Lenice John Gies and Lena Anna Hintz Ancestry

Personal Narrative from Pat Krajaefski

Len was the only son of John A. Gies and Magdalena nee Hinsperger. H e attended K-W Collegiate and St. Jerome's College. On graduation fro m St. Jerome's, he received the Proficiency Award for highest grades . By the age of 16 he had completed Grade X and a Commercial Course a t St. Jeromes. Despite this, he appears to have acquired the reputat ion of 'bad boy' apparently for cutting classes (or masses) to play 'p ool'. At the age of 17 he lied about his age and enlisted with the 25 9th Battalion, Canadian Rifles, Canadian Expeditionary Forces, and se rved in Siberia in World War I in 1917-19. His regimental number wa s #2310310.

After returning from overseas, he worked five years as a payroll cler k and was finally in charge of branch auditing at Goodrich Rubber (the n Ames Holden). By this time he and Mom were married and they bough t a little bungalow on King Street East. He worked late hours and I c an remember the sound of the wind whistling in the tall pines while w e waited for him to come home on cold winter nights. I also remembe r visiting him in the office with its dim bulb hanging overhead fro m a cord and the green shade he wore to protect his eyes. Apparentl y he left that position on the advice of his doctor who told him he ne eded fresh air and exercise.

I don't remember where he worked after that. At one time he was a cle rk at Davis Men's Wear which later became Budd's. Eventually he becam e a salesman at Dietrich's Bakery. He sold radios on the side (this i n the days when few people had a radio or wanted one). However, fro m that time on, we always had a radio in our house. We all loved musi c and Dad sang a lot. When we were gathered around Gram and Grampa Hi ntz' player piano, Dad and Uncle Oliver tried to outdo each other sing ing. We had great fun around that piano although we children were no t allowed to play it. Dad liked to surprise Mom with little gifts o f jewellery or candy. He always wanted to get rich quick - he was a g ambler, he bought worthless stocks, he played poker. He didn't realiz e his dream - he never became wealthy.

We moved around a lot. We lived with Mom's parents for a time, Dad' s Aunt Anastasia, his parents, King street, Otto Street, Mansion, Tro y and Peter and Brubacher. Eventually we moved to Samuel Street and b ought that house.

I do remember Dietrich's Bakery. The store with its glass counters an d display cases filled with mouth-watering goodies was on King Stree t between Scott and Frederick, just east of the beautiful old City Hal l with its formal flower gardens, its fountain, its regal pillars an d stairs and its bell tower. I remember the wonderful warmth and smel ls of Dietrich's, the Hovis, cherry and cheese breads, the 'stollen br ead' loaded with fruits, the Chelsea roll which was baked in a circl e and smothered with pecans and sticky topping, probably caramel. Beh ind the store was the pay office with its dark wood dividers and grill ed teller cages for the pay clerks. Beyond the office was the baker y with its huge ovens, long tables and trays. The white aproned and h atted bakers seemed always to be removing goodies from the ovens as w e passed through to Scott Street to the wagon shed.

The horses were fed and stabled in a barn behind the Dietrich home o n Scott Street near Weber. At the end of the day, a bread salesman ha d to unload his wagon of leftovers, record his sales for the day, 'set tle up' (balance the books), place his order for next day, and feed a nd stable his horse for the night. Next morning he had to arrive earl y enough to load his wagon and fetch, feed and harness his horse befor e starting on his round of deliveries. No wonder he hoped for riches .

When he stopped for lunch, he first put the feed bag on the horse an d dropped the weight that was meant to hold the horse until he returne d. More than once his lunch was interrupted when a train, truck or mi schievous boys frightened the horse and he had to go after the runaway .

Saturday night was pay night and my brother Len and I met him with Mom 's grocery list and we shopped at Schell's or Dunke's nearby.

Dad also served in the Second War, enlisting and serving with the High land Light Infantry and later with Canadian Military Headquarters an d the British War Office in London where he was stationed during the h eavy bombings and until the war was over. He served in England for 5 8 months as a qualified clerk and clerk-typist at Canadian Military H eadquarters and as a German translator at the British War Office fo r 5 months before his return to Canada at the end of the War.

After returning to civilian life, he worked for a time in the offic e at Canada Health and Accident, Deciding he would like to go into bu siness for himself, he purchased peanut vending machines which he pla ced and serviced at a number of locations in downtown Kitchener. He a lso worked at Jarosz Cigar Store and poolroom.

He died in 1955 at the age of 57. He suffered a heart attack while i n downtown Kitchener on a Saturday afternoon. Bill and I, along wit h Dave and little Cheryl in her stroller, met him on our way home fro m market at noon. We were the last in the family to see him alive. H e is buried in the Soldiers' section of Woodland Cemetery.

Informaton from Kristi's research

Last month's of service for Linus Gies - World War I (58 pages, mostl y medical as he spent quite a bit of time in hospital) (51 days Gastr itis, 17 days Debility, 5 days Influenza and 16 days Bronchitis)

He enlisted Mar. 20, 1917 in the 108th Regiment. He left Victoria f or Siberia after the war was over. He returned from Siberia May 191 9 and was discharged in June.

Born Aug. 1897 according to census, his attestation papers said he gav e his birth date as Aug. 31, 1898. (Strange, we thought he added, no t subtracted a year because he was too young when he enlisted. (Thi s doesn't make sense).