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The following information is from page 120 to 126 of Crandall History Book, 2000.


Family Histories:
Rothnie; Ruchotzke; Rudd; Rudniski

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Rothnie, Edwin and Betty-Ann (nee Smith)
Reverend Victor Bowins married Edwin and I in the Crandall United Church on July 3, 1971. Edwin was born in 1949, eldest son of William and Georgina Rothnie. He has two brothers, Wayne and Donald and one sister Heather. His Dad died in March 1958 and his Mom died in January 1969. He attended Hamiota Elementary School and then Hamiota Collegiate until 1966. He belonged to the Sunday school and was involved with the Cubs and Scouts. He began truck driving in 1966 for Hamiota Kenton Transfer. He worked there for 3 years, then went to Brandon and worked for the Swan River-The Pas Transfer and Western Concrete until our marriage.
I was born in 1950, eldest daughter of Newton and Elizabeth Smith. I have three brothers, Wayne, Ed and Rob and three sisters, Donna, Barb and Heather. I attended the Crandall Consolidated School until 1966 and then went to the Hamiota Collegiate to take grades 10, 11, and 12. I belonged to the Junior and Senior Church Choirs, the Youth Groups and also taught Sunday school. After graduation I took a business course at the Wheat City Business College in Brandon and started working in March 1970 for Imperial Life Assurance Company in Brandon as a stenographer.
After we were married we lived and worked in Brandon. Edwin worked for Pete Quintain and Brandon Body Works and I worked at Imperial Life until October 1972. In May 1972 we bought our first house and lived there until September 1973. While living in Brandon our first daughter Teresa Diane was born in 1972 also her Grandpa Smiths birthday. We saddened to lose our Dad and Grandpa August 8, 1998. He passed away very suddenly and we miss him a great deal.
In September we moved to Hamiota. We lived next door to the original Rothnie home. Edwin worked for Arnold Houck. Our twins were born in the Hamiota Hospital on June 10, 1974, Brenda Elizabeth and Bradley George. Our next move was in October 1974. We moved to the Crandall district to the Claude Dickey farm, which we rented until April 1982. Besides farming, Edwin worked for Hamiota Kenton Transfer, and in January 1980, started to work for the Birdtail River School Division in the garage at Decker. Our last two children were also born in the Hamiota Hospital, Patricia Ann (Tricia), 1978 and Derek Edwin John 1980. Edwin and I are members of the Crandall United Church and all of our children were christened there.
In April 1982, we moved back to Hamiota, north of the Hamiota District Hospital. Edwin played hockey and refereed for many years. He took an Automotive Mechanic Course in Brandon for three winters.
In 1986 Edwin got a pacemaker, so he has had many hospital stays over the years. He works at Knight Seeds owned by Ron Knight, when needed. He originally started to work for Gordie Knight in the spring and fall helping with seeding and harvesting. In October 1993, he was elected to the Village council (now the town of Hamiota) and was re-elected in 1995, so he has taken an active part in municipal politics. As a councilor he is a member of many related committees. In November 1999 he had a bypass done in his neck and is unable to return to the School Division as a mechanic after 20 years of service.
In November 1982 I started to work from our home running a daycare. I have seen many children through all my years in this endeavour, and find it truly rewarding. When not busy with the children, I am in my garden or puttering around the yard. Edwin and I have helped our children with their lawn mowing business for many years. I also taught Sunday school in Hamiota and assisted with 4-H. My hobbies are baking and yard work.
Teresa graduated from Hamiota Collegiate in June 1991. She served as president of the Student Council. From there, she decided to further her education at the Assiniboine Community College in Brandon, in the Business Administration Program. She graduated in June 1993, with a major in marketing. In December 1993 she was employed at the Hamiota Credit Union. In November 1995 she accepted a position at the Westoba Credit Union in Brandon at the 34th street location. In February 1999 she moved to Rivers and became office supervisor at the Westoba Credit Union. She drove back and forth from Brandon until she purchased her home on 4th Avenue in Rivers in May 1999. During her school years she worked at Danceland (Wasagaming, Manitoba), Irwin's Drive-Inn, Robinson's Store and at the Hamiota economic Development Corporation. She was also active in various organizations. She had a keen interest in coaching girl's softball and still plays on a team in Brandon.
