From one who knows, a senior’s key to longevity
It was Feb. 28, 2012 when Fred Graham moved to H.A. Johnson Manor on Church Street in Truro.
Graham is a humble, considerate man according to Zylpha Taggart, the manor’s senior support coordinator.
“Fred is a sweetheart,” Taggart said. “And, for a 96-year-old man, his mind is very clear. He is our number one socializer; Fred talks to everyone here, people on the street and people coming into the building. He’s one of the first ones up in the morning and one of the last ones to go to bed at night.
“Fred is our extra set of hands around here; he helps everyone and he does a lot of gardening on the grounds. Fred is remarkable, he has a gift – he can remember back to when he was a boy.”
Born June 2, 1922 in Burnside, near Upper Stewiacke, Fred was the son of Johnny Robert Graham and Minnie (Ogilvie) Graham.
“The first thing I remember was when our old family home burned,” said Graham. “It would have been about 1926, I was four years of age. It was the house I was born in, we had a wood stove and a pipe must have overheated. The only thing that was saved, my father reached through the bedroom window and grabbed the alarm clock.”
Graham recalled there were four children at the time of the fire, himself and three sisters. A younger brother, Forbes Graham, born later, became a longtime Truro police officer. Graham’s parents would later purchase a house in Pembroke, also near Upper Stewiacke.
“I started school at the Pembroke School. As we lived near the school, my older sister Francis would start the fire in the morning to heat the school. My first teacher was a Redden; she was a good teacher and a good person. The school had one big room with four windows on each side. There were about 10 kids, from grades one to seven, I believe. To sit in your seat, you had to tip your desk up to get in or out.”
Attending school until Grade 6, at age 13 Graham went to work in the woods driving a yard horse for his uncle, Byard Ogilvie.
“I earned 50 cents a day and that included my board and meals at the Ogilvies. There was lots to eat, grandmother Ogilvie saw to that – we had good beans, prunes, homemade bread, biscuits and lots of garden vegetables.”
While still in his teens, Fred worked in the woods in Upper Stewiacke for Elwood Graham. He recalled saving all his pay during one winter.
“I never drew a cent and that spring I got on the old cream truck and caught a drive to Truro. I paid $125 for a horse, a mare that weighed just over 1,500 pounds. I walked her from Truro to Upper Stewiacke, it took 11 hours. Afterwards, someone measured the distance – they said it was 28 miles and that I had walked four miles per hour.”
Graham said he worked here, there and everywhere over the years. In the early 1940s, he and friend Alec Higgins, of Brookfield, drove an old Ford car to Sudbury, Ont. Graham found employment in a nickel smelter factory.
“It was dirty work, dumping the ore into the furnaces. It was wicked hot. I was getting $2.10 an hour compared to making 90 cents an hour back home. But, after working there for three years, I figured I had to get out of there.”
Graham, certain that there’s no place like Nova Scotia, headed east.
“I went to work for Brookfield Lumber in 1945 or 1946; Edward Creelman hired me. The first job I had was sorting pine, two by 10. Edward was a real good guy, I worked for the Creelmans for 26 years.”
One of the most exciting things Graham ever did was travel to British Columbia on a three-week vacation.
“I got to watch them yard logs off the side of a mountain using helicopters,” he said proudly.
Enjoying retirement, Graham especially likes fiddle music and dancing.
“My key to longevity is being active. I’m always on the move, this helps my health. I enjoy dancing at the Royal Canadian Legion, the Douglas Street Recreation Centre, the Salmon River Fire Hall and over in Pictou County. And, I like people of all ages.”