BILL and SUE-ON HILLMAN:
A 60-YEAR MUSICAL ODYSSEY
60 Years on the Road with Bill and Sue-On Hillman
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Presents
EXCITING '70s DECADE MEMORIES
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PART I: THE MUSIC
This decade was jam packed with music performances: Pubs, High Schools, Street Dances -- a multitude of one-nights mixed in with recording sessions in Winnipeg and England for 11 albums plug two-month long summer tours: across Canada for Federal Grain ~ Grandstand performances in US Exhibitions and Rodeos ~ and England in 76,77 and 78. All of this took place while I was teaching high school full time in hometown Strathclair, We were making major renovations and expansion of our Maple Grove country home and had started a famly.
I'll present a few hints here of just how busy the '70s were for us because much of it is covered in more detail plus photos and songs in our companion sites:Bill and Sue-On Hillman: A 60-year Musical Odyssey: The '70s started off with our entering our third and final Brandon University year in Brandon. We were still staying at Kenny and Rebecca's, taking BU courses to finish our degrees, still playing a steady stream of gigs across WestMan and Winnpeg at pubs, clubs, television studios, military bases, street dances, etc. I had started writing songs and we were planning more recording sessions at Century 21 Studios.
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and
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Plus
Hillman Recording Projects
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Plus Numerous Other Reference Links embedded in the textIn 1970 we were well into our Canada annual Canadian summer tours of fairs, rodeos and exhibitions for the Federal Grain Train Show that we worked from 1966-1973. 1970 was Manitoba's Centennial Year and was packed with celebrations across the province. For this reason our 1970 tours were limited mainly to Manitoba and we set up our stage in 20 Keystone Province towns -- small and large -- but all them served by a Federal Grain Train elevator. This included six days at the Morris Stampede and also three days over in Moose Jaw, SK. and we also played a scattering of arena shows and dances. By now we were selling our Western Union record albums and autographed photos off our stage. Crowds were great and responsive and the Federal Grain people treated us royally. We performed most of our three day gig in Dauphin without Russ who had been asked to sing and yodel as part of a large show to entertain visiting Queen Elizabeth.
Our summer gig schedule was fully booked so we were disappointed to miss the historic Festival Express whose train stopped at Winnipeg on their journey westward. But there was no way we were going to miss ManPop 70, a really hyped rock festival at the Winnipeg Stadium on August 29 - just after the completion of our summer tour. The bill featured top Manitoba and Canadian groups along with the headliners: Led Zeppelin and Iron Butterfly. It was an extra special day because we were celebrating our 4th Wedding Anniversary.
There were rain showers all day. Sue-On and I went across to Polo Park Mall and purchased plastic dropsheets that we wrapped ourselves in as we sat on the turf near the stage. We enjoyed fine performances by the opening acts -- especially Diane Heatherington and The Merry-Go-Round. Just after Chilliwack's afternoon performance the drizzle and showers morphed into a full-fledged downpour. Word came from the promoters that everything was being moved into the nearby Winnipeg Arena.
We were close to the stage and, since the exit was near stage left, we pushed into a good position in the queue to the arena.
Click for full size
Hillmans in the Crowd
Right side of photo ~ about 1/3 up Perusing John Einarson's large photo of the crowd
filing out of the Winnipeg Stadium - in the rain - to move over to the Winnipeg Arena.
We spotted ourselves -- both in white shirts and Bill wearing sunglasses.We found good seats in an upper tier and settled in for a long wait, while roadies worked frantically to set up a mishmash of makeshift sound and lighting equipment on the arena stage. Meanwhile, hundreds of unlucky stadium ticket holders who couldn't get into the already filled-to-over-capacity arena were rioting and breaking windows at the arena entrance.
Our upper position in the balcony gave us a good view of the stage and the crowd below, but the view was occasionally fogged out by the heavy clouds of medicinal smoke that were billowing up from the party crowd on the floor.
After heavy-duty backstage politics the headliners agreed to "mach schau" -- and a driving, exciting show it was. We stayed to the end of the event and didn't start our long drive back to Maple Grove until the wee, wee hours of the morning.
U of M Grad Dances
Through the years we played a string of University of Manitoba grad dances in the convention rooms of the Fort Garry, North Star and Marlborough Hotels. Most were for the Aggie students. . . great fun. They took pride in playing up their country roots when they partied: tuxedos with cowboy boots, cowboy hats and western regalia. Another interesting University gig was a show we did as part of an ethnic festival in the University of Winnipeg. The opening acts featured a long line of ethnic singers, Caribbean bands, and a troupe of interpretative jazz dancers. We did our usual country/rock bit.
Great West Life
We played very few beverage rooms in Winnipeg. Most of our gigs were for weddings or private parties at various clubs and hotels. Some of the best were the annual Christmas parties for Great West Life in their large dining room area. I would teach school all day, we would drive into Winnipeg where we lugged the equipment to an upper floor and played a long night with a few hours overtime. The trips back home were not always without incident as I've described elsewhere in the "Trouble On The Trail" chapter of our Gig Notes series. A few years later, our bandmate, Kerry Morris a tech whiz, worked for Great West until he formed his own successful computer company.
