Material Type

Artifact

Date Range From

1950

Date Range To

2000

Materials

STEEL

No. Pieces

1

Length

8

Width

1.7

Description

PILSNER STEEL BOTTLE OPENER. CRAB-LIKE HOOK ON ONE END FOR OPENING BOTTLE CAPS. STAMPED "PILSNER" ON ONE SIDE. OTHER SIDE STAMPED WHICH READS "NUT BROWN ALE ROYAL STOUT". HOLE ON END.

Subjects

FOOD PROCESSING T&E

MERCHANDISING T&E

Historical Association

DOMESTIC

History

SEE P20030049001 FOR COMPLETE HISTORY. *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, “HEAVEN ONLY KNOWS WHERE SHE GOT THAT. DON’T KNOW. SHE DIDN’T REALLY DRINK BEER. SHE DRANK RYE, RYE AND SEVEN-UP WITH WATER AND YOU BETTER GET IT RIGHT. MY HUSBAND NEVER - HE SAID WHEN SHE DIED - WE TOOK HER ASHES TO INDIAN HEAD AND I BURIED THEM AT THE FOOT OF HER PARENTS AND, WE HAD A LITTLE SERVICE THERE… WE GOT A MINISTER AND WE HAD A LITTLE GRAVESIDE AND THEN THE MINISTER SAID “WOULD ANYONE LIKE TO SHARE STORIES ABOUT AUNTIE?” AND SO ANDREW SPOKE UP BECAUSE HE’S LIKE THAT AND HE SAID “WELL EVERY SUNDAY AUNTIE CAME FOR SUPPER, AND EVERY SUNDAY I POURED HER A DRINK, AND EVERY SUNDAY I WAS TOLD IT DIDN’T HAVE ENOUGH ICE, IT DIDN’T HAVE ENOUGH POP, OR IT DIDN’T HAVE ENOUGH WATER OR IT WASN’T THIS OR IT WASN’T THAT.” HE SAID “I NEVER DID GET IT RIGHT” SO THIS OTHER COUSIN PIPES UP AND SAYS “YOU TOO!” WHEN SHE WAS IN WINNIPEG, HE LIVED IN WINNIPEG, AND SHE WENT TO THEIR HOUSE EVERY SUNDAY AND SAME THING, HE NEVER GOT IT RIGHT... YEAH YOU NEVER GOT ANYTHING RIGHT, ESPECIALLY IF YOU WERE A MAN.” 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

P20030049046

Acquisition Date

2003-10

Collection

Museum

Less detail