Brenda graduated from the Hamiota Collegiate in June 1992. She was the treasurer on the Student Council. She too went to Brandon to attend University. Brenda graduated in the spring of 1996 with an Arts degree with a major in Business Administration and a minor in Math. She has held many part-time jobs. She worked at Bell's Convenience Centre, Hamiota Super Thrifty Drug Mart, cleaned at the Redfern offices and in Brandon she worked part-time and continued with school. Brenda started with the Business Development Bank of Canada in Brandon in 1995. In July 1998 she was transferred to Regina, Saskatchewan. In September 1998 she bought a house in Regina. Brenda still enjoys a baseball game and played in Regina the last two summers. Brenda has recently accepted employment in Brandon and returned to Manitoba in April 2000.
Brad attended Hamiota Collegiate until June 1992. In September 1992 he moved to Brandon to attend the Crocus Plains Regional school, there he was a student in the food services program and graduated in June 1994. Brad worked at Kokonos Restaurant and the Victoria Inn part time. Brad returned to Hamiota in December 1994 and helped with my daycare, lawn mowing and delivering the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Free Press. In September 1996 he enrolled in a post secondary program in Radio announcing in Winnipeg but decided to work. Brad is still in Winnipeg enjoying his work at a billiard hall and lives on Furby Street.
Tricia graduated from the Hamiota Collegiate in June 1996. She served as social representative on the Student Council. She worked part time at the Hamiota Super Thrifty Drug Mart and enjoyed it immensely. She took ceramics, took part in school curling as well as the ladies curling. She also worked at Vincent's Place and did a ton of baby-sitting. Tricia also enjoyed recreational hockey for two winters. In 1996 Tricia took a course in Home Care at the Assiniboine Community College and went to work in that field. In November 1999 she accepted a job at the Home Health Care Centre on Victoria Avenue in Brandon and loves it. She also picks up the odd shift as a Nurses Aid at the Assiniboine Centre or the Brandon Regional Health Centre. She is still active in curling, baseball and a new activity, broomball. She bought her home in August 1999 on 26th Street in Brandon.
Derek graduated from Hamiota Collegiate in June 1999. He took part in volleyball and basketball at school. Derek started to play hockey when he was six years old and enjoyed it very much. He received many medallions and trophies while he played. He is still interested in hockey and has collected many cards and albums, which are a real keepsake. Derek has been mowing grass since he could barely push a mower and now knows how to keep the mowers in good condition. In August 1999 Derek moved to Brandon to take Business Administration at the Assiniboine Community College.
Our lawn mowing business began in the spring of 1982, when Teresa and Brenda first started up. Up through the years, and who knows how many lawnmowers, this has developed into a thriving business. As a family we have had some busy summers trying to keep up with the grass. All of our family belonged to the 4-H club taking, wildlife, cooking, crafts, woodworking and cake decorating. We were busy with bake bingo's, achievements, rallies and highway clean up. All of the children attended church on a regular basis, sang in the Junior choir and received perfect attendance pins. Teresa and Brad are members of the Hamiota United Church. They have all been involved in softball, baseball, soccer, hockey, curling, volleyball and basketball. The four oldest children took piano lessons from Theresa Kennell. Tricia and Brad also took guitar lessons. We spent a lot of time skating in the winter and Edwin and I still enjoy skating a few times a week. We've had many camping trips; our biggest trips have been to Banff and Jasper, Alberta in 1985, and to Marysville, Washington in 1992. We also enjoyed watching the Winnipeg Jets whenever we could in the city.
