LEST WE FORGET 55 Early in World War II, Muriel Bain was a young Scots office worker. She lived at home with her parents in Edinburgh’s suburbs, commuting each workday into the city. Her employer, Scottish Motor Traction, provided commuter-bus service from the Edinburgh’s suburbs to the offices, shops and factories downtown. Her job was congenial and fulfilling, and Muriel felt content for the moment. Muriel’s older sister suggested her sibling could contribute to the war effort and also broaden her social life by volunteering at the city’s Canada canteen – a drop-in spot for Canadian military service personnel in the city. There she met LCpl Jim Barnett, a young rifleman from Saskatchewan, Canada. A prairie farm lad, Jim had joined the Regina Rifles. Initial interest blossomed into full-blown romance. By the time Jim had been repatriated to Canada for discharge, the couple was engaged, with Muriel’s parents’ blessing. Jim sailed home via Halifax in April 1946. Muriel followed two months later, sailing on a tramp passenger-cargo freighter - the first Halifax-bound berth available. A new friend, Helen, accompanied her. Helen also had a fiancé waiting in Saskatchewan. After an eight-day voyage, Muriel’s ship docked in Halifax. Next came a five-day passenger train trip west to Saskatoon. Jim met Muriel in Saskatoon, while Helen joined her beau. Jim drove his bride-to-be nearly two hundred kilometers west across open prairie to Jim’s parent’s farm in the Seagram School District, north of the Village of Unity. At first, prairie farm life was quite a shock for this Scottish city girl. The main house had no electricity and no indoor plumbing (these amenities would come later). The “privy” was out back. Well water was carried in for washing, cooking, laundry, and baths taken in a galvanized tub set out in front of the cookstove. Daily, meals had to be cooked and served, livestock fed, clothing mended, and cows milked. Muriel still recalls the many hours of patient help and instruction Jim’s mother provided. Jim’s dad, a wounded World War I Canadian Army Veteran who had lost a foot in combat, had moved to British Columbia – a climate more congenial to his failing health. Jim’s mother had returned to the Barnett family’s prairie farm to help Jim and Muriel get off to a good start, as the couple took over the family’s mixed grain-and-cattle operation. Very soon, Jim and Muriel were married in Saskatoon. On their farm, Jim and Muriel worked hard and did well. Three children were born - two daughters and a son. In 1985, after nearly forty years together on the land, Jim and Muriel retired to a neat bungalow in nearby Unity. The following years were not so kind. By the early 1990’s, Jim’s health had collapsed. Dementia had made life at home unsafe for Jim, despite Muriel’s best efforts. Jim was moved to the UNIMAC (Unity Macklin) Pioneer’s Lodge - a facility providing graduated levels of care. Eventually Jim passed away there in 1997. Alone in her Unity home, her children grown but still living nearby, plucky Muriel continued an impressive volunteer service career. Over the years, she has energetically served and sometimes led; the Unity Branch #090 Auxiliary, the Rebekka Lodge, Unity’s Courtesy Car, Meals on Wheels, Unity United Church, Unity Hospital Auxiliary and Unity’s United Church Women for Unity. Muriel has been a benevolent cyclone, helping “wherever and whenever.” In 2000, Unity named Muriel Barnett “Citizen of the Year.” Pretty good effort from a plucky, hard-working Scottish lass who still loves her Canadian home! Lance Corporal Jim Barnett and Muriel (Bain) Barnett A Canadian Veteran and His War Bride Jim and Muriel Barnett on their farm near Seagram School District near Unity, Saskatchewan in 1957.
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