Winnipeg Pub Gigs
One pub/bar gig that stands out was the St. Vital Hotel. We were scheduled to record the next morning so to help pay the costs we had taken this booking. But another reason to take the gig was to try out a new piece of equipment we had rented for the session: a "Leslie" rotating speaker cabinet made by Fender. I had planned to play guitar through it on the "24 Hours from Tulsa" session. It worked well, but we couldn't afford to buy it at that time. Later, I did buy a number of "organ tone" effects boxes for my guitar. This led to purchasing a huge Elkatone "Leslie" cabinet which Sue-On eventually took over for her keyboard basses (Hohner, Fender, Moog).
Princess Pats Commando Raid
We played for the Princess Patricia troops at CFB Winnipeg (Club 61?) on a Grey Cup weekend. The 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (2PPCLI) is a highly decorated and experienced fighting force formed at the start of WWI and named after the Duke of Connaught's daughter Princess Patricia of Connaught. They received commendations for their heroism in the two World Wars, the Korean Conflict and many UN peacekeeping assignments. In more recent times the Battalion has been moved to the Kapyong Barracks at CFB Winnipeg and more recently they fought in the War in Afghanistan. 
Click for full sizeThe Pats are a rough and ready fighting force and it was an honour to be asked to play for the Grey Cup party at their club in Kapyong Barracks. These hardy army guys were a particularly rowdy group that night. We carried our gear in through the kitchen where we were met by a guy, bottle in hand, who had just staggered in from the dance area. He was taken aback when he saw Sue-On: "Wha da fuk ar yu doin' here." . . . we carried on into the stage area, where we had to step over bodies of two drunken combatants rolling on the floor pounding each other. One had the other by the testicles in one hand and was pounding him in the face with the other fist. Off to a flying start.
Our music seemed to settle things down a bit, but the party got pretty rowdy as the night went on. At the end of the show they were still ready for action so they hired us for two more hours overtime. By the time we packed up, those still standing were obviously primed for even more action.We heard in the news the next day that many of them had piled into cars after the dance and had driven to downtown Winnipeg where they carried out a commando raid on a hotel which they left looking like a war zone.
We performed many Winnipeg gigs through the '70s: CFB Winnipeg ~ Club La Verendrye ~ The International Inn ~ The Hollow Mug ~ Red River Cruise Ships ~ The Fort Garry Hotel ~ The German Club ~ and More. See our Gig Notes Series: Ch. 9
By 1973 our Federal Grain Train summer tours across western Canada were winding down. We played a series of shows on our outdoor state in farmers' fields for the Eli Lillie Treflan Company. Following the school summer break we concentrated on larger one-nighters in arena gigs and fairs and rodeos. We also carried on with our weekly shows on Brandon's CKX-TV.Summer tours for 1974 proved to be very different and exciting. For many of our Federal Grain Train gigs we had set up our stage outside the entrance to the Grandstand at fairs, exhibitions and rodeos. Our shows would catch the grandstand crowds as they exited the evening performances. . . much to the frustration and chagrine of the midway carnies who were waiting for the swarms of "marks". We had partied with many of the grandstand show performers who were booked by the Bardine Productions from Seattle. They were impressed with Sue-On, the pretty Chinese singing drummer and the variety of music we featured which also included Barry's Cajun fiddle music. They invited us to audition in Medicine Hat for their Grandstand show reps from NW USA. We did well and were hired for a series of Grandstand performances with Nashville Grand Ole Opry stars at their many exhitibions and rodeos. We've described these events in our GIG NOTES CH. 4
We had no full summer tours planned for 1975 so we planned something a little different. Sue-On Dad and Mom suggested that they would like to join us on one of our regular annual many-thousand mile road trips around Canada and the USA. They provided their new Oldsmobile for the trip and offered to pay all expenses -- gas, hotels, meals, etc. It was a great way for Sue-On and I to spend time with them and to share family histories. We visited many Choy relatives along the way and ate at the many Chinese restaurants across the country -- a good number of them were run by relatives or by acquaintances from their Toisan area of Southern China. It became quite normal for Sue-On's parents to walk into the restaurant kitchens to visit and chat with the staff. During our stop at CHOY'S -- a large restaurant just down the road from the new Grand Ole Opry and theme park -- the transmission on the new Olds broke down. Luckily, the car was still under warantee and while it was being repaired, Sue-On and I had a chance to roam around our usual haunts in Nashville: Music Row, Old Opry House, Record Companies, etc. We eventually returned home via Vegas, California, Seattle, Vancouver, etc. The rest of the year was filled with our usual one-nighters, recording sessions, TV work, teaching, and house renovations.
We released a Hillman record album along three recording projects with friends along with a string of 45 RPM singles and EPs every year during the '70s.
