Neepawa of yesteryear -The dentists Drs. Pierce, Death and Payne didn’t appeal to me

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Published on Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Photo courtesy of Neepawa Press archive

By Rick Sparling

The Neepawa Press

Last week we started at the Salt Plant on the east side of Mountain Ave. and travelled south to Shoemaker McGillvray Agencies. Next came SK Laundry and Doc Bolton’s Auction Mart ran just south of the Agency. Doc and Mary had four children: Margaret, Donald, Cecil and Leonard. The later two, Cecil and Len were quite active in baseball and hockey and both played for The Flin Flon Bombers at one time or another. Cecil worked part time helping Stu Lindsay on his milk run and also worked for The Roger’s fruit Company for a while.

Next to Boltons was Rutledge’s Garage (phone number 96). Lyle Hulme managed the garage with his sister in law, Florence Rutledge, handling the books. Others working there were Clarence Myers and John Lepko. Lyle and Mary Hulme had two children, Leslie and Robin. Robin eventually took over the business.

Wally Cram occupied the next building with his Optometrist shop (356) alongside the Churchill Block which held the dentists’ offices for Dr. Del Dawson, Dr. Pierce, Dr. Death, Dr. Payne and Dr. Korzenowski. Jeannie Matthews was Dr. Korzenowski’s receptionist. My very first trip to the dentist I recall seeing the names stenciled on the frosted glass of each office. Drs. Pierce, Death and Payne didn’t appeal to me and I was lucky to have Dr. Dawson as my dentist. Dr. Cleve was also there and had Lois McKee working for him. 

Bea Sprott had a beauty Salon in the block as well. Her and her son Lawerence lived upstairs. 

Just south of the Churchill Block was the Neepawa Press (46). Circa mid 1950s Jack Huxley was the Manager, Mrs. Phyllis Powell was the office assistant, Bill Vopni was the Editor/Publisher. George Smellie was the associate editor and Ron Jones was the office manager. There were a couple of columnists: W Belton and Miss Elsie Dempsey. She looked after the “Looking Backward” column that Cecil Pittman has done now for many years. 

Bud Liba looked after the news and advertising and Kemmie Frampton was the Sport’s reporter. Bill Moger, Jim Smith and John Osland were on Linotype. The apprentice compositers were Bill Bates and Merle Johnson.  Jim Nichol and Elsie Pasquill also worked at the Press for several years. Vopni Press of Portage La Prairie owned the Press and later it was bought by John Osland and Jack Huxley. Art Sparling had appliances and furniture in the basement of the Press for a short time in the early ‘50s.

Bajus’s Hardware, which became Strock’s Hardware (49), finished off the block and brought us to the corner of Mountain Ave. and Hamilton St. Tom Strock operated the store and he and Jean had three children: Sandra, Gail and Harvey. Jerry White worked for Tom. 

Across Hamilton and still headed south on Mountain Ave., was the McLeod Store. Raeburn Rush was manager, followed by Bob McBain. Eleanor Pasosky/Nicholson, Maureen Pittman, Carol (Rankie) Pasosky, Gerry Suski, Ron Brockie, Stan Byrum and Ron Kleven all worked at McLeod’s. 

Pedlar’s Pool Room was next. Bruce Pedlar was the proprietor and had three men as ‘ball markers.’ Frank Bird, Kaz Holod, Bill Rowe and Fred Harding sported the ‘white gloves’. 

I can remember that Bruce Pedlar was a real good billiard player and there were not too many men in Neepawa that could give him much in the way of competition. It was a big thrill just to play against him and watch him as he smoothly pocketed most of the shots he faced. Word had it that George Chenier, world class snooker player, came to Pedlars and put on an exhibition for a large crowd of billiard enthusiasts. 

The last business after Pedlars was a little shop that Bob Ferris’ father ran, Ferris’s jewellery.  Bob Allen and his family lived upstairs above Ferris' shop. There was a beauty salon there as well and the owner was named Rose. Across the street, next to the church, there was a small electrical shop that repaired radios and other equipment and Jim Mercer worked there before going to Sparling's Electric.

That completes all of the businesses along both sides of Mountain Ave., from Railway St. right to the Highway at Main St. 

Starting on the south-west corner of Davidson Street sat Alguire’s Wholesale. At one time, both Scotty and Marge Bennett worked there before Scotty took over the Esso bulk station. Next was Charlie Martin’s milk plant. McDougall’s Garage was next, owned by Angus McDougall. The McDougalls had one son, Donald, and a daughter, Cathy. Some of the workers there were Jack Walker, Cecil Pittman, Wilf Jackson, Merv Graham and John Kosmolak. John and Eileen Kosmolak  had three children: Leigh, Bette and Fred. McDougalls were originally an Anglo dealer and went to Royalite later on. 

The next building headed east on Davidson was the Neepawa Sports Arena, home of year round activities including hockey, figure skating, public skating, curling, carnivals, Parkos, fairs and many other leisure things. The arena was featured in an earlier column so I’ll just go across the street to the Legion. 

At that time the Legion presidents were as follows: 1954, ‘55, ‘61 Harry Smith, 1956, ‘57, ‘58, ‘59 Alf Evans, 1960 Smitty Asplin and 1964, ‘65 Norm Cheatham.  The last time we visited the Legion, Bob Ferguson, two-time president , was taking tickets for the meat draw with local historian, Cecil Pittman. There were Bob and Cec, helping out and doing the little things that were necessary to keep the place going. Bonar Birnie is currently the president. 

Jerry Collins had Collins Safety Service, which included front end alignments, tires, mufflers, etc. The Salvation Army was just west towards Mountain Avenue and that took us back up to Rutledge’s Garage which we already covered on Mountain Avenue.  

Earlier we covered the Land Titles Office, but just across Brown Avenue, one house further south, on the east side of the street was Hurrell’s Plumbing. This used to be Mathew's at one point. Dennis Hurrell, Lawrence the baker’s brother, had Cliff Bradford working for him as well as Hughie Bell. Dennis and Kay had a boy Grant , who is actually Hymie the Barber and a girl, Debbie who is in Winnipeg. Hughie and Phyllis Bell had four children. Phyllis, Donna-Mae, Ron and Douglas.

Correction:

In Rick Sparling’s article in the Oct. 7, 2015 Neepawa Press, “A walk down Historic Mountain Avenue” John’s surname was misspelled as Osland. (as part of the Neepawa Press staff)  John, being a very proud Swede, would have objected. The correct spelling is John Oslund. Also it was mentioned that John was a linotype operator and that is correct. One year later, however; John was promoted by Mr. Vopni, the owner, to comanager with Jack Huxley. Rick apologizes for any inconvenience this may have caused.