 |
 |
MEMORIES OF MY DAD
- JOHN HOCHBAN
( by Ken John Hochban 2001)
|
|
|
|
EUROPE
DATA - JOHN
CANADA:
|
| WINNIPEG:
(1927-1934)
Unfortunately this happens to be the period of the Great Depression. John in fact spent a great deal of time riding the rails across Canada looking for work. He may have first learned about Toronto during one of these trips and this might have been the period he worked for the Canada Steamship Lines traveling the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. His main job on these ships was to paint the superstructure. John mentioned that no sooner did they finish painting the ship then they had to start over again; that's how large the job was. |
 |
| He enjoyed this work and all through his life he loved to paint and
loved anything related to ships, docks, waterfronts. By the way, John was
an expert long distance swimmer and thought nothing of a 3-mile swim. He
perfected a side stroke which allowed him to easily breath as he swam.
During these travels the ship passed through the thousand islands which impressed Dad. He also enjoyed the Beluga white whales in the St. Lawrence which congregated at the Saguany River outlet. At some point this job ended, but it allowed him to make other Toronto contacts, which helped find work later on. He returned to Winnipeg were his father and mother now lived and also his girlfriend and wife to be, Katherine Yauk. |
 |
I should mention that John's sister Magdalena(Lena) met and married Mathius(Matt) Birg on Sept. 15-1928. They resided in Chicago, where Matt was born, and eventually owned a farm at Crivitz, Wisconsin (both are buried here). Lena and Matt had three children, born in the 1930's, Annie, Katie, and Joseph(Joe), who married and have children of their own. |  |
| John and Kay were a real Romeo and Juliet story. Their love was complete and mature and lasted throughout their lives. Of course they had problems but they shared themselves completely and gave to each other fully. |
| This mutual love for each other even influenced most aspects of both
lives which can be expressed by John's ultimate sacrifice to Kay, his religion.
John at one stage contemplated becoming a priest and may have started a seminary life, so his love for the Catholic religion was deep. However, when John and Kay finally decided on marriage,(Apr 28-1934) they found that the Catholic rule of the time was that a Catholic must marry a Catholic or be excommunicated. John chose to marry Kay thus was excommunicated, but it hurt him deeply. He never returned to the church, since he accepted its finality, but he inwardly followed its customs and teachings. |
 |
| It was impossible for Kay to convert to Catholicism because of her
extreme deep attachment to the Lutheran faith. On her death bed her wish
was for a Lutheran ceremony and this occurred in Deep River, but she was
buried beside her husband John in the Catholic section of the cemetery.
Before all this happened John and Kay were boyfriend & girlfriend for about 7 years(1927-1934) and enjoyed the simple Winnipeg lifestyle of the period. They had many friends who shared picnics, swimming, skating and train excursions to the large beaches north of Winnipeg. A few pictures best describes this dating life and contact with friends. |
 |
 |
 |
| They both had simple jobs, when they could find them, and finally decided to move to Toronto after their marriage. John must of received some news from one of his former Toronto friends and left Winnipeg before Kay. One of Dad's more interesting endeavors was that as a boxing manager for his best friend Frank Wolfram. They actually had booked a few fights but in the end Frank wasn't that good and it ended. |
| TORONTO:
(1934-1941?)
John came to Toronto first, before Kay, to seek employment and a place to live. He eventually found work with American Standard, makers of plumbing accessories, tubs, toilets, faucets, etc., and he remained with them until he retired in 1974 although his term with them was broken up by his second move to Winnipeg in 1941-1947. Twenty months after their marriage a son was born, ME! Ken John Hochban, Dec 11-1935, at 10 PM, Grace hospital, located near the corner of Church and Bloor Street in downtown Toronto. The six-storey facility was known as a maternity hospital up to the 1970's when the hospital closed its pregnancy ward. It is now a long term and palliative care facility. Grace Hospital first opened in 1905. |
 |
| At my birth John had found an apartment at Clarance Terrace, Apt 11, which is near the corner of Spadina and King. The Terrace complex is now a heritage site very close to the highest structure in the world, the CN-Tower. |
 |
Grace Hospital |
 |
| This must have been the period when Dad was taking night or home courses
in radio theory and repair. He always looked toward improving himself and
radio was the biggest technology of the time. Considering John only had
limited education, his intellect was high which allowed him to learn consistently
throughout his life.