1970: Bill & Sue-On Hillman Record Album #1 The Western Union I ~ Each member of our band did three songs
1971: Bill & Sue-On Hillman Record Album #2 The Western Union II ~ Again, we each recorded three songs
1972: Album #3: Bill Sue-On Hillman: We produced and recorded 12 songs. . . 4 of them were Bill Hillman compositions
1973: Album #4: Bill and Sue-On Hillman On Stage: We produced and recorded all 18 songs
1974: Album #5: 14 Original Songs by Bill and Sue-On Hillman: We produced and recorded all 14 songs -- all of them Bill Hillman originals
1975/1976: Album #6: The Hillman Express: Track 15 ~ Part II: We produced and recorded all 15 songs -- All of them Bill Hillman originals
1975/1976 were filled with major music events. We recorded an album at Century 21 Studios with our English '60s music friend -- Alan Jones. I wrote a couple songs for the project, played guitars and Sue-On and I did some vocals. Alan played keys and wrote most of the songs for the project and his old band mates provided instrumentation and did many of the vocals. I helped with album design, production and release of the album that we called FREE SPIRIT. It was a fun project and a great bunch of guys to work with.Longtime friend and bandmate Barry Forman asked us to back him on guitars and drums for two fiddle albums:
Most Requested Fiddle Tunes for you . . by Barry Forman
and
The Forman Fiddles Featuring Barry Forman and 9 Year Old Son Kent Forman
I played guitars ~ Sue-On played drums ~ Denis Rondeau played bass ~ Mark Rutherford played Piano, Organ & FluteThis was also the year when Sue-On and I recorded our Album No. 6: The Hillman Express Track 15. Long time band mate, Barry Forman, was becoming so busy running his Ford Dealership in Rivers that that was our last album on which he played bass and fiddle. I wrote all the songs, played all guitars and produced the album at Century 21. Sue-On played drums on most of the tracks while session guys Mark LaFrance and Gord Osland played them on a few tracks. Kevin Pahl who was taking over the band's "third Man" duties played keyboards. Alan Jones from Free Spirit did keys on one track before he left on a trip to England to visit his brother Keith.
While Al Jones was in England he visited a music promoter in Middlesbrough and set up a summer tour for us: The Hillmans From Canada with Kevin Pahl. We played over 30 one-nighters -- mostly in large Workingman Clubs. Alan joined us in the clubs that had an organ on stage. We were sponsored by Traynor amps out of Toronto to promote their equipment in England. Sue-On played drums and Kevin played Sue-On's Hohner Keyboard Bass and Clavinet keyboard. It was a great experience and we drove all over the North East and Scotland as tourists through the day. We had to be back to set up at the various clubs at seven each night. I did all the driving in our rented Ford Transit van. Curiously, Kevin who worked as a crop duster pilot back home, wasn't old enough to qualify for an International Drivers License. We boarded at musicians gigs -- it was a great experience meeting with so many well known British musicians.
We had time when the tour ended in August before we had to fly back home out of Heathrow to record 6 original songs in London's Gooseberry Studios. Four of these hese cuts would be added to our Album 6.
We returned to England for our second tour in 1977. Sue-On was in the early stages of pregnancy withour first child -- Ja-On -- so we limited the number of live gigs. With the help of our English bass player, Mick Sandbrook, we booked studio time in Newcastle's Impulse Studios to record our Album No. 7: The Hillmans On Tour In England. Sue-On was featured on Side One singing nine of the most popular cover songs that she had done on stage through years. Side Two featured seven Bill Hillman originals. The session musicians were all English guys.
Our 1978 album was a collation of country rock songs that Sue-On and I had recorded in London, Newcastle, Durham and Winnipet plus cajun fiddle instrumentals by Barry Forman: Album No. 8: 16 CAJUN-FIDDLE-COUNTRY SONGS. Our live gigs were slowed down a bit by Ja-On's birth but somehow were still pretty active.
Our third England tour was in the summer of 1979. This time toddler Ja-On was with us so we played limited live gigs while Margaret Sandbrook babysat.t. We stayed with the Sandbrooks in Middlesbrough and we did a number of shows with Mick's group -- an Eagles Tribute Band called Desperado. Desperado joined us along with Alan Clark who became a full-time member of Mark Knopfler's Dire Stratis for 15 years to round out the sound of the backing tracks in Durham's Guardian Studlio. The result was Album No. 9: The Hillmans On Stage in England. Side One featured eight of our favourite Stage and Show songs while side two was made up of eight originals.
PART I:
MAPLE GROVE:
A LABOUR OF LOVE THROUGH THE '60s-'80s.
Our Maple Grove country home, south of Strathclair on HW354 was a brick house built by my grandparents, Jack and Katie Campbell in 1920. It was the house where I was born and raised for half of my life. My parents were successful mixed farmers and had even expanded the farm buildings into large henhouses from which we shipped fertilized eggs to hatcheries in Winnipeg. Things changed in the late '50s when we were hailed out and dad changed careers.
When dad bought and expanded a hardware store to a Marshall Wells business in Newdale he sold our half section farm to neighbours Doug and Pat Pollock, but he kept the house. After Sue-On and I were married in 1966 my parents gave us the house where we lived until 1993 when we moved to Brandon to take over Sue-On's family restaurant. I am about to give a long detailed description of our loved house ... so many treasured memories . . . our first home after Sue-On and I were married in 1966 . . . where we raised all three of our kids in their early years . . . home base for our major recording, performing and high school teaching years . . . and the home that has been empty since we left for Brandon over 30 years ago . . . so bear with me. :)
We had started renovating our Maple Grove shortly after we were married. Over the next 25-years later we completely cocooned the original 1920 brick house with super insulated add-ons. Early on, in the late '60sm we started by expanding the walls of the original house with super insulation, and re-did the electrical and plumbing systems. Construction plans were then put on hold when we moved to Brandon for three years to complete our university degrees.
