HEART OF THE PEACE - MARY (GRUBER) BROOKS interviewed and written by Christine Bjorklund Bruyere

Frank Gruber (father to Mary Brooks)
PHOTO Courtesy: Estate of Mary Brooks
Photo supplied by Trina (DeWolfe) MacDonnell

In April of 2003, Mary achieved 91 years of age, one of many successes in her adventuresome life. During these years, Mary was handpicked by a German baroness to be a personal maid; learned four separate languages; acquired a quarter section of land to homestead; married and raised two children; owned and operated two successful businesses; traveled extensively; contributed to the establishment of Fairview's hockey arena, Ag Society, Fine Arts Centre, and the Harvest Lodge; and, has handmade almost 400 beautiful quilts - many of which were donated to raise money for our community.

It was also in the month of April, 76 years ago (1927), that Mary sailed from Hungary to Canada; and in April, 50 years ago, that Mary permanently made the town of Fairview her home. "It seems that all of my life changes and big decisions have been done in the month of my birth," said Mary. This lifelong pattern began on April 27, 1912, in the town of Mor, Hungary where Mary was born - the only daughter of Julianna (Julia) (Grof) and Frank Gruber - a little sister to brothers John, Jim and Frank.

Mary never got to know her father. When Mary was a toddler of two years, her father was taken from the family, having fallen victim to an outbreak of typhoid fever in January 1915, during World War I. During quiet, stationary times in the war, disease, not guns, was the killer. "Mom never even got to see him again," said Mary. Frank Gruber had been serving in the war as an engineer and was stationed in Budapest. His body was never allowed to be returned home for burial. In order to stop the spread of typhoid, the victims were buried in mass graves.

Spending the first fourteen years of her life in Hungary, Mary remembers scrubbing a lot of floors, helping in the garden, and corn husking (for pigs, geese or chicken feed). Coming across diseased corn (the black kernels), the children would have a lot of fun smearing one another with the black soot. With the work and games done, they would be given corn cakes as a treat.

"We had no conveniences," Mary said. "No toilet, tub, running water or central heating. Life was hard." Mary laughed though, remembering her last chastisement from her mother, whom she said was very bowlegged. Mary recalls a time, having failed to complete some chores she had been told to do, being chased through the garden by her mom. Mary glanced back to see her mom coming after her, skirts and bow-legs flying, skirting the well in the middle of the yard. "What a funny sight that still brings to mind."

Mary Gruber (Brooks) circa 1927
PHOTO Courtesy: Estate of Mary Brooks
Photo supplied by Trina (DeWolfe) MacDonnell

Funny thoughts aside, Mary thinks that her mother's bow-legs were from poor nourishment. She said that large fields of tomatoes and cucumbers rotted away as there were just too many to eat by soaking in vinegar or by cooking, and yet they would not eat these vegetables raw. She remembers thinking that the Russian communists were savages, as they plucked and ate tomatoes and cucumbers ripe from the garden. It was unheard of at that time in the Old Country.

Bow-legs or not, Mary recalls her mother's courage. A widowed woman raising four children in communist Hungary was no mean feat. Just a short distance from their home, a Poorhouse contained many adults who could not make it on their own. They spent their time cleaning beans and stripping feathers in exchange for a meal of beans and a bed for sleep. Julie and Mary would shiver as they peered over the stone fence and saw this meager life. While attending public school, Mary became fluent in both the Hungarian and the German languages - both of which were prevalent during those years. Because of those qualifications, when Mary was fourteen years old, a German baroness who entered the Gruber home and looked the girl over, decided she would do well as a personal maid. Julia's dislike of that idea and her fear of ending up in that poorhouse next door, fueled her decision to move her family to another land and start over. To the baroness she said, "No. We are going to Canada."

