July 9

It's July 9, 2014 today. Raise a toast to what would have been Mom and Dad's 65th anniversary.

The happy couple, Saturday, July 9, 1949

Mr. and Mrs. Murray Fraser

A notice of the happy occasion was published in both Winnipeg dailies:

Winnipeg Tribune, Tuesday, July 19, 1949

Winnipeg Free Press, Thursday, July 21, 1949

Attendants Charlie Lamb and Carolyn Andrews were married not long after Mom and Dad.

The war had delayed many such couples, needless to say. By 1949 Mom and Dad were 27 and 30, respectively. Both were in Winnipeg, employed and financially stable, and ready to set up a household and raise a family. 

By the time they married, Mom and Dad had known each other for over a decade, since their high school days in Pilot Mound. The couple corresponded during Dad's wartime service following his initial vocational training in Winnipeg, and until he returned to the city in the fall of 1946.

After more post-war training at the Manitoba Institute of Technology, Dad was earning a solid 83¢ per hour at MacDonald Bros. Aircraft. Mom had long completed her schooling at Success Business College and earned a more lucrative wage at Dale and Company Insurance.

Hazel Fraser

Mom's patience paid off, and they made up for lost time. By 1957 the couple had a happy brood of five, adding to Canada's baby boom of 1946 to 1964.

By 1957 Dad had his hands full, literally. Mom once said that she couldn't improve on having two babies in seven months, so it was a good time to stop. No kidding!