A More Recent Photo of Maple Grove
ORIGINAL MAPLE GROVE
South Side
West and East Sides
North Side
Start of Kitchen and Dining Room Renovations in the '60s
A More Recent Photo of Maple Grove After Many Add-Ons
GARAGE ~ BATHROOM ~ LIBRARY ALONG NORTH SIDE
GARAGE: When we moved back in 1971 to resume my high school teaching career we tackled our project with a vengeance. We added a three-car garage on the north side . . . later, half of this structure was converted to a new bathroom and a den/study for book storage and office computers.
The renovated two-car garage with garage doors on the west and east sides became a huge storage area. It has two large windows on the north and a large window looking into the new bathroom to the south. There are shelves along the north wall containing construction tools and supplies. When Mom left the Seniors' home in Strathclair where she had lived since Dad died, Ja and I moved much of her furniture into the garage for storage. There are stacks of other odds and ends including piles of bamboo poles that I salvaged from Soo's. During our expansion of Soo's, I had put a lot of work into cutting these bamboo poles and nailing them along all the walls in the main and new basement walls as wainscotting, I had used bamboo to decorate the front welcoming desk as well as the bar in the huge Nos. 4 and 5 dining rooms We also had a stage in diningt room 4 for our Saturday jam sessions. Since the two banboo lined Chinese Moon Doors we made for Maple Grove turned out so well I also did the same in the entrance to Dining Room 3 (visible on our Hillman CD 10 cover).
Also stored in the new garage are our lawn mowers and the large SOO'S florescent sign from the front of the restaurant. On top of all the piles is our canoe that we received for payment when we played a gig for the fibre glass factory that had moved into the closed CJAC Rivers Base. Our ping pong table is propped up along the South wall.BATHROOM
The new bathroom contains a shower, toilet and sink and a long storage counter under a large north window looking into the two-car garage. The south wall was left with the original exterior red bricks with a sliding door to the main house. What had been an exterior window from the breakfast room we re-installed a deorative leaded window on the east side of the new bathroom (looking into the original breakfast room) that we had rescued from the Mayhew house in Strath. We installed a hot tub -- large enough to contain our whole family -- Sue-On and I and our three little ones for "communal baths". I built a wooden raised walkway along two sides of the tub, which also made use of a long banister and posts also rescued from an old house. The large doorway to the library is to the west. I put up a large sliding door track .. . one usually found in big barns. Then we built a heavy wooden door. . . cedar on the bathroom side and panelled oak on the library side.LIBRARY/OFFICE
The carpeted library room has floor to ceiling bookshelves on the east and north walls. I closed them in with hinged oak doors -- slightly damaged and bought on sale from a Brandon lumber dealer. I faced the undamaged sides with oak panel strips to give them an oak panelling look. The shelves are filled with movie, music, travel, wartime, history, and collectible books. A collection of memorabilia decorates the top of the book shelves: an old toy locomotive - part of a train set given to me by Uncle Don on Christmas the day after Bonnie's birth -- a football signed by the Grey Cup Champs Winnipeg Blue Bombers -- an old leather football helmet once used by the Brandon College Caps (this is now on loan to the display at the BU gym.)
Beside the large window to the west is an inside/outside shutter that opens. The south red brick wall (once exterior) is decorated with beautiful wall hangings that our late friend, Eugene brought back from his travels in Africa. Under the hangings is a large antique roll-top wooden desk that we bought from Hunter/Pahl's insurance office. Beside this desk is the large wooden cabinet that once housed our huge radio from many years back. This and more shelves house books, documents, stacks of 5" floppy computer discs and old Apple 2C and other computers, . . . . and many more treasures.
2-STORY ADDITION ON EAST
Then came a huge a two-storey addition on the east. This two-storey addition was built over the original outside staircase to the basement. Earlier on we had replaced the original outside room sheltering this staircase with a larger structure. This we now moved to the NE bluff as a kids' playhouse. When the kids got older we built a tree house beside it.
This east-side addition now contains a studio, closets, record/tape/ET and our Hillman record display wall.
NORTH ENTRANCE, CLOSET AND AV ROOM
We included a northern entrance with a steel door. Adjacent to this north entry-way is a large walk-in closet. The entrance way on the east is through a sliding glass patio door (one of five such doors in the house). While renovating Dad's Newdale Hardware we found in crawl space under the old building: an antique rusted rifle from the Boer War that we hung over east patio doors. Our house is monitored with burglar alarms. During one false alarm the Shoal Lake Mounties got to the house before we arrived from Brandon. One was on the south roof looking in and another we let into the AV room. He saw the old rifle on display over the door and asked if we had a licence. When he got closer and saw the rusted condition of this old relic he chuckled and said "Don't worry 'bout it.