Just before emigrating from Hungary, Mary's mother had her attend sewing school for three months. Julia Gruber knew that they would all have to work extra hard to earn a living in the new land and that this extra bit of education, although costly, would come in very handy. This turned out to be very prophetic as Mary's main method of support all of her life has been the needle - whether it be the regular sewing needle, a crochet hook, the darning or knitting needle - Mary expertly maneuvered them all.

In early April, 1927, when Mary was 14 years old, plans to leave Hungary were carried out. She traveled with her mother Juliana (then aged 50) and her brother, Jim, to Manitoba. With the Russian government in power at the time, the communists would only allow a small portion of one's belongings to be sold for cash or to be taken out of the country. The Red regime thus took over her mother's land - claiming it for themselves as centralized property. Mary remembers that she, not her mother or brothers, carried in her purse, the money that her mother had been allowed to take out of the country. Mary never did figure out why her mother entrusted her to carry the money, instead of carrying it herself.

With amusement, Mary recalls that, despite the small amount of goods they were allowed to take with them out of Hungary, in the middle of her mother's trunk was a barrel of schnapps. Mary explained: before the war, her father was a cooper, making wooden barrels for use in wine making - a living that her mother had been involved in as well as growing grapes. In making wine, some of the pulp scraped from the barrels was made into schnapps - almost pure alcohol. Mary knew that her mother was not a drinker, so she must have really considered the schnapps as important medicine. Mary recalls that the children were allowed to take a sip when they were ill. Perhaps though, this barrel of schnapps was a private memento of Julia's history that she did not want to fully leave behind.

Crowded for 14 days in the lower bowels of the immigration boat, Metagama their only view from the portholes was the first class eating lounge. Living off sausage and bread, brought with them from home, and with Mary's mother seasick all the way, they finally arrived on April 8, 1927 in St. John, Newfoundland.

(Editor's Note:The IMMIGRATION RECORD for this can be found online by CLICKING on the following WEB LINK)

From there they went by rail to Elkhorn, Manitoba. Mary's older brother, John, had come to Canada in 1926 to scout out land and had found that the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) had established a Hungarian immigrant settlement there.

The CPR had work for men; however, Mary had to find work, and she did, as a housekeeper in. Butler. Mary also had to learn to speak English, her third language, and so, splitting her time between work and school, she spent three months achieving a third grade level of reading and writing in English - starting with the alphabet. She became fluent in English by reading everything she could get her hands on. In order to secure a homestead for the family, in July of that year, Mary courageously traveled alone by rail to the town of Falher, changing trains in Edmonton at the Dunvegan Yards. Mary did housekeeping and sewing for Mrs. DeWidnt who ran the Red and White Store. It was a good thing that Mary enjoyed learning because she then had to learn her fourth language - French.

In November, Mary's mother and brother arrived in Falher and the family took over their homestead land. November 1^st was moving day, a beautiful fall day for driving a horse drawn cart with a mule, six hens and all their goods. In one weeks time a shack had been built of round poles. Mary remembers, "It was only very dry grass and burnt trees - nothing else." Working the homestead, Mary was the mule skinner - hauling logs to build a home for the family. They slept under the open sky on spruce boughs covered by feather ticks that mother, Juliana, had made and brought along. A kindly neighbor, Rita Caron, who lived in- two granaries put together, took Mary and her mother in for a few of the colder nights until their shelter was ready.

This log shack consisted of one room with double bunkers for Mom, Mary and two of her brothers. They got a kitchen table by Mary trading off her feather tic to a neighbor lady. Being greenhorns, the floor and the roof of the cabin were made all of poles covered only in moss. With no tarpaper or plastic over the roof, Mary remembers that when the Chinooks came in March, there were drips all over the shack. They had to use the umbrellas they brought with them from the old country, to cover over and protect the wicker trunks that held all of their worldly goods.

