Doreen spreads positivity at Pioneer's Haven
By Joan Janzen
Although Doreen Bacon is 87 years old, she's known as the "dancing queen" of Pioneer's Haven, where she resides. Tracy Olfert, the manager at Pioneer's Haven, said Doreen literally danced her socks off the other day. She is also fond of playing practical jokes. Both characteristics may have originated when Doreen was a child growing up near Dodsland.
She and her twin sister Dora were born on April 20, 1937, in Dodsland Hospital. "They were excited to have twins born there," Doreen said. She and her sister lived on a farm with their four siblings and parents, Lloyd and Margaret Larson.
Doreen Bacon is a resident at Pioneer's Haven in Kerrobert. In 2011, she received a plaque for getting a hole-in-one. "It was a miracle!" Doreen said. PHOTO BY JOAN JANZEN
Margaret Larson immediately began sewing doubles and dressed the girls in matching outfits until the girls got old enough to object. "Mom loved baking, and we always had lots of company because we'd bring our friends home," she recalled. "My mom was a good artist. She would draw pictures for my school projects." But occasionally, her mom would play a practical joke and draw something totally unsuitable for Doreen's project. This love of practical jokes was passed on to young Doreen.
Along with her siblings, Doreen attended Jellicoe School. "There wasn't any water at school so we took a cream can of water to school. Our family was in charge of bringing water because we were only a half mile from the school," Doreen recalled. It was also her job to look after the wood and coal furnace before the students arrived.
"We had school dances when I was a kid. Some parents played instruments, so we always had a local orchestra. My dad was a good dancer and taught us how to dance," Doreen, the dancing queen, said.
Besides dancing, she loved sports of all kinds. Figure skating, softball, curling, and hockey were her favourite activities. She said they had a girls' hockey team and would compete with a team from Coleville.
On the softball field, Doreen could be found on first base. "That was my spot," she said. "I can still pitch a ball pretty fast."
This prairie girl also loved skiing. "My uncle made hardwood skies; you couldn't break them," she said. "We went skiing behind a horse. Sometimes, we didn't have a saddle, so we tied a rope onto the horse's tail and skied behind the horse. We always had lots of action!"
The action also included the horse and sled escaping from Doreen and her siblings one school day. The horses ran home and went right into their stall in the barn. "And Dad came looking for us," she said.
Doreen spent her high school years at Dodsland School. "We had to board at Dodsland to go to high school because it was ten miles away, and we didn't have a decent vehicle. We went home on weekends," she said.
Doreen and her twin sister celebrated their Grade 12 graduation. "But we didn't wear matching dresses," she said. "My mom sewed grad dresses and suits for the guys."
After graduating the twin sisters moved to Rosetown, rented an apartment and worked as telephone operators. It wasn't long before Dora got married, and Doreen married Weldon Bacon. Weldon had grown up near the Larson farm and had also attended Jellicoe School.
Weldon and Doreen farmed near Dodsland and had two children. "My husband always had another job, and I did a lot of farming, running the tractor and sometimes the combine," she recalled. This wasn't surprising since Doreen had loved helping her dad with all the outside work.
Doreen continued to enjoy softball, curling and golfing. In 2011, she received a memorable trophy. "I got a hole-in-one and had four witnesses," she recalled. "It was a miracle!"
Now, Doreen resides at Pioneer's Haven and pays frequent visits to her husband, who is in long-term care just down the street in Kerrobert.
"I talk about Doreen's positivity all the time," Tracy Olfert said. Doreen's happy disposition is contagious as she continues to dance and play the occasional practical joke.