I have been researching Winnifred “Wyn” Josephine (Fletcher) Haldeman, Elon Musk’s Maternal Grandmother who was born and raised in Moose Jaw.
With any research project, it is never simple. You go in one direction – then another and then another. It is taking longer than I thought.
There is not a great deal of information available and the Moose Jaw Library and Archives and their staff are a tremendous help.
Research into Wyn Fletcher’s early years pointed to her love of dancing and teaching dancing. After her marriage in Moose Jaw at her parent’s house at 911 Chestnut Avenue in June 1942, her and her husband, Dr. Joshua Norman Haldeman, D.C., opened a dance studio in Regina, where the Cornwall Centre is today.
On my last visit the Archivist found a recently donated photo of a Dance Group performing in December 1928. In the Dance Troupe photo was Kay Fletcher, Wyn’s older sister.
In another collection were dancers performing at the Capitol Theatre in the 1920s. These dancers entertained the audience between silent movie features and later, between ‘talkie’ features.
The theatre dancers were instructed by Cy Knight’s mother. Cy later became a celebrity at Radio Station CHAB. In 1954 Cy married Leith Docherty, and the full circle was completed. Leith went on to organize our Archives.
Importance of donating old family photos to the Moose Jaw Archives
What may seem like meaningless old family photos, may hold a small gem that other researchers can build on.
Please consider donating relevant Moose Jaw history items to the Archives.
Here are examples of Archive’s Gems – made possible by a donation to the Archives.
This group a dancers was performing at the Christmas Party for The Moose Jaw Lodge #263 of the Sons of England Benefit Society in 1928.
You may recognize a relative. Several of the names are familiar. They had relatives in WW II.
Kay Fletcher, Elon Musk’s Great Aunt and wife of Hockey Star Elmer Lach, is in the back row. She would have been about 14 at the time of the photo.