Mary remembers her first good neighbor lady, Mrs. Caron, who opened up her home to them for sleeping while they built their shack. Mary also recalls a Belgium neighbor who played the saxophone so well that she is not sure how the roof stayed on their shack during that playing. Mary also remembers with pleasure that she was the only girl in their neighborhood south of Falher for miles around. She got lots of attention from the boys in the area. They escorted her to the odd dance in town and to church functions. With a chuckle, Mary added, " My brothers sure watched over me then."

The winter months were busy ones, fixing up their home and catching rabbits and game for food. Ice cutting to provide water for home use and for their animals also took up much of their time. Their Sundays were set aside for visiting, singing songs and card playing.

After two years of helping the family get settled on the homestead, In 1929 Mary went to work in Falher at the hotel for Frank and Susan Rentiers, learning the French language after just learning basic English.

Also around that time, four horses were acquired and mother, Juliana, and Mary cleared five acres of land while Jim worked at a neighbor's to earn for their necessities. Broody hens were set. With flour, salt, sugar and lard anything was possible.

In 1930 Juliana Gruber filed for her own homestead land. (Editors Note: however formal records of the title being granted can not be found)

Taking a vacation in 1932, Mary traveled to the small community of Bluesky to visit a friend Annette Phalemphen - a former co-worker who had married the manager of the Bluesky Hotel. This trip was made as a passenger in a Model T car belonging to a friend of Mary's brother. "I had to be chaperoned on the trip," explained Mary. "This was by Mrs. Beauchant, the postmaster's wife. She sat in the back watching us."

While visiting, Mary met Otto Brooks (see back story on Otto Brooks and his family below), the owner of the town's general store (located directly across the street from the hotel). Otto had come to this land in 1916 with his family from St. Johns, North Dakota. Three months later, on September 20, 1932, in the town of Falher, Mary and Otto were married - going back to Bluesky the same day.

Mary and Otto Standing Arm to Arm After Wedding - with Family Friends Left to Right: 1. large man ? unknown; 2.Juliana Gruber; 3.John Gruber (with black hat); 4.Mary Gruber (with white hat); 5(man over Otto's right shoulder)Alphonse Courchesne (Aunt Julliette's husband); 6.Otto Brooks; 7.(lady over Otto's left shoulder) Aunt Julliette.( Bertha Chailler Brooks' sister.); 8.Grandma Marie Brooks; 9.(man with white brimmed hat) Jim Gruber; 10.(lady partially hidden)- unknown perhaps Jim Gruber wife; 11.(lady with white hat) Annette Phalempin; 12.(man with moustache) Isaie (Isaac) Phalempin - husband of Annette; 13.(man in front kneeling down) - unknown.

Mary and Otto Standing Arm in Arm After Wedding - with Family Friends PHOTO Courtesy: Estate of Mary Brooks Photo supplied by Trina (DeWolfe) MacDonnell

Working with her husband in the Bluesky store, Mary remembers eggs being 12 cents a dozen and butter being 25 cents per pound. Being in the middle of the depression years, Mary said that it took a lot of eggs and homemade butter to trade for the staples such as sugar and flour. The decade of the 30s was very tough, and about 1935, Otto and Mary had to close their store.

Mary Brooks along with grand-daughter Corrine DeWolfe
Photo Taken On a Visit To Daughter June in Nova Scotia

Their daughter, June, was born on June 20,1933 at the old Fairview hospital.

Otto and Mary's son Warren was born in Fairview on September 9, 1934.

Getting by for the next few years meant relying on Mary's sewing ability for income. In 1938, they moved into Mrs. Hernstock's house in Fairview. Mary was then able to sew for more customers, and Otto spent some time working in the elevators under Dave Forgie. However, due to health conditions with his lungs, Otto had to give this job up. Mary was using her dressmaking and sewing talents to make ends meet. She spent one week a year at the homes of Maria Bernstein, Grandmother Boytinck and the Baileys doing up their needs in the sewing and dressmaking line. She also took in sewing while living outside Bluesky .

