To the Editor:
Around 1935 or so, my sister and mother were rendering animal fat in the oven just after butchering.
While doing that they were also doing their washing in the kitchen with an old tub full of washing.
The fat in the oven became too hot and exploded, blowing the oven door open.
They closed it, and it blew open again, the fire going up to the ceiling and burning all the curtains off the wall. It blackened the kitchen.
They ran outside and called to my brother who was fixing a telephone wire up a pole in the yard.
He would not come down, as he thought they were playing a trick on him.
So they went back in the house and took the tub of water and threw it in the oven. The fire went out, but it left the whole kitchen black.
Times were tough, but dad had enough fire insurance to buy a few cans of paint. We had to scrape all that black off those walls and repaint the whole area.
What a job that was. Fire insurance then was not like it is today.
This is a very true story.
Wilf Miller, Keremeos
