Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

BOWLING SHOES BAG

Date Range From

1973

Date Range To

1999

Materials

COTTON, PLASTIC

No. Pieces

2

Height

14

Length

35.5

Width

9.5

Description

BRWN FAUX LEATHER BOWLING SHOE BAG WITH WHT TEXT "BOWLMASTER". CARDBOARD NAME TAG MARKED IN PEN "I STEWART", "PHONE: 329-0296". DARK BRWN CORD ACCENTS EXTERIOR OF BAG WITH GRN INTERIOR. BRWN ZIPPER CLOSURE ON TOP OF BAG. PAIR OF BLK SHOE LACES IN RD PACKAGE INSIDE OF BAG.

Subjects

SPORTS EQUIPMENT

Historical Association

SPORTS

History

ITEM ASSOCIATED WITH P20030049002, P20030049003 AND P20030049026. ITEM (S) BELONGED TO THE DONOR’S AUNT, IRIS WILMA STEWART (1921-2003). MS STEWART WAS AN ACTIVE BOWLER. SHE WAS KNOWN TO BOWL EVERY WEEK IN A LEAGUE AND CONTINUED TO DO SO UNTIL HER HEALTH WOULD NO LONGER PERMIT (LATE 90S). MS STEWART WAS BORN IN INDIAN HEAD, SASKATCHEWAN, THE FOURTH CHILD OF WILLIAM EVERETT STEWART (1886-1968) AND SARAH JANE (CUTT) STEWART (1891-1968). MS STEWART MOVED TO WINNIPEG WITH HER PARENTS IN THE EARLY 1930S. SHE AND HER MOTHER ALWAYS CALLED INDIAN HEAD “HOME” BUT STAYED IN WINNIPEG. MS. STEWART NEVER MARRIED AND LIVED WITH HER PARENTS UNTIL THEIR DEATHS. DURING HER TIME IN WINNIPEG, MS. STEWART WORKED IN DIFFERENT OFFICES ONE BEING THE SECURITY STORAGE AND REXALL DRUGS HEAD OFFICE. SHE ATTENDED THE UNITED CHURCH AND WAS A CGIT LEADER. SHE LOVED CANADIAN FOOTBALL AND THE WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS. SHE WAS A SEASON TICKET HOLDER AND ATTENDED MANY GREY CUP EVENTS INCLUDING THE “FOG BOWL” IN TORONTO. SHE WAS ALSO A BOWLER AND CURLER WHICH TOOK HER TOO MANY TOURNAMENTS AND BONSPIELS. IN 1973, FIVE YEARS AFTER HER PARENTS’ DEATHS, MS. STEWART MOVED TO LETHBRIDGE TO BE NEAR HER BROTHER EVERETT, WHO HAD BEEN WIDOWED IN 1967, AND HIS DAUGHTER JEAN AND HER TWO CHILDREN. MS. STEWART WORKED FOR ROSSITER AGENCIES AND HAGEN ELECTRIC, AMONG OTHER BUSINESSES. SHE RETIRED IN 1986 AND TRAVELED WITH FRIENDS. SHE ALWAYS ATTENDED THE INDIAN HEAD, SASKATCHEWAN HOME COMING REUNIONS AND WAS HEAVILY INVOLVED IN GENEALOGY FOR THE FAMILY. SHE CONTINUED TO PARTICIPATE IN CURLING AND BOWLING UNTIL HER HEALTH WOULD NOT ALLOW IT. SHE VOLUNTEERED AT THE LETHBRIDGE SENIOR CITIZENS ORGANIZATION BOUTIQUE AND AT THE ALBERTA GENEALOGY LIBRARY IN LETHBRIDGE. THROUGHOUT HER ENTIRE LIFE, MS. STEWART SUFFERED FROM BRONCHIETASIS, A SEVERE CONDITION OF THE BRONCHIA, WHICH LIMITED HER LUNG CAPACITY. SHE HAD PNEUMONIA WHEN SHE WAS A CHILD AND IT LEFT HER WITH THIS CONDITION. IT WAS AMAZING THAT SHE WORKED AND PLAYED AS HARD AS SHE DID OVER THE YEARS. HER CONDITION PREVENTED HER FROM SERVING IN THE ARMY DURING WWII. SHE DID HOWEVER WORK AS AN OFFICE WORKER FOR THE ARMY DURING THE WAR. SHE OPERATED ONE OF THE FIRST COMPUTERS THAT DID PAYROLL. IT WAS CALLED AN “ENIAC.” SHE ALWAYS SAID IT “WAS A REAL PAIN TO OPERATE – IT WAS ALWAYS JAMMING OR BREAKING DOWN.” MS. STEWART CORRESPONDED WITH PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD AND HAD FRIENDS FROM EVERY STAGE IN HER LIFE ALTHOUGH SHE COULD BE A REAL BEAR TO HER FAMILY. SHE LIVED IN LEGION TERRACE ON 4TH STREET SOUTH, FROM THE TIME IT OPENED UNTIL HER DEATH ON JULY 7TH, 2003. *UPDATE* IN 2019, COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT ELISE PUNDYK CONDUCTED A SURVEY OF PERSONAL ARTIFACTS INCLUDING SOME DONATIONS MADE BY JEAN JOHNSTONE (NEE POTTS). AN INTERVIEW WITH THE ORIGINAL DONOR JEAN JOHNSTONE WAS CONDUCTED. WHEN