A New Beginning.

Waino and his family initially arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, way back in 1951, and unboarded the ship that they rode upon across the Atlantic Ocean to land in Canada, their new home. Before too long, they headed for Winnipeg, Manitoba and Waino started working in a garage there. It was July and summertime of course in North America, and because the garage had a metal roof, it felt like a hot sauna in there while Waino perfected his job/career in auto mechanics. Waino drank a lot of water and ate salt tablets to beat the heat at work. Because Waino and his family didn't know a word of English, he and they seemed to do everything wrong, at first. He thought that his work would progress better if he knew the language. Mr. Mullo decided to then move himself and his family to Port Arthur, Ontario, where there remains to this day the largest population of Finns outside of Finland, this town amalgamated with Fort William and became Thunder Bay, Ontario on January 1st, 1970 after a very close plebiscite and vote were held to name the new city. Waino was convinced that with all the Finns in Port Arthur in the early 1950s that he could easily learn English through translation and interpretation. He, his wife and three children found it very difficult to find a nice home and roof over their heads in their new, permanent hometown. Waino at last found a home thanks to a man who had many children. Waino would smile when he remembered the early years in Canada. The simplest things like washing clothes became big problems for the Mullos. Back in Sweden, they would boil their clothes in hot water, etc., and the ways of life in Canada at first completely amazed him and his family. Waino also preached that "when you don't have very much education, you learn and do everything yourself". He even did shoe repairs during those early years in Port Arthur. Waino was also fortunate enough to get a job at Port Arthur Shipyards, not far from his new home, but once the new ship he helped to build was finished, he was laid off and had to find new employment again asap to help support himself and his family. He recalled "where am I going to get work now?" Because he had much knowledge in auto mechanics, those skills helped and came to his rescue in securing new work. He was able to go to school to complete an exam and receive his certificate/license for auto mechanics in the province of Ontario. One of his daughters attended the testing session with him and helped translate for him and write down his answers, and not long after, he became certified and licensed to be an Ontario auto mechanic. To be continued next time.....