In late 1939 Otto and family went back to his mother's (Grandma Marie Brooks) homestead south of " Old Bluesky " and farmed for thirteen years. Mary continued with her dressmaking. When June started school and her teacher was Helen Bubel. June went to East Burnt School, took her grade nine studies at Friedenstal and finished high school in Fairview. Both June and Warren were confirmed in the mid 1940's in the Friedenstal Church.

They lived on the farm south of Old Bluesky until 1953, sewing and farming, milking 12 cows, making butter, and selling butter, milk and eggs.

In 1950 June joined the R.C.A.F. and stayed with the organization for three years. In 1953 she married a navy man, Earle DeWolfe, in New Brunswick. (At that present time they lived in Eureka, Nova Scotia with a family of three girls; Corinne (Mrs. Randy Bell) who lived in Prince Edward Island; Julie a high school teacher in French and lived at home; and Katherine (Trina) who attended the University of Nova Scotia in Wolfeville.)

In April of 1953, Mary borrowed money from her brother and bought Bill Krasnoff's cafe and bakeshop in Fairview. Otto was happy to get off the farm, so he and Mary opened "Brooks Cafe". It was located on the land that currently houses the Golden Age Drop- In Centre.

Enjoying their time with a lot of good customers, Mary and Otto even added rooms in the back where they held banquets. Eventually, the rooms in the back of the restaurant housed the town's "court house". When the "court house" moved into the new provincial building, the rooms in the cafe were used as a bingo hall, and finally, as the drop-in centre for seniors.

 

In 1958 my mother Juliana Gruber died. She was buried in the Friendental Cemetary.

In the late 1960's when Otto's lung problems worsened, Mary took him to Arizona for a couple of winters. In 1966 Otto was in ill health. Mary found that operating a restaurant was too much for her to do alone. She shut down the restaurant and went back to what she knew well- sewing. Opening up the "Ladies' Ready-To-Wear Shop", Mary sold clothing, did repairs and alterations, and also sold yard goods.

Son Warren graduated from Fairview High School and joined an oil rig company. He married Iris Gault in Whitecourt, Alberta, in 1961. (They now reside in Spruce Grove, Alberta. Warren worked off the Coast of Scotland on offshore drilling. Warren and Iris have five children; James, Dianne (Mrs. Jerry Maco), David, Darrel and Micheal.)

Otto died on October 26, 1969.

Mary operated the Ready-To-Wear Shop until 1975, when she retired and sold the lot to the Town of Fairview for a proposed park. Eventually the old lot was leased to the Golden Age Society. About 1977, Brooks' Cafe was demolished, and a new building replaced the old drop-in centre.

Mary bought a house in Fairview and kept active by gardening and handcrafts: knitting, crocheting, quilting and cut work. In 1998, she moved into Garrison Manor for five years and then, in April of 2002 she moved into Harvest Lodge.

Over the past 50 years, Mary has been involved in numerous community groups that have helped build and shape Fairview into what it is today. During the 1950s, Mary joined the Women's Institute, and as a member, helped get the arena built in Fairview. Mary remembers standing outside in the open freezing air, witnessing hockey games and selling hot chocolate to keep warm. The WI also sponsored the Fall Seed Fair that led to the formation of the Fairview Agricultural Society. Due to Mary's urging, the Ag. Society donated about $40,000 toward construction of the Fine Arts Centre. Mary was also President of the District Horticultural Society, and for many years was a judge of flower shows in the area. Mary has also been a regional director of the Provincial Association for the Council of Aging of Alberta, a non-government organization representing seniors' interests. Mary and other seniors recognized a need for more seniors' lodging and were advocates for the facility which became Harvest Lodge. As well, Mary, and a few others, contributed well over 600 volunteer hours in the community, which resulted in Fairview qualifying for a $60,000 grant from the Provincial Wild Rose Fund. This money went towards purchasing a bus for the residents of Harvest Lodge. Mary continued to provide quilts for charitable raffles and worked on the flower garden on the south side of the lodge.

