Michelle: I m here with Diane Parsons on July 14, 2016. So when did your family arrive in Pasadena? Diane: In 1959. My family had been here previously, moved, and then came back again. But 1959 was when I came here. Michelle: And why did your family choose Pasadena? Diane: My dad was a CN Worker, he was a section foreman. He worked on the speeders on the track, and was moved from community to community. South Brook was the place he was stationed. Michelle: Where did your family live previously? Diane: Previously we were in a little community called Spruce Brook, previous to that they were in Pasadena, and previous to that they were in Pynn s Brook. Michelle: I m not familiar with the community of Spruce Brook. Where on the island is that? Diane: It s between Corner Brook and Stephenville. I don t know if you re familiar with an area called Gallants? Well Spruce Brook is up that way. Michelle: Oh yes, I know where that is. So what street did you grow up on in South Brook? Diane: I don t know if the street had a name, we just called it Station Road. It used to lead down to what was the CN family home. They provided housing for their workers, so we just called it Station Road. I don t know what it s called down there now. The track is no longer there, the highway runs over what used to be the track, so it was down in that area. There were only two houses on my side, we were on the other side of the street. Michelle: Okay, so you lived on the Bowaters side of South Brook, not the side that the current Elementary School is. Diane: Yes, there were only two families, and we lived on the other side of the train track, which ran through. There was a big bank, a piece of land; there was a family of Turners, and us. We lived right by the lake. Michelle: We like asking these questions about streets, as we want to learn more about how the streets around town were named. So do you know anything about the naming of the streets? Diane: No, I don t know much about it. I mean I do recognize names of streets when I drive around Pasadena, they are family names that I knew. Michelle: What are some stores and businesses that were in the community that you can remember? Diane: In South Brook itself, there was a convenience kind of store that had a little bit of everything. I can t remember what it was called, but it was owned by the Martin s. Azzy Martin and his wife, I never knew her name, but we would call him Azzy. Up on the highway, there was a gas station and a convenience store. I worked at a diner; it was just a little trailer next to the gas station, run by George
Murphy at that time. If we went to Pasadena, there was Mews store, as well as Brennan s that came shortly after, and the Highway Diner. Michelle: Okay, so there were more diners than the Highway Diner in the area? Diane: Yes, but this one was just a little trailer turned into a diner. I used to work there as a teenager, and George Murphy owned it. He was also the person who owned the canteens down at South Brook Park. Michelle: You currently live in Deer Lake, so have you always lived in this general area? Diane: Yes. When I finished high school, I moved from South Brook and went to St. John s for university. Then I came back, and started teaching in Howley. From Howley I moved to Deer Lake, and I ve been there for forty years. Michelle: How have you found Pasadena (and area) change over the years? Diane: There are so many more buildings, houses and streets. The playgrounds are in different areas, and everything is more developed, in housing. None of that was there when I was growing up, it was all woods. In the back of what we used to call Midland, that was just one street, but now you can go all the way back in the country. So the area has grown so much, especially population wise. Michelle: So you grew up here when the area was broken up into three separate communities: South Brook, Pasadena, and Midland, and you lived in South Brook. Did you find that these three communities kept separate, or did they mingle? Diane: Yes, they were very much three separate communities Michelle: So living in South Brook, you never felt like you spent much time with those living in say, Pasadena? Diane: I didn t consider myself part of Pasadena or Midland, even though I had relatives in those communities. But we still considered it going to a different community. Michelle: Were you living here when the highway was being re-routed? Diane: No, I was living in Deer Lake at that time. But I certainly remember it going through, watching it go through, and wondering what the change was going to do to the community Michelle: And you mentioned earlier that where you grew up was near where the highway is now? Diane: Yes, I always say that the highway ran over my house! *Laughs* Michelle: So how did affect your parents during that time? Diane: My parents had moved by then, my parents moved to Deer Lake due to my dad s work. But I remember all the familiar things, like where we would walk as children, it s all gone now. People said It