There is a large walk-in closet near the north entrance. Adjacent to that room is a mirrored record/tape library. The shelves contain reel-to-reel tapes containing thousands of Old-Time Radio shows from the '20s-'60s. Also contained are 600 ETs (16' Electrical Transcription radio show discs) along with a turntable with 16" platter to play them. Along the north mirrored wall, our 12 Hillman record and CD albums are displayed. The entrance between this room and the main studio/living room is a round Chinese moon door that I ringed with bamboo and carpet.NEW LIVING ROOM AND STUDIO
This large carpetted room has exterior windows on two sides (E & S) The east wall has a counter lined with electronics: turntable reel-to-reel and casette recorders, dish antenna receiver, amps, etc. Under the shelves are hundreds of my favourite vinyl records. In front of the counter and shelves is a sofa, coffee tables, and even a huge rotating horn ampliflier - an Elketone. Beside the large window on the south is a wall-to-ceiling book case. behind which is stored a sliding insulator panel to cover the window. The entire original brick wall on the east is partially covered with book/tape shelves fronted with a series of hinged wooden doors. Above these shelves are the original leaded windows from the dining room and the kitchen window. Two steps lead to doorway to the original kitchen. Here we installed a wooden door that we adapted into a top-hinged Dutch door. A large chandelier hangs in the middle of the room's ceiling. Surrounding this chandelier I had installed rings of wooden shakes radiating out in all directions . . . a very unique ceiling cover. Our custom-made wooden spiral staircase leads up to the second storey.BEDROOM ABOVE THE NEW LIVING ROOM
We added a bespoke wooden spiral staircase (the second one in the house) to the upper level which houses library #2 (magazines, comics, records, books along four walls). Here we used two giant size book shelf cases we were given from Barry Forman's Rivers house.
Adjacent to the landing is another large closet where we store many of the stage clothes that we accumulated during our many years as entertainers.
Separating our new master bedroom from the stairway landing, library and closet are two large sliding wooden doors that I had rescued from George Taylor's old house -- with permission of the current owner of the farm. I built a 4-poster bed using large spindles and for the headboard we used nanny's original oak dining room table top. The walls we decorated with Chinese art pieces and hangings. Above the headboard is a large Chinese painting created by our niece, Ilym.
The upstairs also featured another patio door to the south from the bedroom, opening onto a small deck with wrought iron railing overlooking our large satellite dish antenna. On the west is the doorway to our original upstairs bathroom.
VERANDA ON WEST
Then we walled in the original verandah on the west side. The roof was re-shingled and later covered with green steel panels. The large crawl space under the verandah has many childhood memories. I was fascinated with fairground midways so I had made my version of carny games and even a house of horrors in the darkest areas. Then we built a second spiral staircase from the main floor to the verandah's upper level taking out part of the upper floor to accomodate it.
On the main floor east wall we added a large window and a another large glass patio door. Two inner oak doors were later added behind the glass doors for security. We covered the north wall with huge decorative Chinese screen panels. The east wall we left in what was originally red exterior bricks with a large window to our original downstairs bedroom along with the original oak and glass paneled front door as well as -- leading to the inner hallway. Around the corner of this L-shaped veranda are the double french doors that open into our original living room.
This lower veranda room is also decorated with Sue-On's dad's grandfather clock and large sofa, a large tree limb and old wagon wheel I rescued from the farmyard as well as numerous other decorations. The south wall we opened completely as entrance to our glassed-in solarium.VERANDA UPPER LEVEL: We did some major conversion work in this room.
The row of windows on the west side were rather small so when we insulated the walls I replaced them with larger duo-pane windows. Sue-On stored most of her sewing materials up there gathered around her sewing machines and a large antique storage trunk and two cedar chests.
We finished the ceiling in cedar.SOUTH-SIDE SOLARIUM
This solarium runs the whole length along the southern side of the house. Three walls of the 50' solarium are covered with 4x8' tri-pane windows with sliding insulated panels that cover them at night. We built a 3' overhang all along the south to keep out the heat of the high summer sun and to let in the light from the lower winter sun. There is a large glassed patio door to the south that opens onto a full length wooden deck with wrought iron rails -- now removed as it would have cost too much to replace after it wore out. The cement floor is of passive solar design: three foot deep concrete with layers of insulation below. This concrete floor along with the original red brick walls on the north store solar heat through the day and release it later. The room is furnished with sofas and soft chairs and there is a large storage area still filled with kids' toys. The south-east corner features a large waterfall. I left a lined indented small pool area in the floor there and dragged in large stones from the old stone barn that I piled up -- over which I piped and recycled running water to make a constant waterfall. Above this is a wall of mirrors.
While we were building on the south-side solarium our young toddler Robin gave us a scare. We also had opened the south wall of the old upstairs bedroom where we were to install a patio door opening onto a deck on the roof of the solarium. We were working on ground level installing evetroughs when we heard a young voice from up on the roof: "Hi Dad!" The toddler had gone upstairs and through the wall opening onto the roof where he was fearlessly waving and shouting to us down below. I dashed upstairs and pulled him back to safety. A fearless kid.THE OUTSIDE GROUNDS
The outer walls of the new surrounding additions were made with thick insulation and vapour barriers with cedar shakes on the outside.
