Smithy

He was a locksmith in the days before the blanks and key cutting machines were so readily available. He spent hours filing and fitting keys, working on locks. But his ability went beyond keys and locks. Ern Smith was a handyman, saving bits and pieces of things broken and of seemingly little value. You just never know when you will need that part.

An example of Ern's ingenuity involves jars of baby food. On a visit home to Corner Brook, Newfoundland, his daughter, Janet, and her husband, Peter, had their oldest son, Robert, with them. 

        Peter and Janet

Robert was eating baby food at this time and Ern eyed the small jars and lids, saving them in his workshop. Eventually he nailed a piece of plywood to the wall, attached the lids to the plywood and filled the jars with nuts, nails and the like, attaching the jars to the lids on the wall. Several years later, a similar storage device could be bought at local hardware stores which someone had invented. 

This is very familiar behaviour to me; I am married to one of Ern's grandsons after all. My husband, Rick, grew up in the same community as his grandfather Smith. Rick loved spending time with his grandfather and learned a great deal from him. Working on items, figuring out how they work and repairing them with pieces long saved from another time and often another item, are common practices at our house. Rick learned this procedure from his grandfather.

However, the training did not stop there. Ern's son, Melvin, was Rick's father and he continued Ern's tradition. Melvin also saved things, repaired items, found uses for things others would have discarded without a second look. Rick learned from the best. Ern taught them well.

It would be interesting to know if any of Ern's other grandchildren or great grandchildren have the smithy gene as well.