The Manitoba woman remembers meeting her 75-year-old husband at a Hudson’s Bay store



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WINNIPEG – Closing a landmark in downtown Winnipeg is sparking many memories for Morris, Man. Female.

On Monday, the Hudson’s Bay Company announced it would immediately close its store in downtown Winnipeg, although it was originally scheduled to close in February 2021.

For Ruth Schroeder, 99, the shop has a special meaning for her; is where she met her husband John, 102.

Their first meeting took place in 1942.

“My sister and I were going to The Bay, and he was leaving, and we were just in the revolving door, you know how it is, some are going and some are coming,” Ruth said in a recent telephone interview with CTV Winnipeg. “He waved him back, and he came back, and introduced me to him. This is the first time I’ve met him.”

Ruth’s sister was dating John’s cousin at the time, she said. Ruth and John began dating shortly thereafter, and the couple married in 1945. They celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary this year but were unable to hold a celebration due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ruth and John

(Photo Courtesy: Amanda McVicar)

“We worked side by side, we have had greenhouses for over 35 years, and we knew we had to work side by side all the time,” Ruth said.

Ruth said closing the Cove brought back memories of her experiences there. Originally from Saskatchewan, her first part-time job was at the Bay in the sales days when she moved to Manitoba in 1940, a job she held for a year.

Ruth also remembered going to The Bay over Christmas.

“They would open the store half an hour earlier than normal because they had a choir singing Christmas carols for about half an hour before the store opened,” he said. “We used to go out there and listen to them.”

Ruth said she hadn’t shopped at the HBC in years due to the opening of malls in other areas of the city.

“Before, when you were shopping, you went to Eaton’s in The Bay, and all the little shops were in between,” she said.

She noted that things in the center are different since she arrived.

“When I got to Winnipeg, there was the big Eaton store,” she said. “I worked just across the street from Eaton’s. But it’s all over too. That’s it.”

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