We planted trees on all sides of the property to augment the original full-grown maple and spruce trees there that had been planted by my grandparents
In the '80s the CPR were installing new ties along the tracks that ran through town. The old ones were discarded along the sides of the tracks and young Ja-On and I were kept quite busy hauling these massive timbers home to create a fence along the north of our property.
When we removed the newer shed from over the outside basement stairs entrance to build on the new eastern two-storey addition, we moved that "shed" to the north bluff beside the older version we had moved there earlier. When we decided to no longer use the large bulk gasoline tank we move its supporting stand from the garage to join the playhouse sheds. This served as part of a tree house structure for the kids to climb on.
Keeping in mind the centuries old stone fences on the west and east, I dragged large stones from the old barn to build a similar connecting stone fence all along the south. I also planted a row of Siberian Elm trees provided free to farms as windbreaks. They were not a good choice.
We planted a few large decorative trees on the south lawn -- one of them was the weeping willow that Mom gave us. In the old days this lawn area used to be a garden with potatoes, peas, raspberries, etc.
We cultivated a garden on the east right up to the old red horse barn -- later granary. This is one of the oldest buildings still standing in the area. Through the years we grew different veggies in this garden -- and in the later years Sue-On had raised beds. When our Great Pyrenees Mya was in heat we tried everything to keep her from roaming off. I even built a fence around this garden area to give her a place to exercise. She kept escaping and I kept building the fence higher. I eventually gave up when she started to dig her way out under the fence. We chased after her once as she ran across the canola fields to the West to visit Reg and Susan Moffat's dog. As a result of this visit she later had about a dozen young puppies. Some died when she rolled on top of them. We kept the prize pup to give to Bonnie, but it was run over on the road. Two dogs were taken by EG Morris who used them as sled dogs and he often took them to his property on Lake Winnipeg where they had a reputation for treeing wild bears.ROOFTOPS
The original roof covering was cedar shingles. I believe that dad had replaced them and painted them green. The colour didn't last and we had sort of given up on trying to keep them green. The company that took aerial photos of the home and farm buildings had coloured the rooftops green to make the photos more attractive for their sale. In the early years that Sue-On and I lived there we had the local CO-OP lumber yard replace the shingles with new asphalt ones. The hired a man from Shoal Lake to do it and he enlisted his family to help him -- I believe they put the new shingles on over the old ones. When this latest shingle covering didn't last we covered them with green metal roofing. Later we finished the nearly flat roof of our new attached garage in uncoloured metal roofing. We had also replaced the cedar
shingles on the original garage north of the house.
THE ORIGINAL 1920 HOUSE Other than adding new wiring and electric heat as well as all new plumbing and sewer system during the first phases of our project, we made few changes -- other than decoration -- to the original house. In fact, the original red brick outer walls were left intact and now are feature walls in the original core structure. We removed much of the interior plaster and lathe walls when I added 6" fibre glass insulation and new wiring. However, we kept and/or restored most of the old wall coverings, oak paneling, oak beams, fireplace and its tiles, oak and maple flooring, decorative leaded windows, oak trim, bathroom fixtures, etc. In fact, the storm doors for the double doors to the veranda are now used as the windows between the downstairs bedroom and veranah.
RENOVATED BASEMENT
Early on we did many changes to the original basement. The cement floor was heaved in places so we replaced it with newly poured cement.
Since we still used the old waterworks for a while before drilling for wells, we cleaned the large cistern under the basement floor for rain water and trucked in water. Later on, after we got water from the new wells we had drilled, this old cistern was not used. The dirty water down there and the stinky lizard carcasses were not very healthy. We decided to clean it out so brave Sue-On went down to shovel out the slush and to pass buckets up to me via rope. I pulled up the ladder so there would be room to bring the bucket through the small opening. We hung a light down there, but one time I spilled water on the bulb leaving her alone down there without light or ladder surrouned by crawling lizards. Not pleasant.
Through the years, in the summer, the family had usually used the outdoor backhouse in the north bluff to save indoor toilet water. But this wasn't practical in winter so we had an indoor toilet with a large pail in the basement. I remember having to regularly carry this large pail of excrement through snowbanks to dump in the barnyard. We kept the little privy room with its toilet seat and large pail even after it was seldom used.
Since my grandparents had a dairy operation and regularly delivered milk and cream around town -- by horse and wagon for many years -- they had a large cream separator mounted on a cement block in the northwest side of the basement. We removed this and stored it in the outside garage.
We had a large old deep freeze along the north wall. I used to lie in front of it and listen to radio programs that it picked up. We got rid of it and later replaced it with a new freezer.
In the space under the stairway up to the kitchen we later installed a water softener. We dug two wells at the NW corner of the house looking for softer water.
On the west were two rooms: a junk room and a potato storage room. These we tore down to open up space.
There was a large room on the SW side with storage cupboards and an outside window. (later to the solarium) we later removed the room and replaced it with record and tape storage walls. We put our recording equipment under a window looking into the studio area over the cistern. I build a folding door into the studio area.
