Kenneth Bardahl (1926-1997) (52 Ancestors 2020 Week 2) Theme: "Favourite Photo"

John Bardahl (left) and son Kenneth (right) c.1942-44

For both subject matter and composition, I never tire of this photograph taken in the 1940's of my father and his father.

My Dad Kenneth Bardahl (1926-1997) quit school at 16 to start farming in rural Saskatchewan, but he might have been born to strike a pose for Gentlemen's Quarterly.

Both men are very dapper in their suits, overcoats and hats - and both have cigarettes dangling  from their mouths! Although it was definitely John's car, it looks as if Ken would be doing the driving this day.

The simple two bedroom homestead house in the background was home to father John Bardahl and mother Louise Nelson as well as six daughters and two sons. Ken was the youngest. I spent the first ten years of my life in this house along with my parents and two siblings - and I know it was full enough with the five of us. It never ceases to amaze me how all ten of them managed to fit into this little house with no running water or electricity, let alone come out of there dressed elegantly for a trip to town (probably Swift Current, Saskatchewan, the closest city). Much credit must go to my grandmother Louise.

Try as I might, I cannot make out a date on the license plate. Although Ken is obscuring the identification of the vehicle, I believe it was a Ford as can barely be seen in the summertime photo of my Dad's sister Marvel posing on what appears (at least for the most part) to have been the same car.

Marvel (Bardahl) Barton

There is another vehicle parked in the distance (on the left) in my favourite photo; perhaps this was the earlier vehicle that appears in other family photographs, such as the one below of my Dad's brother James Bardahl taken in 1939.

James Bardahl

Now for a bit of a juxtaposition from the dapper young man my father appeared in my favourite photo compared to the far less glamorous life he was actually living at the time. The following description is from Ken Bardahl's memoir written in 1991:

I was asked to do some gardening (weeding) for an elderly couple, wages $45.00 per month, room and board supplied.  This sounded great and of course I had visions in my mind that I would soon be a man of many means!  Was I in for a surprise?  No one told me of the love that the mosquitoes would have for such a young lad.  I was forced into wearing a complete headdress of cheesecloth to keep the varmints off.  The days seemed endless, alone, pulling weeds.  I was expected to put in a day from daylight until dark. I was more than happy when my first and last month was completed and I again returned to the comforts and love of home.  In the fall of 1942, I went out on a threshing rig locally.  Combines were beginning to come into this area but some people still wanted to save their straw for fodder.  There was a fair bit of moving from farm to farm as no one had a great deal to do in this manner. I would be 16 years of age at the time. Wages for this were $5.00 a day for the men and $2.00 a day for the team of horses which pulled my wagon and rack.  After harvest was completed and wages paid to me, I was able to buy a second hand bicycle!!  A far cry from the Dodge convertible I had had my eye on for the previous months.  

Ken still didn't have a car of his own when he started dating my mother Elinor Anderson, a local schoolteacher, in 1946. Again, from Ken's memoir:

Later on when I started courting Elinor, I found myself many times without a vehicle.  Clarence (Hjermanrud) had told me before, that, when this happened, I could get his car.  Imagine!! I would phone him and ask if his car was available for me on a certain date.  If yes, I would then make a date with Elinor for a dance, evening out or whatever.  I would then walk up to their place (app. 1 mile) , get their car and then pick up Elinor.  At the end of the evening, I would take Elinor back to her boarding place (she was school teaching then), then take their car home and again walk the lonely road back home.  Never once did they inquire about where we had been.  All of this, and I only had to supply the gasoline that we used.  I still have great memories of the “29” Pontiac and will never forget their kindness and generosity shown me.

Although he had a truck required for his farming operations, his first car was not the Dodge convertible he had been eyeing in the 1940's but a beautiful, albeit sensible, two-toned white and pale green 1953 (or possibly 1954?) Chevy Bel Air, bought second-hand in about 1956. Practicality prevailed: by this time 30 year-old Ken and wife Elinor had been joined by three of their four children. 

James Bardahl (left) and Ken Bardahl (right) with Ken's Chevy in 1957