When asked of any family awards or special recognition, Mary laughingly said that her family is "ordinary folks" and that the closest her family came to anything like recognition was that her grandfather Gruber, originating from Fishamen, Austria, was a groomsman for a baroness in Hungary. However, Mary's husband Otto had a family member, Hubert Brooks, who had been a fighter in the Polish Underground Army. After escaping his own capture, he went back into Poland to rescue other missing soldiers. An article praising his accomplishments was featured in an Edmonton newspaper.

Mary views her life as interesting, saying that her success is due to a willingness to learn. She tries to keep one step ahead by predicting what will be required in the future. This includes fun and culture. After retiring from her own business, Mary worked for two winters cooking in a bush camp in order to pay for a trip back to the old country to visit her brother, Frank, and his family. Mary remembers that this trip on a Wardair flight cost her $250 for a return ticket. Mary has since been back twice more to Hungary and, although she says that her childhood homeland was beautiful, she has never had any wish to live there again. Mary has also traveled to Paris, taken a boat cruise to Australia and New Zealand from Vancouver, has flown to Hawaii twice, once to England and once to Southern Italy with Marg Kaiser.

Fondly, and with an almost inaudible air of regret or perhaps nostalgia, Mary recalls, as a child, owning a beautiful fancy doll with curled hair and with its own lined wicker carriage. As she was not allowed to bring this doll to Canada, her mom sold the doll and bought Mary a gold chain with the money. Mary said that she had that gold chain for many years but lost it only a couple of years ago in Garrison Manor. Musingly, Mary said that she guessed that one must go on, and that one's fantasies must stay behind; however, as her friend says, this history is to be continued.

Mary (Gruber) Brooks passed away on July 9, 2010.

Otto Brooks & Brooks Family Back Story as told to Eileen MacDonald by Mary Brooks

Otto Hubert Brooks was the sixth child born to Hubert and Marie (Gregoire) Brooks on November 8, 1905, in St John's, North Dakota, U.S.A.
His father Hubert Brooks, owned and operated a general store. Otto's parents had both been born in Quebec. His father's family name was Rousseau, which means brook, and when living in North Dakota, he had his family name changed to Brooks - the English translation of Rousseau.

In 1912, Hubert and Marie Brooks, their children, Dora, Amie, Nellie, Fred, Joe and Otto, moved to Lafleche, Saskatchewan to operate a hotel.

In 1914 Fred Brooks travelled by train to Athabasca, and then by horseback from Grouard to Old Bluesky where he took a homestead. They had two children, Hubert and Doris while in Bluesky .

Sisters Nellie and Dora, both married, had stayed in Saskatchewan.

Amie and Joe took homesteads in the area.

Hubert homesteaded south of Bluesky in 1916 and kept 180 head of cattle. He also ran a General Store at Old Bluesky . In 1918 a severe drought hit the area and all the cattle starved to death during the fall and winter months as there was no straw or feed available.

Hubert Brooks started his sons, Joe and Otto, in business in 1927. This was Brooks Brothers, a general store in Old Bluesky , which they operated until 1935.

Hubert died in the Fairview Hospital in 1928, and Marie died in Saskatchewan in 1942.
Both are buried at Friedenstal.

Amie Brooks wife, Mamie, was a trained nurse. She was of Irish descent and always had a hearty laugh. She cared for and cured many of the sick families throughout the district. Mamie also worked in Whitelaw. Later they moved to Vancouver, B.C. They had three children - Wendell (died overseas), Margaret and Helen.

Joe Brooks married Bertha Chailler and had six children. They left to live in Falher in the 1940's.

Fred Brooks left the homestead and went east to Montreal with his wife, Laura. Fred died in 1944 and was survived by wife Laura and two children, a son, Hubert, and a daughter, Mrs. Doris (Brooks) Gendron.