Kids grew up fast in the 1940s

By Joan Janzen

Kids who grew up in the 1940s matured quickly, and Simon Wirachowsky can attest to that observation. He has made Caleb Village in Kindersley his home for the past three years.

The long-time Kindersley resident was born in Wilkie, Sask., on May 19, 1938. He was the middle child, with three older siblings and three younger. His family included his brothers Arnold, Adolph, Andrew, and Leo, and sisters Johanna and Leona.

Simon Wirachowsky is enjoying retirement at Caleb Village in Kindersley. SUBMITTED

His parents owned a small, mixed farming operation south of Wilkie. Simon attended a small country school in Leipzig until Grade 3, when the family moved to Tamping Lake, where he completed the remainder of his education.

“I went to school until Grade 8,” Simon said. “My folks didn’t have money to board me out for high school; that’s the way life went in those days. I was young when I started working.”

He helped out on the family farm, milking cows, operating equipment and doing whatever needed to be done. “I worked at home on the farm and then branched out and went to work for a farmer neighbour for a few years,” he explained.

The next stage of Simon’s working career was in construction, working for a construction contractor based out of Saskatoon. “I took my apprenticeship in construction and got my papers and worked in construction for a number of years,” he said.

At that time he helped build hospitals in Saskatchewan, working in Wilkie, Macklin, Kerrobert and Kindersley. Although he was gone a great deal of the time, he lived with his parents on the farm when he wasn’t working.

“I didn’t get married until 1967,” he said. He and his wife Isabel had two daughters, Karen and Connie. Simon enjoyed many years with his dear wife before her passing in October of 2003. Later that year, Simon retired from his job at J&B Equipment.

Simon started working as a mechanic at J&B Equipment on April 10, 1990. He worked on both Case and Versatile farm implements. “We did lots of work out on the field. I was more mechanically inclined than I was at construction,” he confessed.

After retiring, Simon remarried and spent many wonderful years with his wife, Rosemarie, before her passing in July 2019.

Throughout the years, he was a dedicated member of the Knights of Columbus. The shingle on his door notes his involvement as a Citizen on Patrol. “We used to go out at night and would look for trouble, and when we found trouble we would phone the RCMP and they took care of it,” he explained.

However, Simon no longer spends his time “looking for trouble.” Instead he enjoys visiting with his many friends at Caleb.