I mentioned that Dad started spelling his name in a different way from the family spelling. I could never understand why he changed it except that as a kid he started spelling it differently and kept on.
However, when we were born he registered us as Kline. I'm not sure what was on the marriage certificate.
Economic conditions improved after the war. He bought modern machinery with two other farmers. By 1948 he had his own machinery and was independent. In 1948 he built a house. What a treat to move out of the old house and into a spacious residence. However, my brother and I still slept in the same room and bed even though there was an empty bedroom.
Dad also bought a new car and truck and was able to pay for them so this shows you how good the economy was.
Tragedy struck in 1953 when his eleven year old daughter Doreen died after a short illness. He never came to terms with her loss and missed her the rest of his life.
Those who've had families know that children soon grow up and leave the nest. I left in 1957.
In the mid 1960's Dad wanted to travel and so applied for a passport. He filled all the forms out very carefully. A few weeks later he received a letter from the government saying, "Mr. Kline, we have never heard of you!" What a shock! So Dad had to do the usual thing about going through school and church records to prove who he was. Dad thought that Grandpa had forgotten to register him when he was born. I accidentally ran into some information that said that the records for Saskatchewan children born from 1910-12 were nowhere to be found. They have no idea what happened to the records. So Dad's birth registration was one of the ones lost.
In his mid 70's he began to think about his accidental name change. He worried about his estate. So in his seventies he finally legally changed the spelling of his name.
Tragedy struck again in 1971 when Mom died . Dad remarried in 1973 and he had another 30 years of happiness with our step mother.
Dad enjoyed 20 winters in Phoenix. When insurance became too costly he stayed the winters in Manitoba.
He had good quality of life until 85. At that time macular degeneration took away his eyesight. Shortly after that Parkinson's set in. In 1990 he went into a nursing home and died in 2008 at age 95.
Dad led a very active life in farming, community, church and retirement. Did I ever tell you that he liked fishing? He was absolutely nuts about fishing. I remember spending time ice fishing with him. We would be on the ice all day.