The SE room above the cistern had a storage area on the north and large uitility sinks on the east beside the door leading to outside via a shed covered stairway. We later replaced the shed with a larger new structure that we moved to the NE bluff as a playhouse after we built the eastern living room extension over the stairs. We built a closet on the North wall where the old washing machine used to be. Mom and I used to do candling of eggs down there to determine fertile eggs to send in crates via steam train to hatcheries in Winnipeg. We had over 1,000 laying hens. One other thing I remember about this room is Dad beheading a chicken there and the headless bird ran all around the room. Scarey.
Later we hung mics in this room, set up drums and keyboards and later our baby grand piano. Fond memories of buying the Grand. Borrowed the only big truck that friend Barry had on his used car lot in Rivers. An old farm truck with old manure in the box and the ceiling in the cab hanging down and spilling out mouse droppings. We drove this old thing up to the piano store on Rosser Ave. in Brandon. The salesman scratched his head as we loaded our new shiny ebony instrument into this old dirty wreck. We unloaded it and carried it down the outdoor stairs to the studio with the help of Eugene and the Morris boys. It was installed over top of the cistern. This room now is mainly a storage area stacked with a variety of furniture, band equipment boxes, etc.The NE room we had used as a coal bin. I remember taking our truck to the elevator sheds by the railroad and shovelling coal into it. Then I had to shovel this load through the window into our "coal bin". Later we cleaned up this room and added floor to ceiling cupboards. . . . a new deep freeze on the north and hot water tank and washer and dryer on the east under the abandoned dummy waiter.
Dad had installed a new stoker coal storage system attached to the furnace. This heated the hot water radiators all over the house -- these large metal radiators were all removed and are located in places around the year. I remember having to take clinkers out through snowbanks to dump out in the barnyard. Later I removed the furnace and stoker. . . a hard job . . . the furnace was insulated with dangerous asbestos. I never thought of wearing a mask. Memories of visiting the asbestos mine in Asbestos, Quebec when I was attending Air Cadet summer camp on the St. Jean Air Force Base. Interestingly, Sue-On visited my Uncle Jim Grant and wife Merna -- dad's sister -- who was instructing helicopter training there in 1967. We were visiting Expo 67 and drove over to visit them. Then, many years later, our grandson, Soulin Hillman, took his CAF basic training there. He was in training to be an air force mechanic. The area that had housed the furnace we used to store Nannie's old '50s refrigerator and a large wood burner and small wood stove for power outage emergencies. A large scale used for measuring bulk nails, etc. from Dad's hardware store sits on the wood burner.
The main central area houses our huge Snooker table that we bought from Foxwarren pool hall along with an antique barber chair. Sue-On and I disassembled the table to load into our truck. The two of us moved the table and chair down the stairs to set up in the basement. The main part of the table is made of huge oak pieces and thick heavy slate pieces that we covered with felt material. Sue-On and I had our hands full moving these heavy slate. While lifting and carrying she experienced severe pain. . . She was suffering but before we decided to make a run to the hospital the pain passed. . . and so did the kidney stone that was causing it. She's a brave kid. We've shared many heavy loads through life for 60 years. Anyway, we eventually assembled it along with it long overhead florescent light fixture and a full set of pool balls and cures. The chair we put in the corner where the cream separator used to be. Later, thanks to Kerry and Kelvin.. . and later Barry, we added two pinball machines along the south wall. Two couches were added to that wall and the studio control area.
The walls of the basement I finished with material-covered gyproc. The ceiling I insulated and covered with 2x2 strips of wood.. We decorated the walls with our record albums. We built large storage bins on casters to fit under the pool table. We used these to store music memorabilia, new Hillman and Free Spirit albums, etc. The west wall I decorated with large wooden shakes above which we added banks of florescent lights.
FORMAL WEST ENTRANCE and HALL
HALL ENTRANCE: A cement walkway leads from the boulevard, through an opening in the old stone fence/wall and two large spruce trees. Stairs lead through two brick columns, and brick walls to the once open L-shaped verandah. A decorative oak door with a large glass window leads to our oak panel-lined hallway. (During the first phase of adding super insulation I had to remove these oak panels but replaced them as they were.) From here there is an oak straircase to upstairs, a large closet under the stairs, a door to the north bedroom and an arched entrance-way to the living room. The floors are covered with oak. There is another entrance to the living room via French doors from the L-shaped verandah. Since these were at one time outer doors there were double storm doors outside the French doors. (We removed these and used them as part of a new window in the north bedroom)LIVING ROOM: On the West wall where Nannie's upright Heinzman piano had been we installed a large, decorative black Chinese panel that we later took to Brandon. Mom had taken the piano with her to the Newdale suite, then Bonnie took it to Calgary. When they moved from Calgary to Saudi Arabia where Michael worked as a surgeon training the Saudis in laser surgery, the piano moved again. Sue-On and I rented a U-haul trailer and transported it to the studio in our Brandon home. This was along with many other furniture pieces, shelves, books, etc. We also took their dog and cat that we later flew back to them over in Saudi. That wall is now covered with a thick red decorative comforter hanging above a pull-out chesterfield.