ASKED IF SHE REMEMBERED THE ARTIFACT SHE STATED, “SHE BOWLED IN WINNIPEG AND SHE BOWLED WHEN SHE CAME HERE. SHE ALWAYS DID AND SHE HAD TROPHIES AND THINGS. SHE DID QUITE WELL I THINK… SHE HAD HER OWN SHOES, I HAD MY OWN SHOES… A CLOTH? OH WELL WE MUST WIPE THOSE SHOES OFF. OH YES MY WORD. YES AND HER NAME WOULD BE ON THEM I GUESS. OF COURSE.” “SHE WAS KIND OF SPORTY FOR A LITTLE TEENY WEENY THING YOU KNOW. SHE WAS SICKLY I THINK THAT’S WHY SHE WAS SO SMALL. SHE HAD - WHEN SHE WAS SIX SHE TOLD ME SHE HAD PNEUMONIA AND IN THOSE DAYS, WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN THE THIRTIES I SUPPOSE, SHE WOULD HAVE DIED BUT SHE WAS TOO STUBBORN TO DIE. SO IT LEFT HER WITH A CONDITION CALLED BRONCHIECTASIS AND IT’S THE DYING OF THE BRONCHIAL BRANCHES. AND SHE HAD THEM ALWAYS CLEANED OUT, HER BRONCHIAL TUBES CLEANED OUT WITH A BRONCHOSCOPY IT’S CALLED. ANYWAY SHE DID A LOT CONSIDERING SHE HAD THIS CONDITION AND IN THE END IT WAS HER LUNGS THAT DID HER IN BECAUSE SHE COULDN’T MANAGE IT ANYMORE, SHE WAS ON OXYGEN BUT, I DON’T WHEN SHE QUIT BOWLING BUT SHE BOWLED HERE FOR SURE.” JEAN DESCRIBES HER AUNT IRIS COMING TO LIVE IN LETHBRIDGE, “WELL AUNTIE, WHEN MY MOTHER DIED IN 1967… [AUNTIE] WAS LIVING WITH HER FATHER AND MOTHER, LOOKING AFTER THEM IN WINNIPEG. AND HER DAD… WAS WALKING TO WORK AND A YOUNG GUY IN A CAR… HIT HIM AND HE NEVER REGAINED CONSCIOUSNESS AND HE DIED. THAT WAS 1968… A MONTH LATER, MY GRANDMOTHER DIED - SHE JUST GAVE UP SO SHE DIED. AND THEN THIS IRIS STEWART, MY AUNT WHO HAD NEVER MARRIED, DECIDED THAT SHE WOULD COME AND LOOK AFTER US IN THE WEST AND MY FATHER BEING A WIDOWER, SHE THOUGHT THAT IT WOULD BE HER PLACE AND IT WAS MOST DIFFICULT. AUNTIE IRIS - MY BROTHER USED TO SAY HAD PRICKLES AND THEY WERE LIKE GREAT BIG PRICKLES ON A CACTUS. SHE JUST - BECAUSE SHE’D HAD NO SOFTNESS IN HER LIFE AND HER PARENTS WERE VERY STOIC, YOU KNOW THEY WERE BORN IN THE LATE 1800S. SHE WAS REALLY DIFFICULT. EVERYTHING WAS VERY - SHE KEPT EVERYTHING VERY PRISTINE AND I IN FACT HAVE MORE THINGS OF HERS I FOUND… SO WHEN SHE DIED I WAS IT. I WAS LOOKING AFTER HER WHEN SHE WAS ILL AND IN HER LATER YEARS AND SHE DIED A MONTH AFTER MY SON WAS MARRIED ACTUALLY…” ON MEMORIES OF HER AUNT IN LETHBRIDGE, “SHE WAS A CURLER, AND WHEN SHE WAS IN WINNIPEG SHE WENT TO EVERY BLUE BOMBER’S FOOTBALL GAME, AND SHE CURLED AND SHE WAS THE HEAD OF CGIT AND SHE WENT TO CHURCH AND SHE DID ALL SORTS OF THINGS AT MCKILLOP CHURCH. SHE BELONGED TO MCKILLOP HERE AND WAS QUITE INVOLVED. I THINK SHE WAS ON ONE OF THEIR BOARDS - WHAT ELSE DID SHE DO? SHE DID CRAFTS, SHE WAS JUST AUNTIE. EVERYBODY KNOWS WHEN I SAY AUNTIE EVEN THOUGH THEY MIGHT NOT HAVE MET HER THEY KNEW WHO AUNTIE WAS.” “SHE DIDN’T GIVE AWAY ANYTHING LIKE EMOTIONS OR DID SHE LIKE SOMETHING… I THINK SHE LIKED THE WEATHER A LITTLE BIT BETTER [HERE] BECAUSE IT WASN’T WINNIPEG WINTERS YOU KNOW. AND SHE LIKED THE FACT THAT SHE COULD WATCH MY KIDS GROW UP… BUT WAS SHE EASY ON MY KIDS, NO, NO SHE WASN’T. AND MY DAUGHTER SAID “WHY DIDN’T YOU STICK UP FOR ME MOM?” WELL YOU KNOW YOU HAD TO RESPECT HER BECAUSE SHE WAS A GOOD PERSON. IT WAS JUST HER UPBRINGING THAT YOU HAD TO UNDERSTAND AND MY DAUGHTERS AND MY SON DIDN’T UNDERSTAND THAT. HOW SHE WAS BROUGHT UP AND WHAT WAS GOING ON IN THAT LITTLE BRAIN OF HERS.” THE INTERVIEW AND A FULL TRANSCRIPT OF THE INTERVIEW CAN BE FOUND IN PERMANENT FILE.

Catalogue Number

P20030049001

Acquisition Date

2003-10

Collection

Museum

Less detail