In June 1986 we moved an already built house into Hamiota. We purchased the house from Vera Skayman and moved it from her farm into town. After a very busy summer of wiring, painting etc. we moved in August 1. Now all of our family is on their own and we are back to where we started. We celebrated our 25th Anniversary in July 1996. I hope to continue with my daycare for a few more years and Edwin will be busy out at Knights with seed cleaning, seeding and harvesting. We enjoy our time with family and friends.

Ruchotzke, Frances (nee Kidd)
My parents were William Joseph Kidd married to Florence Dutton. They had four children, Zina, Bill, Frances and Margaret.
In 1958, I was married to Elmer Ruchotzke. We lived and farmed in Ashern, Manitoba. We had three sons Brock (1959), Brad (1960) and Kerry (1961). In 1966 we moved to Terrace, British Columbia.
On May 12, 1987 our youngest son Kerry was killed in a logging accident. He was 24 years old. (Most young men worked in the bush because of the great wages, and went on to something better).
Brock was married to Brenda Scoffield on December 16, 1979. They had four girls Crystal, Heidi, Trina, Kyla and adopted three special needs children, Adam, Louisa and Dustin (from one family).
Brad married Bonnie Brink on June 29, 1990. They have three children, Jason, Kevin and Shayla.
On December 14, 1994 my husband passed away from a blood clot hitting his heart. In the spring of 2000 I moved into a Seniors Complex here in Terrace B.C. It is very beautiful.

Rudd, Les
Les and Alice Rudd retired from farming in 1976 when Larry returned to take over the farm. They moved to a mobile home in the same farmyard to enjoy their retirement years. They did a lot of travelling while they were still able and thoroughly enjoyed their grandchildren.
Alice Marinda Rudd passed away on August 7, 1992 and is laid to rest in the Crandall cemetery.

Rudd, Larry John
The Rudds Born March 31, 1952 a son of Leslie and Alice Rudd. I attended Crandall Elementary school from 1958 to 1967, then the Hamiota Collegiate from 1967 to 1970. Upon graduation I left home for what would be the only extended period of time that I have spent away from the farm up to the current date.
Having an interest in meteorology, I attended the Meteorological Technician training school operated by the Federal Government at the Ottawa, Ontario International Airport then went on to Toronto, Ontario at the upper air training school and received my level 3 Meteorological Technician certificate in August of 1971.
Most new graduates of this course were assigned to a posting in remote and isolated weather stations in the high Arctic and I was no exception. Within a month I found myself 500 miles from the North Pole on a joint USA and Canada weather station called Isachsen, North West Territories. After a year in isolation I transferred to Resolute Bay, N.W.T., where there was at least an Eskimo village, then on to Big Trout Lake, Ontario beside an Indian village.
Having had enough of remote postings, I left the Federal Government and the Atmospheric Environment Service and headed for Red Deer Alberta I remained there for the next four years, trying to decide what to do with the rest of my life. During this time I had three different jobs and married. After putting in short stints as a production line worker at Fleetwood Mobile Home factory and then a manager of sporting goods at the local Woolco store, I settled for selling Mazda and American Motors autos along with recreational vehicles and campers. On July 6, 1974 I would marry Brenda Lee Deutsch formerly of Decker Manitoba.
April of 1976 saw the two of us return to Manitoba and the home farm that I had so willingly left behind six years earlier. I remember my Mothers joy and excitement when she was able to move out of the old farm house, built in 1904 with all its nooks and crannies to clean, into that shiny new mobile home situated in the yard beside us. It did not take long to fill all the bedrooms in the old house. Courtney Rae was born in 1977 at Red Deer, Alberta during a trip to visit Brenda's parents, Rudy and Kay Deutsch. Dustin Nathaniel born in 1980, Jenna Kathleen born in 1982 and Dane Clayton born in 1987 were all delivered in Brandon General Hospital.
Over the years the farm grew in size from one section of land to four half sections including a quarter that my brother Dennis farmed to the north. My father and Dennis were invaluable in providing much needed help in the busy spring and fall seasons. I look back fondly now at those times we spent together and those dreadfully long days don't seem nearly as long any more.
