Winsome Winnie Winfield

Winnie Draper Heyworth

Interview September 21st, 2015.

Winnie Draper was born in Glenella, Manitoba July 27^th, 1916. Her family moved to Winfield, British Columbia in 1926. Winnie began working in the Winfield packinghouse when she was 14 years old, first as a sorter then as a packer.

Headshot of Winnie Heyworth talking to the interviewer. She is seated in a comfortable chair.

I finished school when I was fourteen, and worked in the orchards in the summer and in the spring too, ‘cause I used to help Dad out. I was his son, sort of. And from the orchard we’d go to the packinghouse for the early fruits, tomatoes and cucumbers, things like that that we packed in those days. And I guess I was fourteen when we first started.

Black and white photo of Winnie when she was fourteen years old.

I know I was fourteen the first year I worked on the grader in the packinghouse.

Headshot of Winnie talking to the interviewer. Winnie points in the direction of where the Winfield packinghouse was located.

I worked in the packinghouse in Winfield for eight years, first down here on Bottom [Wood] Lake Road, where that packinghouse is now, approximately there.

Black and white photo of an old packinghouse, 1930s.

That was the old packinghouse, and then they built a new one down at the south end of Wood Lake, and we worked down there then.

Black and white photo of the Woodsdale packinghouse, early 1940s.

That’s when they put the new graders in and made it a little more modern. (laughter)

Headshot of Winnie talking to the interviewer and smiling.

Interviewer: And so approximately how many years would you have been doing that?

Headshot of Winnie thinking. As she is talking to the interviewer she looks down as she remembers past events.

Well, I worked two years sorting to start out with, and, when I was fourteen to sixteen, because I was too young for workman’s compensation. And I was safe on the sorting table.

Winnie motions sorting apples with her left hand as she talks.

So when I was sixteen I had by then taught myself to pack. And that year I told them I wanted to pack, so they started me out as a packer.

Interviewer: Great.

One of the inspectors came in one day, a man from Vernon. His name was Bill Thomas, and he came in and (was) watching me packing. And he looked at my pack and he came over and said, ‘Can I give you some advice?’ or something to that effect.

Winnie mimics the inspector’s facial expression as she talks.

I said ‘Sure!’ So he showed me how to wrap and how to place the apples so that they made a nice rounded pack.

Winnie motions packing apples and describes the rounded pack with her hands.

And, I don’t know, he kind of kept an eye on me through my years, and I learned to pack properly through him.

It was from the BCO [BC Orchard Packinghouse] that Ann Bohren and I went to the apple packing contest. They asked Ann to go, and they asked me to go to support her, and everybody was disappointed because Ann didn’t do anything and I came in fourth. What tickled me was, they didn’t like my wrap (laughter).

Winnie laughs and point down with her left hand.

And the inspector that showed me how to pack was one of the inspectors there. He was an elderly man by this time.

She laughs again and mimics the inspector’s look of surprise at seeing her pack.

But he was there, and he opened up a pack and looked at it, they said, and he said, ‘Oh! Winsome Winnie Winfield’s here!’ I was first place for speed, and I went over to him afterwards and said, ‘You recognized your pack, did you?’

She mimics a bigger look of surprise.

And he said, ‘Oh, yes!’

Winnie puts her hand to the side of her mouth, as if telling a secret.

So, anyway, he says, ‘You’re still speedy.’ (giggle) And I said, ‘Yes, I guess I am.’

Winnie laughs and looks down modestly.

It depends on how fast the apples were coming in, how many we packed. My best pack out was one night at the Laurel [Packinghouse]. We were doing red delicious apples and they were beautiful. And we worked four hours. I had a hundred and two packs.

… much better after they got the new graders with the revolving bins…

Winnie makes a revolving motion with her hand.

Interviewer: Ah, yes.

With both hands, Winnie describes the shape of the old bins. She motions the apples dropping into the bin and how she reached and pulled apples over.

Because the old bins were just wooden bins with a canvas base, side by side, and the apples dropped in at the back and if they were coming fast you had to keep reaching over to pull them down.

Winnie makes a revolving motion with her hands, then she scoops up an imaginary apple.

And they put the new grader in with the revolving metal house. And they were really good, because they just kept the apples rolling, and they moved slowly so that we could grab them easily. It made it so much easier to pack .

Black and white photo of a group of men, women, and a young girl standing outside near a garden, 1940s. Winnie is near the centre of the group and is smiling at the photographer.