This year Sparwood celebrated a fifty year anniversary with a grand celebration.

Mayor Cal McDougall

I attended one of the events and it was heartwarming to see some of the people who had moved away years ago but whose names still resonated to me.

As a child I often heard our neighbours speak of going to Natal and Michell. It wasn’t until I was eighteen and married that I finally made the trip to see what these communities were all about.

My first memories are of a community bustling with activity. It seems odd now to think that in reality there was only a few rows of houses on either side of the highway that made up those communities but they were so filled with life that it seemed that they were so much grander.

It was sad when the houses were torn down especially the dark stone schoolhouse that was so impressive.

Sparwood became the new hub for the area but not all of the residents from Natal, Middletown and Michel went to Sparwood so a lot of the names that used to be commonplace disappeared.

Centre: Councilor Lois Halko

Lois Halko, councillor and past mayor of Sparwood lent me three books to read one being “Memoirs of Michel –Natal 1899-1971” by Arlene B. Gaal. This book is filled with photographs of families with names like Quarin, Bagio, Beech, Eberts, Rothel, Miles, Gaskell, Androlick, Altomare, Krall, Musil, Doratty, Menduk, Letasy, and Chala. Some of those names are still familiar in the Elk Valley to this day.

Photos of the Oddfellows, Rebecca Lodge, Pythian Sisters, The Buffs, The Blanket Club, Ladies Pleasant Hour of the United Church, Knights of Columbus, and several orchestras as well as photos of men in uniform during war time and many images showing hunters and other activities displaying life in that period are in the book. I find the photographs fascinating looking at them over and over.

The Michel-Natal Heritage Society also published a book titled “Remember When” that chronicles different families with amazing photos as well as images of the buildings from that era. Lois also has a chapter in the book by Wayne Norton (The Forgotten Side of the Border) written with Helen Bachlet describing hospital services at that time, as both were nurses.

I love looking at photographs portraying historical images. I look at the Trites Wood Store, the Michel Hotel, Cole’s Theater, Kiki’s Meat and Groceries, IOOF hall and Co-op Dairy, Imperial Bank, BA Service and Natal Pool Hall.

The pictures conjure images of people and their lives when life was much different than it is today with all our modern conveniences and our technology that provides information with a touch of a fingertip.

I imagine how hard people worked during that time at home and physically underground in the mines and mills, cultivating big gardens, fishing and hunting wild game.

I think of how it couldn’t have been easy for wives and mothers, living in constant worry of the dangerous work their men were doing so that food could be put on the table. How they dealt with dust from the coal and wood range needed for cooking and baking bread and having to feed the heater in the middle of the living room that provided warmth.

Kids would have worked as well, some going to school only until they could get jobs so as to help out the family although as years progressed education became important as miners sought a better life for their children.

Yet despite the hardships and difficulties residents in those communities had something very important. They had built relationships and friendships, they had rich lives that involved being part of groups and organizations and churches. They held festivals, organized sporting events and dances, they had queens and parades and wonderful picnics. They shared a comradery and a love for one another.

I recall the many stories in the paper when those communities were removed and the acrid emotions of the people that were displaced. Those modest houses were people’s homes for decades. New lives were born and others lost within those walls, people laughed and cried and lived life to the best of their ability so why should it be taken away?

For some it was easier to go far away for others it was a move close by to the new town of Sparwood.

It’s been 50 years since Sparwood incorporated as a district and during this time it has enriched the lives of many people that chose to call it home. There is no doubt that it will continue to do so in the next 50 years and beyond.

Sparwood’s history includes the history of Natal/Michel, there are residents that still recall that period with clarity, Lois’s mom Emma just celebrated her 101st birthday and she still remembers.

History is a captivating recount of life and the people who lived it, sometimes its preferred to be forgotten because it’s painful, but for me it’s fascinating and thought-provoking because one day we all become part of history and I would like to believe that there will be someone who will appreciate this era and who find it as fascinating as I do.

Congratulations Sparwood on your 50th anniversary of incorporation as a District and thank you for fifty years of being an excellent neighbour!