Growing along with the farm and the complexity of modern Agriculture grew the workload stress and pressure to succeed. The family took second place. Brenda and I separated in March of 1991. She moved to Alberta along with the two youngest children. My two older boys remained on the farm with me.
The Rudds 1990 My mother passed away suddenly in early August 1992, leaving a large hole in our family and heart. Alice Marinda Rudd (Hazelwood) now rests in the Crandall cemetery just north of town.
In September of the same year, my life took a much-needed turn for the better. As luck would have it, Dennis would introduce me to a friend of his, Marilyn Louise Burr and her three children, Michael Alexander, 4, Courtney Elisabeth, 2, and Alyssa Nicole, 6 months. They were living in Rapid City, Manitoba at the time, but eventually came to live with me on the farm at Crandall in March of 1993. These past seven years have truly been very happy years, and Marilyn along with her children, have become a part of me and who I am. Marilyn and I were married on July 8, 2000 at the United Church in Isabella, Manitoba with all our children as our wedding party.
Courtney is in Red Deer at the present and employed at Gullivers Restaurant and taking a course to enable him to work on a seismic crew. Dustin is working at a Superstore and taking upgrading at the Red Deer College. Jenna attended Lacombe Collegiate and graduated in June 2000. Dane is a model student in Grade 6 at Mirror Alberta Elementary.
My father still resides in the same yard with us, in the same mobile home and in his 85th year, is still very active and very much an asset to the farm.
In the interest of taking life a little easier I have rented out most of our grain land and also leased out some cattle. We are still kept fairly busy with the 100 cows we have retained at home, but manage to take enough time to realize that life can be fun!

Rudniski, Hazel (nee Ariss)
Hazel, Mike, Jennifer, Jason Rudniski I was born in 1950 the fourth child of George and Anne Ariss. At that time my parents lived in Isabella, Manitoba. I was born in the old Hamiota Hospital. My mother remembers that it was very rainy that August and of course it was also saskatoon picking time and that meant lots of canning. We lived on the north half of section 6-15-25, which is now owned by Mr. Murray Bell.
On March 31, 1952 we moved to Crandall on the east half of section 22-14-25. Tom and Marj VanBuskirk and family lived just a half mile south and were great neighbours. My two brothers Jerry and Donnie spent a lot of time with Garry, Murray and Wayne as they loved swimming in the creek, fishing and hunting in the valley. In those days family and friends were close together and life was much simpler. I barely remember Dad driving a sleigh drawn school van through the valley to meet the school bus. Jimmy Walker was one of our first school bus drivers and also Mr. Robus. Later on Dad and Mom drove the van for several years.
We lived in our original farmhouse until October 13, 1956, at which time we moved into our new home which my parents built themselves. We did not have any modern day conveniences. Just as we had to help around the farm, we now had to help with the cutting of wood that Dad had brought home from the bluff. That was always a big job and then it would have to be piled for the winter. That was our main source of fuel in the winter and kept the cook stove going every day for cooking. I remember coming home to the smell and the taste of fresh bread our mother always baked. Of course the wood box always had to be stocked up and that was my sister's and my job.
Sometimes it would get pretty cold but we always managed to keep the fire burning in the winter. We had a wood-burning furnace in the upstairs hallway and Dad would drop a bucket of coal into it before going to bed. Someone was always there to add a log to keep it warm. I remember coming home from a date after midnight and checking the fire before going to bed. I think the scariest thing of all was when we would get a chimney fire and we'd wait to get it cooled down. The times when the stovepipes had to be cleaned were rather touchy, as it was a messy job.
We did not have the hydro until June 1965 We always managed to get our homework done by lamplight. We had four or five lamps that we kept by the kitchen table, which was usually the centre of most activities. There were always lamp chimneys to be cleaned after school and also the lamps needed to be filled with coal oil.
