Two Kindersley centurions share their story

By Joan Janzen

Two residents at Kindersley’s Heritage Manor have been married for 77 years, and both have accumulated a century of life experience. Morley Crosson was born December 9, 1923, and his wife Aileen arrived on December 3, 1924. Both were born at Spy Hill, SK at a time when a doctor came to assist with home births.

Kindersley residents Morley and Aileen Crosson have both lived 100 years and have plenty of stories to share. PHOTO BY JOAN JANZEN

Aileen and Morley received their education at a two-room school at Spy Hill; grades 1-4 were in one room, and grades 5-10 were in another. Morley completed Grade 9, and Aileen went on to become a teacher.

In 1929, Morley remembered his dad buying a twenty-five cent ticket at a picnic and winning a new 1929 Chevrolet car. He also vividly recalled the years of drought that followed shortly afterward. “Dad couldn’t afford to license the car, so he put it in the garage and jacked it up to protect the tires,” he said.

He reminisced about the 1930s, saying, “We never saw the sun for about two years. Mother used to make butter and trade a pound of butter for a pound of coffee.”

After completing Grade 9, Morley helped on the family farm and joined the army when he turned 18. “We didn’t have money, and there was no work, so I joined the army,” he explained. Morley took his training in Calgary before being sent overseas. He showed me a mark on his arm and said, “It’s from mustard gas. I’ve had this mark for over eighty years.”

One day, a Colonel told Morley they needed a driver. As a result, Morley became a chauffeur for dignitaries. “You got in the car, and they told you where to go. You sat for hours while they had meetings,” he said. “I knew London from top to bottom.” When they returned after the war, his ship was so packed he had to sleep on the deck.

Life carried on after he returned to the farm, and before long, he was dating Aileen. “We went to a barn dance, and when I took her home, she said she didn’t want to go out with me anymore,” he remembered. “But I saw her later on, and she asked if I was still interested, and so we ended up getting married.”

They were married on July 11, 1947, in the United Church at Spy Hill at a small ceremony with family present. Morley said on the morning of the wedding, he didn’t have a penny in his pocket, but good fortune came his way when a cheque for his discharge pay from the army came in later that morning. The newlyweds took the train from Spy Hill to Melville for their honeymoon.

During their first years of marriage, Aileen was a school teacher and played in the Davis Band in the late 1940s and early 1950s. She also played the organ or piano for the United Church in Spy Hill and Rocanville for over 65 years.

After their marriage, Morley worked at various jobs before being employed at a Ford dealership. This may be when his life-long love of Ford vehicles began. He continued to purchase a new Ford car every three years, with one exception. “I bought an Oldsmobile but only had it for about six months; I didn’t like it,” he said.

Besides driving Ford cars, he remembered driving a snow plane equipped with an airplane motor. “I picked up a teacher and took her to school until the roads got better,” he said. The motorized sleds were used for transportation until roads improved in the 1950s.

Morley maintained his driver’s licence until he was 98. “I never had an accident in all the years I’ve been driving,” he boasted. Aileen reassured her family they didn’t need to worry about them when they were out driving and explained why. “I always say two prayers. The first one is - I hope we don’t get into an accident. And the second one is - if we do, I hope it isn’t our fault.” Obviously, her prayers were answered.

The couple also boasted about their two children, Judy and Ken. After experiencing a miscarriage, the couple decided to adopt. Shortly after sending a letter to an adoption agency, they travelled to Regina to pick up 11-month-old Ken. “About a year later, they told us he has a sister,” Morley said. They adopted Judy when she was three months old. “Adoption was a very simple procedure back then.” Now, they have two children, five grandchildren,14 great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren.

Morley and Aileen have acquired an extensive resume filled with numerous business ventures. In 1960, they purchased and operated a cafe in Rocanville for a year. The following year, Morley began hauling oil to Manitoba, making two to three trips a day in exchange for $5 a trip. Meanwhile, Aileen worked at a grocery and dry goods store.

Morley began working at a GMC dealership. In 1966, they purchased a store and called it Morley’s Solo Store. In 1968, they doubled the size of the store, and Morley quit his job to work at the store full-time. 

In 1978, they sold the store and built a fast-food drive-through, which they operated for five years. After selling the drive-through operation, they both joined the janitorial staff at Rocanville potash mine for eight years. “Then Aileen got smart and started serving meals at the mine,” Morley said.

The industrious couple began catering to the mine for crew suppers, parties and lunches for business people who came from around the world to the mine. Christmas supper could be as large as 300 people, but Morley and Aileen had several people who helped with the catering.

Their daughter Judy said they always thought they were ready to retire but then would start up another thriving business venture. So it wasn’t surprising when they stopped working at the mine and began selling baking instead.

A typical day at their home would have fifty dozen buns and ten loaves of bread being pulled out of the two ovens in their home in Rocanville. Once again, they had people who helped bake the bread and fill orders for dainties at Christmas time.

“Our parents’ buns were eaten throughout western Canada,” Judy recalled. “When parents would visit their children, they were told not to forget to bring some of Mrs. Crosson’s buns.”

Their years of business ventures came to a close when the couple moved to Kindersley in July 2009 and officially retired. Throughout their lives, they travelled throughout the US and Canada, going on bus excursions or travelling by car.

In a tribute to her parents on their anniversary, Judy wrote: “You would seldom see our parents in the limelight, but they were involved behind the scenes. The amount of people that they have helped by giving food, clothes and money will only be known by the ones that received it. We have found out from others the number of times our parents helped people in tough times.”

Thanks for sharing your memories, Morley and Aileen. And thank you for all your years of serving and caring for others. It’s people like you who make this world a better place.