We lined the North wall with floor to ceiling book shelves: Sue-On's matched Zane Grey set, movie and entertainment books, etc. If only we had room for these treasures in our Brandon home. The East wall has the original mirrored mantle over a decorative tile and metal fireplace fringed with decorative light fixtures. We covered some of the oak floor area with fur rugs. Beside the fireplace are the two oak sliding doors to the Dining Room. Some of the walls feature treasured old hand-me down paintings. The South wall has an alcove with a large window which now overlooks the solarium. Above this alcove we had installed a skylight which over the years has caused many problems with rainwater leakage. The ceiling has decorative oak beams. There used to be a large glass light fixture in the middle of the room but we have replaced it with a large decorative Chinese lantern.DINING ROOM: The Living Room opens to the Dining Room on the East. Nannie's large oak table with decorative chairs used to be the main feature here. We moved the table to serve as a headboard for our 4-poster bed in our Brandon Master Bedroom. It was replaced with our beautiful imported Chinese dining table and chairs. The floor, baseboards, doors, and small wall shelves were all made of oak. The windows on the east were leaded. Three tall windows looked over the southern grounds and below them was a wooden shelf over the hot water radiator. We later removed the windows and opened this wall with three entryways to the south solarium. The walls were covered with a unique brown varnish textured all paper. We had to remove the wall paper on the east wall when we super-insulated the wall. it was replaced with a bamboo textured wall paper but still remains on the other walls. The wall telephone box was placed above a glass bookcase in the NW corner -- Mom and Dad stored their collection of Books of the Month in that case. An oak door opened to the kitchen. Decorative swinging windows looked into the kitchen in the NE corner. We decorated the ceiling in wood.
KITCHEN: The kitchen had tiles covering maple wood flooring. The tiles were in bad shape so I removed them and the gucky glue base to restore the floor to maple. . . much sanding. The wood stove is beside the oak door entrance to the dining room on the south. There was a counter with large hinge out flour bin east of the doorway. Above the counter partly in front of two decorative hinged windows to the dining room are shelves holding dinner ware. We replaced the counter and took off the storage shelves above to have maximum use of the opening glass windows to the dining room.
We replaced the large kitchen sink on the east wall with a new one and build a storage cupboard under it. Beside it are the water pipes going up to the bathroom. Next, on the floor is the top of the old dummy waiter that we never restored although we had often considered it. Next is the door out to the east porch.
The north wall opens to our breakfast room with table and bench seats on each side. There are decorative windows to east and west above the seating. We replaced the original mirror with a larger one and added a chandelier from SOO'S.
Next to the west is the doorway to the basement stairs. Most of the area to the west is taken up by the access to the pantry. We took out the original cupboards and added a new series of counters on the north with an attorney case for the dishware featured above. On the whole south wall to the pantry area we add new wooden counters with drawers and wood cupboards above.
We moved the door to west bedroom to one side to provide space for a temporary toilet and fridge -- across from a small sink, mirror and opening to a converted closet area.
We constructed a sliding door entrance to the new bathroom/den to the north.BEDROOM TO THE NORTH WEST: |This was our original master bedroom until we added one in the new addition. It now contains a bed in storage, huge book shelf from Barry's house and a large wooden wardrobe unit. We later added a large window to verandah area using the storm doors for the LR French doors entrance. Most of the room is now used for storage.
UPSTAIRS ROOM ABOVE THE VERANDAH:
This unheated room was very little used until we remodelled the verandah. We then adapted it as a sewing room as described earlier
ODDS AND ENDS:
Fibreglass plant on the old CJATC Rivers base made payment for our dance gig: canoe in garage ~ Sue-On's old Choy home in Newdale: old horsehair stuffed spofa and chair ~ Eugene's travels across Africa: various elaborate wall hangings and collection of sands from African beaches ~ The Old Storage Darkroom: a large antique radio cabinet the we used for storage ~ Brandon Lumber Dealer: damaged oak doors on which I pasted oak trimming to front the book shelves in the Den ~ Dad's Hardware Store: A large scale ~ Old Campbell stone house that burned down in 1920: a built in wall cabinet from their kitchen: still preserved in the upstairs bathroom south wall ~ Nannie's large buffet wedding present: displayed in the upstairs bathroom ~ Nannie's large oak dining room table: now used as headboard in our new upstairs bedroom ~ Barry Forman's Rivers House: two giant size book shelf cases ~ Most of the outside brick walls now became inner walls surrounded by new structures on all sides.We added many Chinese things: A large "chandelier" and huge wall screen and paintings in the living room ~ Another large wall screen in the closed in Verandah area ~ various other Chinese paintings and ornaments that we moved to our Brandon home.
Funny Events:
I dug down to the old sewage system and we directed everything to a new field system in the north grove.
The water from the new well that we dug proved to be very hard. . . so we later drilled for much deeper well. The water there was somewhat better but we installed a water softener unit under the basement stairway.
Another time little Robin had been scolded for some silly thing and he declared: "I'm running away from home." Later, when we couldn't find him we started to worry and called out for him in the yard, road, barnyard, and close fields. We were about to call for search party help when we heard a giggling from behind the chesterfield. . . Yeh. . . big joke Robin
More to come. . .
REFERENCES
The Federal Grain Train Summer Tours of Canada 1966-1973
https://www.hillmanweb.com/train