Our family were all sports minded. The boys played hockey and baseball. My sister Edith and I liked to skate. We learned to skate on the slough behind the barn on the farm. As long as we could scrape enough snow off to find some ice. We skated a lot in the Crandall rink on Saturday nights and also at noon hour.
In the spring we always loved to grab our gloves and bats and run to the baseball diamond, for a game of scrub. The 1st and 2nd person to the plate would take turns batting until they were out and then all the players would move one spot around the diamond so that there would be a new batter and everyone would get to play a different position on the field.
As we grew old enough my sister and I played in a lot of baseball tournaments. We could make a few extra dollars if our team ended up on the winning end. Garnet Johnson was the girl's coach and we got to go to different places like Miniota, St. Lazare, Birtle and Isabella. In those days you could buy an ice cream cone for 5 cents and an orange crush was around 10 cents and you could get a refund if you took the bottle back.
Field days were always a highlight of the year. Usually held at the end of June. I always loved the running and jumping and was always winning red ribbons for the ball throw. Miniota was always hot, dry and dusty and we would come home red as beets and tired as all get out but we had one heck of a good time.
My first teacher was Mrs. Hughes and that was the last year of the one room schoolhouse and then it was moved and remodeled into a home. A new school was built in 1958 on the site and Mrs. Joan Foxton was my second grade teacher, then Miss Skinner, Mrs. Fowlie, Miss Beddome and Miss Shelvey. I was always interested in sports and volleyball was one of my favourites. In 1965 the grade 9 students were transported to Hamiota and I attended there for three years and upon completion of my grade 11, I attended M.I.T. in Winnipeg, Manitoba and took a Clerk Typist course.
Upon completion of my course I was employed by the Children's Aid Society and enjoyed my position there. I also got a liking for curling and played a couple of seasons in the city with staff. I had been dating Mike Rudniski of Newdale, Manitoba since the spring of 1967. We got engaged on May 23, 1969 and made many trips back to Crandall and then on June 6, 1970 we were married in the Crandall United Church. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had a wonderful wedding day. We spent our honeymoon in Kelowna, British Columbia, and began our new life together in Winnipeg.
In 1971 Jason Michael Rudniski was born to us. He was the joy of our lives. In 1974 Jennifer Ann Rudniski arrived. On May 15, 1974 we moved to our first home in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The area is called Valley Gardens and the kids attended John DeGraff school. Valley Gardens junior high and Kildonan East Collegiate. Both of them were involved in sports. Jason loved soccer and Jennifer played baseball and ringette.
In the fall of 1994 Jennifer moved to Hardisty, Alberta where she met Tim Kells. Together they have moved to Tim's parents' farm. They have a nice herd of cattle, four horses, three dogs and a whole lot of hard work on their hands. Tim also works for Gibsons Oil and Jennifer watches the farm in the winter and has a part-time summer job. They both love the outdoors and the peace and quiet of the country. A daughter Rene Madison Kells was born in 2000 a first grandchild for us and a third great-grandchild for Anne Ariss.
Our son Jason is employed full time at Kromat Printing Co. He is presently living with us. He enjoys fishing in the Red River at Lockport, Manitoba and is a hockey fan. Mike is employed at Superior Cable. He has been with the company for nearly 30 years. It was called Canada Wire and Cable and was also owned by Alcatel for awhile.
I am presently employed at Quarks Shoes in Baton Place. I started there in the fall of 1994 and enjoy the challenges of the job and meeting new people from all over the country. It seems selling shoes will be my destiny even from the time I was employed with Saan I was working in the shoe department and the I spent a few years at Naturalizer Shoes in Portage Place.
Over the years I have also been involved with Block Parents and Neighbourhood Watch and did some volunteering in the Valley Gardens Community Club. Now that the kids are on their own Mike and I continue to attend dances and enjoy live bands and country music. I took line dancing for about 5 years and really enjoyed getting out and meeting people.
This year being the beginning of the new millennium, we will be attending Crandall's celebrations as well as Newdale, Manitoba, so will be nice to get together and reminisce of days gone by.