will never be the same. I think people thought they d never get used to it, but they did, people got used to the change. Michelle: Are/were you a member of any community organizations in Pasadena? Diane: Just girl guides, and I was a part of the Sunday school at church Michelle: Were you a Girl Guide leader? Diane: No, I was a girl guide. Actually, I was in the first Girl Guide pack when it formed here. Elsie Bennett and Beth Fisher were the ones who started that. Michelle: And for Sunday school, what church was that? Diane: It was the Church of England, the Anglican Church Michelle: What was going to school like for you in the community? Diane: I started school in South Brook, in a one room school. It was just a short walk from my house, and I went there until grade five. When I went to grade six, I had to walk up to Pasadena, and went to St. David s Anglican school. I went there until I was in grade nine, and then I went to Corner Brook for one year, and then went to Deer Lake for the rest of my schooling. Michelle: And how would you say that schooling has changed over the years? Diane: When I was going through school, it was all quite the same. Even when I went to different schools in Pasadena, Corner Brook and Deer Lake, it was all pretty much the same. But I noticed a lot of changes over the years while I was working with the school district. I started teaching in a three room school, with two grades in a classroom in Howley. I then moved from that to teaching in Deer Lake where there was one grade in a room, but twice as many children. And if somebody were to ask me which I would prefer at the time, I would say the two grades, because it was less students. But I quickly got used to it. And then things changed again with integration, and there were no longer these little community or rural schools, they were gradually coming into bigger schools. So there were a lot of big, big changes from the time I started school, and the time that I retired as a teacher. Michelle: I understand that schooling was once separated based on religious denomination. So what would you say played more of a role in who you spent time with as children: your religious denomination, or where you lived? Diane: I think where I lived. South Brook was mostly Roman Catholic children, who went to a different school than me. But after school, we spent all of our time together, because we never went to Pasadena to do things, we stayed in South Brook. Michelle: What did you do for fun growing up? Diane: We could go swimming, almost out the back door. We had to walk down a little hill, and w would spend most of the summer on sunny days down there swimming. We picked berries, played hop-scotch,
built forts in the trees. Other than Girl Guides, I wasn t involved in anything else organized. During the winter we would spend time on the lake, skating. The older teenagers would clear off the ice for hockey, and we would go down on the lake and skate, right on the lake, near my house. We d also do a lot of sliding during the winter. We d watch the boys play baseball in Bowaters field. And along with swimming in the lake, there was another area that we would go swimming, I think it was called Concrete Bottom. The water was warmer, and more closed in. We would have to walk over the trussle to get there, and I used to be afraid of that. When you looked down you could see the water, and I thought I was going to fall through. *Laughs* Michelle: So you kind-of answered this already, but were there any specific areas that you would spend time as children to hang out? Diane: As small children, the beach and Bowater field, and just playing around the neighbourhood. Parenting was a lot different at the time. I have three younger siblings, and there were a lot of younger children around at the time. The parents would let me take those younger children with me and we would go to the beach, or go berry picking, and we d be gone all day. Nobody came looking for us, as long as we were home for supper, things were pretty lenient. Of course if you did something you weren t supposed to do, and people found out, then you paid up for that. As a teenager, we would go to a place called Harry s. That was a hang-out on Midland, so we used to walk to Midland from South Brook, on the highway. We would play pool, and things like that in there. We would also hang out at the diner. During the summer, South Brook park was a big thing, because they had a dance hall, and you could go there, put money in the juke box, and dance all day. Michelle: What were some local nicknames or slang for things in the community? Diane: As children we could call the upper side of the highway the patch. Now I don t like saying it, because I know why it was called that, and it doesn t make me feel very good. Other than that I don t know any others, expect funny nicknames for kids. Like my neighbour was Mookie, and there was somebody we called Chickee. Michelle: What were some holidays/festivals/traditions that you celebrated or participated in? Diane: The school concerts were a big thing. Everyone would come out to see those, it seemed like a big thing. And when I was younger, there was always a church garden party in the summer time, and families would get out and go for the whole day. During berry picking season, we would all bundle up and go pick berries for the full day. Mr. Earle had a strawberry farm here, so we would spend time up there picking berries as a family. Michelle: What about Strawberry Festival and Winter Carnival? Diane: I was not a part of that, as they came later after I left. I left South Brook when I was seventeen, and my parents moved the same year that I graduated. I had two brothers living here for awhile, so I would really only come back for little visits, and for Come Home Year. But I was never a part of any of the festivals.
