Clubhouse

Photo proof of memories from a different time

It’s just an old, black-and-white photograph. But for one resident of Wetaskiwin, Alberta, it’s like a glimpse back to a time that no longer exists. And the trip down Memory Lane developed because of Kiwanis.

This newspaper photo from 1947 shows Gretna (nee) Templeman buying an apple from costumed Kiwanians during Kiwanis Apple Day in Wetaskiwin, Alberta.

Today, Yochim keeps a print of the nostalgic photo.

The Wetaskiwin Times Advertiser recently published a story about 85-year-old Gretna Templeman Yochim, whose life was touched by Kiwanis in 1947 after buying an apple during Kiwanis Apple Day. Accompanying the story was an old photo, in which Gretna can be seen depositing her donation into a small jar in return for an apple, as costumed members of the former Wetaskiwin Kiwanis club gladly accept it.

According to Yochim, a quick comparison of the 1947 photo and one taken today at the same location will produce drastically different views. Many of the buildings she remembers from her youth are no longer there. But the memories that old photo rekindles and the time it was taken are happy ones.

“The Kiwanis club rented a (railroad) boxcar to bring apples from the Okanagan (region of British Columbia),” Yochim told The Times Advertiser. “We kids used to go there, fill up our bags, and come back home.

“It was a good town then.”