Name: Olive DimockInterviewer: Melua Pineau Interview: Question: What is your full name?Answer: My full name is Olive Merle Russell Wheatley Dimock Question: What is your date of birth?Answer: January 20 Question: What year were you born?Answer: 1917 Question: Where were you born?Answer: In Aldersville, Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia Question: Were you born at home or in the hospital?Answer: I was born at home! There was no hospital except the one in Kentville. It took three days to plow out to see if we were alive. I had a twin brother born that same day and they named him Oliver. Question: What were your parents' names?Answer: My mother was Lottie Matilda Meister Russell and my father's was Oscar Elijah Russell. Question: What did they do for a living?Answer: My father was a farmer and a woodsman and a cooper (a barrel maker). My mother was a housewife and with fourteen children, she didn't have much time to do anything except clean and cook and sew and look after babies. Mother did, though, always wash and card and spin the wool from the sheep to make socks, sweaters, mitts, caps, etc. for all us kids. I can remember her sitting at the cradle and busy with her knitting. She was a busy mother. Question: Where were they from?Answer: They were both from New Ross. Question: Did you have any brothers or sisters?Answer: There were fourteen children, eight girls and seven boys. There are five living at the present time. Question: Where did you live?Answer: We lived in Aldersville and then when I was about 9, we moved to Scotch Village. Question: What was the house like? Did you have your own room?Answer: There was no running water and no electricity or indoor plumbing and each room was sparsely furnished. I didn't have my own room. Question: Who did you share your room with?Answer: Different ones of my sisters. Question: How did you heat your house?Answer: With wood stoves. There was one in the kitchen and one in the living room with a chimney going up through the bedroom. Question: Where did you get your wood?Answer: We had woodland and men cut the wood and hauled it home with ox sleds. They sawed it and split it, let it dry and stored it in the woodshed or cellar. No child came in without carrying at least two sticks of wood so the woodbox was always kept full. Question: What was a typical supper at your house?Answer: A typical supper? Homemade baked beans, potato hash, homemade bread and molasses and milk was the typical supper. Question: What did your family do at Christmas?Answer: We always had a tree. We hung stockings and wished for a lot of things we never got but always got an orange and candy in your sock. Your main gift would be clothes - always something that your mother made. And for Christmas dinner we had chicken or roast pork. We made decorations for the Christmas tree from coloured paper. The coloured paper was from free wallpaper sample blocks from Eaton's Catalogue Sales. I doubt we had tissue paper in those days. We made paper chains and dolls. We'd consider ourselves very well off if we got new sleds to go coasting or snowshoes and larrigans. These were all made by the men in the family. Larrigans were a sort of moccasin or boot of oiled leather (usually cured moose hide). We wore them with lots of homemade wool socks when we went snow shoeing. Question: Did you have any family traditions?Answer: Well we always tried to make something special for our grandmother. Question: Did you have any special toys?Answer: No, we didn't but whatever we had we shared with the other kids. We got more games than toys, really. Like, we got checkers and snakes and ladders or maybe a rag doll if your mother had time to make them. Question: Did you have any pets?Answer: We had cats and rabbits. Well, it was a farm that we lived on, so there was a barn, so there were dozens of cats. But if there was a special cat; a double-pawed cat or a bob-tailed cat or a really pretty cat, we always managed to get one in the house at least. Question: Were you responsible for specific chores?Answer: Oh, yes. We had to help with the dishes, set the table and help make beds. If you were big enough you'd get water from the well and gather eggs at the hen house and various other things like shake the mats and sweep the floors. Question: Where did you go to school?Answer: I started school in Aldersville in a one-roomed schoolhouse and then in Scotch Village. I still went to a one-roomed schoolhouse. Question: Did you play any sports?Answer: No. Question: What was the school like? Was it anything like school is today?Answer: No, it wasn't like schools today. It was one-roomed with a stove in the middle that heated it. A water bucket just inside the door where you could get water. Two people sat together at a desk and we used slates and slate pencils. Question: How many kids were in a class?Answer: There weren't many children that went to the school. Maybe 40, between beginners and grade 11. But only one teacher. I liked my teacher, though. Question: How much homework did you get everyday?Answer: In the smaller grades, we didn't get homework. By the time you got in grade 5 you had spelling and some arithmetic and English. Sometimes we had to memorize a verse and that was about it. Question: What did you do everyday after school?Answer: Some chores that we didn't do in the morning before we left for school. Question: Did you and your brothers and sisters have many disagreements?Answer: We had a few disagreements especially with at least 7 or 8 kids living at the house at one time. Question: What grade of education did you complete?Answer: I completed right up to grade 11 which was the last grade. Question: Did you marry? What was his name?Answer: Yes, to William Wheatley in 1939. Question: What was your occupation once you were married?Answer: I was a seamstress. Question: How many children did you have and what were their names?Answer: Three…George Douglas Wheatley, Joan Evelyn Wheatley and William Michael Wheatley. Question: Did all of your children get married and have kids of their own?Answer: George died in 1952, but Joan married Ronald Donnelly. Question: How many grandchildren do you have now?Answer: I have four grandchildren; Kathy Burton; Cheryl Pineau; Ronnie Donnelly, Jr. and Keigan Wheatley. Question: When did you retire?Answer: 1992, when I was 75 years old. Question: When did you move to Digby and why?Answer: in 1957 because I had a one-year old child and was a widow. So I came down here to leave my children with my sister so I could return to Halifax and work because there was no employment in this area. Question: Did you have a choice as to where you were going to go?Answer: No, not really. I had to work to make a living and I had to find someone who would keep the kids. Question: If you could leave Digby now, would you?Answer: No, not at this age. I did leave once and came back. Question: Do you enjoy your community?Answer: Yes, because it is small and quiet. Question: Is there something specific about Digby that you like?Answer: I'm not sure. It's just a comfortable environment to live in and up until this year we haven't had any hurricanes or record-breaking snowstorms. Question: What sort of things do you enjoy doing now?Answer: I still do a little sewing and play card games with my grandchildren and my great-grandchildren and I do cryptoquotes from the newspaper and puzzles and bake. Oh…and I also like to entertain my great-grandchildren with tall tales. Question: Are there any fond memories or funny stories from your childhood that you would like to share?Answer: There's too many to name. But here's the story of when I moved away from Digby and got married a second time. In 1992, I re-married to Arthur Grant Dimock and moved to Oakville, Ontario. Then we moved to Summerville in Hants County, Nova Scotia. Unfortunately, he passed away in August of 1992 and I moved back to Digby.