmed but in the winter he had lots of reading time.