Along with a friend, Dad even went so far as to write comedy material that they both hoped would get them access to radio programming. The big thing in radio during the 1930's were comedy programs like, Amos & Andy, Fred Allen,and Jack Benny. Fortunately these courses in electronics eventually led to a job in radio installation of fighter planes during the war. This happened during the family return to Winnipeg in 1941 when John worked for the Canadian Air Force. |
 |
We had by now moved to a second rented house close to the Toronto waterfront
at 9 Minto St., when Norm Mathias Hohban was born, Aug. 7-1938, also at
Grace hospital. This birth had an amazing prior story. Kay knew the baby
was coming but couldn't find help nor a drive to the hospital. She walked
the 5-6 miles from Minto to Church St in time to give birth to Norm. I
also remember walking with dad in the evenings to the hospital where I
could view the 3rd story window where Kay & Norm rested after birth.
We always stopped for fish & chips, rolled up in newspaper, eating
as went to see Mom.
This may be the time that the Hochban name lost its "c" and became Hohban. My birth record has Kenneth John Hochban also with Norm who later had to adjust his spelling to Hohban when he worked in the States for a few years. Records after this date have our name spelled Hohban, intentional or not, and was just carried on. |
| However I believe that John anglicized his name, like many Germans
did, to make life easier for his family. During the first WW-1, the Canadian
Conservative Government put restrictions on German families which wasn't
removed until 1922-24 when the Liberals were elected. This also happened
during WW-2 but to a lesser extent. This had bad memories for some German
families who suffered through this episode. John may have just wished to
make life easier but his mother Magdalina didn't approve of this name change.
NOTE:
|
| Toronto Life:
Outside of evening walks, John & Kay had two major entertainment pursuits; movies and learning the pop lyrics of the songs of the day. They would listen to the radio and record the lyrics, then sing the songs at home. Dad loved to harmonize and had an exceptional voice, a mellow tenor voice. Kay would sing the tune & John would invent the harmony, then sometime change to a different harmony with his multi-octive voice. He never had access to a music instrument so he played the house-spoons on his knee, bowed on a carpenters saw to simulate a violin, or played on his harmonica. |
| The movies served two purposes; entertainment and also allowed them
to obtain a six piece dinner set. In those days you would receive a plate
or a couple of saucers each time you went to the movies. They even had
stage presentations were one ticket holder may receive a special piece
like a tea pot. The flowered plates, we still owned, were handed to my
children. All came from Dads movie excursions. They did luck out one one
prize, Dad took a photo of me playing in the basement and submitted this
to a photo contest. He won a $100 which allowed them to buy a washing machine
in 1937.
Summers were ideal for us since we were 2 miles from Cherry Beach (lake Ontario) and this family took full advantage of it. |
 |
| Everyone loved the water but Mom never did learn to swim. Near the beach are rail lines and this became the preferred way home, walking the rails, seeing who would fall off first. Once in a while we had to let Norm win. Dad would also cut a willow from beside the rails and make different pitched whistles, like flutes, for our simple band. |
 |
 |
 |
| Dad loved sports and we would often walk to Woodbine park where baseball
was played. The Toronto Maple Leaf hockey team games were broadcast on
the radio(famous Foster Hewitt) which we never missed. Mom & Dad had
close friends in Toronto, two of which were the Baslers and Bartosch families
which also came from Europe. Other names that I recall are Yost, Shummer,
and Miller(Muller). A relative or friend, George Riddle, who was serving
with the Canadian Air Force used to visit most weekends. He was lonely
for family life and our place became his source for a second home.
Eventually John & Kay got a message requiring their help in Winnipeg to care for our grandparents. Kays mother Katie Yauk was especially failing and John's mother Magdalene Hochban, had her own problems with health and home. We moved by train, back to Winnipeg in 1941 to live in the Yauk household, 668 St. John Ave. |