by Howard Spaan

Part Three: Cars & Gardens

In the dense forest an area for the site of the house was cleared. At a point which later became the south end of 17th Street, a handsome two story nine room house was built. This was the Spaan home until a few years after Grandpa's death in 1941. My Dad, Henry, Jr., told me the undergrowth of the Douglas fir forest floor was so dense you couldn't drive a cow through it. The house was located just where the highland began to slope toward the Nooksack River bottom. A short distance down the slope the barn was built. The river bottom land was cleared for pasture and hay. So it was that the Spaans transitioned from the hogs and corn of Iowa to cows and timothy hay in Washington. Over time the forest east of the barn became a fir tree grove.  On the east side of the barn a grove of fir trees stood and through it was what once was a wagon road and which went toward the place where the Slotemakers were then living and then went on to the town of Lynden.

During their first few years there Dad said it was not unusual to see a cougar lurking in the forest. The howl of coyotes during the night was a normal occurrence. Grandma Anna loved flowers. Early on they were found planted around her home. Over the years the landscape around her home was transformed into a showplace for shrubs and flowers. She even claimed an area of the vegetable garden near the turn in the road (17th Street) for an annex to her colorful array of plants. It included a rock garden. Grandpa Henry was the gardener for the remaining area west of the home where the family vegetable garden was planted. The lawn and flower garden were enclosed with a trimmed hedge. After a decade a chicken house and a brooder house were erected just to the east of the home and the driveway which led to the barn. Grandpa raised laying hens. Each spring he would purchase chicks which he tended in the brooder house. In the chicken house complex was a water tower for the water system which drew water from the well. When my Dad married Kate De Hoog in 1917, Grandpa built a small three and a half room house, which became their residence. This was just north of the brooder house on a lot just outside the original land which Grandpa had purchased.

Dad's older sister, Cora, was the first among the Spaan offspring to marry. She married Fred Polinder. Not long after my parents' marriage Agnes was wed to Bert Dyksterhuis, who was very soon off to World War I. The two bachelor brothers, Cornie (Cornelius) and John who went by the name of Jack as well, then took leave of the United States and went to Canada. At the war's end in 1917 John returned to his parents' home, but Cornie continued wheat farming in southern Alberta. John joined his brother Henry on the Spaan dairy.

Somewhere around 1915 Grandpa purchased an Oldsmobile touring car which was driven by his three sons. Just how long this vehicle was in operation, I don't know. My first acquaintance with it was when it stood deteriorating under a large spreading maple tree next to the barn. It was a great place for us young kids to play. Ultimately my Dad dismantled the car. On its chassis he made a wagon bed. That wagon with its rubber tires sure rode a lot better than the steel wheeled wagon.

My first recollection of cars was a model T Ford which Dad owned. When the bachelor brothers went off to Alberta, Grandpa learned to drive the car they had. He had never driven until he was around 60. At our home when we saw Grandpa coming down the road, we would both shudder and become amused at his driving. It went well with Grandma sitting in the back seat on the passenger side and he at the wheel. At our house Grandma was referred to as the back seat driver. Grandpa's expertise wasn't so great at slowing down when he came to the end of 17th Street. This required a right hand turn and then after several yards a left hand turn onto the driveway to the garage. This meant driving to the right of Grandma's prized flower display and the rock garden which was created to guide him onto the garage driveway. From the vantage of our little house we had a full view of his maneuvers around the bends which did not include very much reduction in his speed. My father would say, "There goes Dad on two right wheels and then on two left wheels." A couple of times he cut the left turn short and damaged the rock garden! His use of brakes was an abrupt action. Sometimes he'd hit the far side wall of the garage knocking it loose from its foundation. One time he damaged it to the degree that Uncle Cornie decided to remove the wall and just set it in its place without firm attachment. So it was the wall on occasion would fall flat on the ground and the car would be on top of it with its two front wheels.

Grandma Anna was a lady of class, both in her choice of fashion and the décor of her home. The bay window of the dining room always had a beautiful array of plants. She knew how to entertain and this she did in style. She was also a leader in the Ladies  Aid of the First Christian Reformed Church and many times she would team up with her sister-in-law, Tillie, in things the ladies were doing. This was a group which spoke the Dutch language. Interestingly as I was growing up, I never heard her speak in the Dutch language (Yankee Dutch, yes, which meant if she couldn't find the English word, she would substitute a Dutch term). The only time both Grandpa and Grandma would use the Dutch language in the presence of my family was at mealtime when they took turns leading in prayer. Grandma's prayers resembled those of those spoken in the pulpit. 

In his semi-retirement years Grandpa got into the business of raising chickens, while his sons, Henry and John, ran the dairy. The chicken yard was large and enclosed with a woven fence. In the chicken yard a considerable number of fruit trees grew. Grandma placed her stamp on the venture by planting climbing red roses growing on the woven fence area just to the east of their home. Between these blooms and the trimmed hedge was the graveled driveway to the barn. Indeed the whole layout was very attractive. Grandma was always one with an eye for beauty. Whenever the family would go to Stanley Park in Vancouver, she was always picking up landscape ideas and different kinds of plants. I was always impressed on trips to Mt. Baker Lodge to hear Grandma exclaim, "Prachtig!" (beautiful) as we were driving up that gorgeous mountain highway. This was one of the few Dutch words I learned as a child. Indeed she loved nature.

Continue to Part 4---Politics & School