Michelle: How would you say the way these holidays/festivals/traditions have changed over the years? Diane: I think things are more formal now, more organized. People would just drop into your house, and then you would have a party, just because seven people decided to show up. I think people had the tendency to make their own kind of fun, whereas now things need to be organized. You need to be invited to do things. People were closer back then, everyone knew each other and looked out for each other. I guess where things have grown so much, and there are so many people moving in from all over, that we have to change anyways. Michelle: What would you say is a piece of technology/tool that you used/can remember your parents using that people may not be as familiar with today? Diane: We used dial telephones, children may not know what that is now. First when I moved to South Brook, we didn t have electricity, so we used lamps. And you didn t have running water in the house, so we had an outhouse. I can remember being about eight when we got our first TV, and being really fascinated by it. When you d turn it on, there d be all this white, we d call it snow, because you d just barely pick out the image on the screen. I can remember getting my first photograph. And I can remember being amazed that you could put a needle in this thing, put it on the record player, and then get music. Those things have changed, my children wouldn t know what any of these things are. Michelle: The 100 th anniversary of the formation of South Brook, Midland and Pasadena is approaching in the next 5-10 years. Do you think that this would be an anniversary that would be important to recognize? Diane: Yes, definitely. It keeps things alive in people, you know. It forces you to remember things, which is a good thing. It s good to remember the way things used to be. Some people resist change, but change can be good. Michelle: What was your favourite part of living in Pasadena? Diane: I ll call it freedom. You didn t have to be adult supervised, and all the children looked out for each other. Everyone was equal. My neighbours didn t have any more than I did, and vice versa. And if you did, like if I had a bicycle, and my friend next door didn t have one, we would share it. If I wasn t using it, she could come and take it. It didn t have to be locked away, or any of that stuff. That s what I mean by freedom, it was a freer lifestyle. You didn t have to be as on top of your children like you do now. Now people are doing so many scary things, doing things they probably shouldn t. I think technology has done that, because we are too aware of all things that can happen. I loved my childhood, it was such a sense of doing what you want. Unless you were doing bad things, nobody really cared. And you could bring anybody home. If my mom was cooking supper, and I had two friends, you wouldn t pick up the telephone and say Can so and so stay for supper?, no they would just stay. It was different for sure. Michelle: And what is something about growing up in Pasadena that you miss the most/would always like to remember?
Diane: I miss just being able to drop in on somebody just on a whim. It didn t matter what time of day, people didn t seem to care. And my fondest memory, my neighbour across the track from me, she would put her Christmas tree up, and would invite me in. They would sit and have their meal, and she would put me in their living room, because she knew I would fix everything on her Christmas tree, I was a little bit anal *Laughs*. I thought she didn t know, but in later years she said to me Why do you think I always invited you in during Christmas time, even though we were sitting down and having our supper. I miss having the freedom to drop in on people, worrying about being late, or if they had company. Whether you were a child or an adult, you were all considered equal, and considered company. But now people worry more about that, me as well, but it s just the changes. Michelle: That s it for my questions, is there anything else that you would like to add? Diane: South Brook Park was such a big part of our growing up, and it makes me sad to think that was taken away, and that my children will never experience the kinds of things that I experienced there. You d meet so many people there, because people would come from all over Newfoundland. You would meet people from Corner Brook, with people camping. You made so many friends with people camping there. And it s sad that today s children will never get to experience that... not that we would let them go anyway *laughs*. We d be too worried about them meeting strangers. Michelle: That s all for now! Thank you Diane for a wonderful interview and sharing such lovely memories!