Growing up during the Great Depression and Second World War was quite different from how children are growing up today. Raymond Lasko, who was born in Transcona, Manitoba in 1931, grew up during the Great Depression and the Second World War. Life was different and there was no shortage of challenges. But life finds a way and the stories from that time can help us better appreciate life now.

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Growing up in a small town in Manitoba during the Great Depression, Raymond and his family had to make their own fun. With gravel roads and minimal vehicles, Raymond and his siblings had to walk everywhere to find entertainment. Wooden playgrounds were more common but could lead to injuries if you weren’t careful. 

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“One time I slid down a wooden slide and got a sliver up my leg. My mom and brother had to walk me down to the doctor. We had one doctor and we had to walk 10 blocks to get to him,” said Raymond in a phone interview. 

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Growing up in the 1930s Raymond had his family for company. back then had to be close-knit to help them weather the storms, drought, and economic problems brought on by the Great Depression. But even then, Raymond and his family persevered.

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“It was way different, way quieter, no hustle and bustle. I enjoyed my youth. Played a lot of sports. Families were so close then. I had three sisters and a brother. They were nice people. They were so nice. Families stuck together. You didn’t fool around with our family. My father, he was a tough egg. He had to be. He migrated from Poland. I used to follow him around a lot. Them days we didn’t have much money. But I never was hungry. I was well-clothed. My dad was a nice man,” said Raymond.   

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            In 1939, when the Second World War started, the focus shifted from the economic crisis to aiding in the war effort. Families began gathering around the radio to hear the news and to keep up with events.

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 “Every night at 9 o’clock, my dad would turn on the radio, we had the “voice of doom” who would come on and give us the news on the war. Telling us news on what was happening. If you made a murmur, you’d get heck for it. We had to stay quiet,” said Raymond. “It seems bad now but it wasn’t that bad. We got used to all the violence.”

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Being raised in a very patriotic community, Raymond joined the sea cadets towards the end of the war. There they were taught to march and were given uniforms. It gave Raymond and other young boys something to do while their families were away at war.

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In 1945, the war came to an end and communities celebrated and mourned.   

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“When the war ended, we had a big parade when the boys came home. We all got a day off in school so we all felt good about that. Lotta people from my town died in the war. We always stuck together. They were good people. But we got through it,” said Raymond as he talked about what happened when “the boys came home.”  

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After the war ended Raymond dropped out of school to join the workforce as back in the 1940s, the average working-class male was expected to work from a young age to help provide for their family. In those years, one of Raymond’s sisters convinced him to try wrestling and Raymond found success there.  

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“We used to wrestle in a place called Lockport every Sunday. We got paid. I was well-built. I played the villain. It was awful. One time I got knocked out of the ring. When I landed on the ground, they [the audience] started kicking me. They didn’t care. My partners had to step in and help me. People are funny like that. I enjoyed it, making fun,” said Raymond.

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After his wrestling career ended, Raymond got a job with the Canadian Pacific Railway. In 1961 Raymond married the love of his life, Doreen, and one year later they had their first child, Dianne. Two years after that they had a second daughter, Raegan. Both daughters have learned important lessons having grown up with parents who were present during the Great Depression and the Second World War.

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“Because of the depression, I think people who came thought it wanted security. Especially food security. I remember Mom and Dad going grocery shopping. They’d take two grocery carts and fill them to the brim. We used to can and have food everywhere.” Said Raymond’s eldest daughter, Dianne Carroll, when asked about what it was like growing up.

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“As much hardship as they [her parents and grandparents] saw, they instilled good habits. Habits that seem lost today,” said Raymond’s youngest daughter Raegan Quantrall, “People need to improve on the past, but never forget it.” 

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Raymond worked with the Canadian Pacific Railway until he retired in the 1990s.

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If there is one thing to be learned from stories such as Raymond’s, it’s how much the past can teach us. With older conflicts remerging it is important to look to the past and learn from it. But, if there is anything that Raymond Lasko has to say about what we can learn about the past, it’s this;  

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“Always be good. Always be nice to people. It doesn’t hurt.”