Retired Northwood Pulp Mill superintendant Bill Mintenko was born in the small town of Pense, Sask. in 1926. His father died when he was seven and when his mother died two years later, Bill and his younger brother were sent to Sturgis, Sask. where they were raised by their grandmother.
His grandfather had died and his grandmother was alone on the farm so Bill and his brother were a big help when it came to all the chores.
Bill said, "I could work right along with the men and keep up to them. Back in the 30s girls were already married at the age of 13 and the boys worked like men.
"I worked with the threshing crew handling the horses and the wagons. A threshing machine is a piece of farm equipment that threshes grain and removes the seeds from the stalks and husks; the grain is then hauled away to the grainery.
"During this time, I had an accident while bareback riding; my horse spooked, threw me and I ended up with a rupture. From then on, I had to wear a harness to keep the rupture in place since there was no money for medical treatment.
"At the age of 13, my grandmother remarried so I decided to leave and go out on my own. I worked in a bush camp over the winter and in the spring there was no work because of break up so I hitched a ride on a freight train to get back to the farm. A short while later I went to Sherwood, Man. to work in the mines."
Bill told me that he had to lie about his age in order to land a job working underground at the mine. When the company found out that he was only 14 they considered firing him but instead they gave him work above ground because he was such a good worker.
Bill worked with a harvesting crew in Moose Jaw, Sask. and later went to work for the Swift Meat Packaging Company.
He tried to join the navy at the age of 16 but they wouldn't take him because he was too young. Instead he found work in an aircraft building plant as the aircraft mechanics helper.
Fortunately for Bill, the mechanic was over 70 and ready to retire. He assigned many jobs to Bill that he just no longer wanted to do.
Bill said, "My favorite job was the work I did preparing planes for test flights. I had to sit all by myself in the plane and run various tests at a specific RPM, watch temperature gages and record all the results of the tests while breaking in the engine. A test could go as long as ten hours at a time.
"I felt like the plane was lifting off under my control but of course that would never happen while testing the equipment.
"I was so proud to be doing this work; I was 17 and working at a great job and making good money."
When he turned 18, he joined the army which turned out to be a good thing because the army doctors operated on his rupture and three months later he started his basic training in Portage la Prairie, Man.
Bill reflected back and said, "After my basic training, I was sent to Angler, Ont. to guard detainees and prisoners of war.
"I was discharged from the army at the age of 21 and ten years after the war ended I learned to my surprise that the Japanese detainees were Canadians.
"I attended the Winnipeg College of Technology and studied to become an auto mechanic, apprenticed at the General Motors dealership and then moved on to Canada Packers in Winnipeg and worked as a millwright helper.
"Because of my training, the work came easy to me. I called them 'sledgehammer millwrights' and soon I was promoted to a millwright at the age of 25."
He left that job and worked in maintenance for Building Products Ltd., a paper mill that made asphalt shingles and drywall. While on the job, he invented a type of pipe cutter and was encouraged to patent it.
Bill met Barbara Ellchuk, dated her for five years and got married in 1952.
He explained, "I was 26 years old and we both decided to quit our jobs, go to Alberta and sell the patent for a nice nest egg. We did exactly that even though everyone thought we were making a big mistake.
"We arrived in Edmonton full of hope and discovered that someone else had already invented a similar tool cutter and had a patent pending. This means that a patent application had already been filed with the patent office indicating that the inventor was looking for protection of his patent and with that, there went our dream.
"We had less than ten dollars to our name and I needed a job. I got a job as a heavy duty mechanic through the Boilermakers Union, found work in pulp mill construction and worked for Canadian Industries Limited (C-I-L) in the oil refineries. Shortly I switched from construction to pulp mill maintenance and worked in Hinton, Alta., Port Melon and Prince George building pulp mills.
"I started at Northwood Pulp in 1965 as a millwright foreman, worked on special projects and retired as machine room mechanical superintendent in 1992."
Bill wanted to mention that in his younger years, he joined the navy reserves and played on their fastball team.
He said, "I will never forget our most memorable game; it was the playoff game against the McGavins Bread team. We were up, it was the bottom of the ninth, the bases were loaded and I was up to bat. I hit a grand slam and we won the game; the headlines in the sports section of the newspaper read 'The Navy Sinks the Breadman.
"I am still thrilled about that game to this day."
Bill and Barbara had four children: Richard (Marianne), Larry (Helen), Janie (Cam) and Dori who in turn gave them nine grandchildren and five great grandchildren.
Bill said, "Barbara and I were married for 53 years when sadly Barbara passed away in 2005. She worked in the home doing the all important job of raising our children. She did a wonderful job because they all turned out great.
"Over the years we hunted, fished and looked after a huge garden. We traveled the world together until I lost her due to her failing health. I miss her very much."
"I am enjoying my retirement along with many other Northwood retirees. We have an active coffee group and we meet regularly each Thursday morning at the Elder Citizens Recreation Centre on Tenth Avenue as well as another group that meets on Fridays at the Pine Centre Mall."
