Lake Oswego author pens memoir about growing up in small Saskatchewan village

Linda Morris worried that her childhood experience might become a forgotten relic of the past.

The Lake Oswego resident grew up in a small Saskatchewan village, where she lived without electricity or running water, tended to her family’s farm and had to make up her own fun.

To keep the memory alive, she decided to write a memoir, “Life Reconstructed: From Roots to Wings,” and will discuss the book from 1-3 p.m. Saturday, May 18 at the Lake Oswego Adult Community Center.

Morris said the memoir was borne out of a writing class she took at the center.

“It started with telling these stories and what I felt was information that would be lost, a way of life that would be lost and (the feeling that) I was the last of that kind, of that generation,” she said. “Plus I love photography and I have a lot of old family photographs and I wanted to put context around them so when I pass and they (family) see the photographs, they understand the history around them.”

The events of the memoir occur during her childhood within and on the outskirts of a town called Lashburn, which had about 400-500 people. She said her childhood home was unfinished and not insulated and so they had to keep a fire running throughout the day to stay warm. They bathed once a week, melted snow for water and endured major snow storms that at one point led herself and her sister to be stranded from the rest of her family for a few days. She said that life was simple but hard and some of the adversity helped her throughout the rest of her life.

“It made us really who we are — resilient and able to pivot and able to cope,” Morris said, adding that she never thought of her family as being poor until she left and placed her environment within a broader context.

Despite the challenges and inconveniences, she enjoyed having the “run of the farm” with her siblings and making up games with them.

“I miss the simplicity of life. And the incredible amount of freedom we had. And also the fact that we had to make our own fun. We weren’t tied to devices. We were a lot more creative in many ways,” Morris said.

Morris went on to become a foreign language teacher and lived in New Zealand before moving to Lake Oswego with her husband. She hopes the book will inspire others to take a memoir class and potentially follow in her footsteps, adding that everyone has an interesting story to tell.

The event is free and open to the public and Morris will share readings from the book. To attend, RSVP Terry Jordan at terryloujordan@gmail.com or 971-409-7635. Proceeds from donations to receive a copy of Morris’s book will go to Family Promise and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.