Council Corner

The Council Corner is a monthly newsletter in which our elected officials communicate news and events to residents in an effort to ensure a well informed community. Village staff also provide updates and information regarding all municipal services via the newsletter.

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Council Corner – July, 2010
The Jonesville Stones from Canada

When I was a young girl growing up in the Village of Jonesville, where I still live today, I used to help my dad at his construction work sites building houses.  At this time in my life girls were never allowed to use power tools of any kind and the jobs that I was instructed to do required the use of a broom, hammer, hoe, wheel barrel, pail or a shovel.  I was the clean-up crew of one whenever small hands were needed.   

Up to this point I had learned to sweep up saw dust and dry wall dust by the pails full, pick up electrical box punch-outs, which I called nickels, wind up power cords, pull nails, carry and run hoses for water, and pickup all the tools when the day came to an end.  A few years later I would be the one called upon to climb up into attics and small crawl spaces to install insulation which at that time I called the pink itchy stuff.

However, the first and most difficult job I remember being given was picking up stones and from what was to be the driveway in front of my aunt and uncle’s brand new home, which just happened to be across the street and kitty-corner from where I lived on Jermaine Street.  My goodness there were enough stones to fill a hundred wheel barrels and dad said they all had to be picked up and transported to one specific area.  This was to be my job and it was to be completed before the cement arrived three days later.

The wide-eyed look on my face must have told dad what I was thinking at that moment, so dad told me the story that a million or so years ago a mile high Wisconsin Ice Sheet made its journey down from the north and when it finally stopped moving and melted it dumped its entire load of stones on Michigan.  He called them the Stones from Canada as I began picking them up and putting them, one by one, in the wheel barrel.  I certainly didn’t know much about Canada then, or a Wisconsin Ice Sheet, but if all those stones came from up there it must be a pretty stony place and I continued picking up the darn things.

With my very first wheel barrel full, I learned quickly that it was far too many for me to move and with my shoulders and head hanging low I went to ask my dad for help.  Not knowing if he would be mad at me or not, I promised not to ever fill the wheel barrel up that far again and only load as many stone as I could move by myself.   Dad agreed that would be a very good idea. 

I continued to pick up and haul the stones for the rest of that day, and a day and a half after until the stone free ground could be raked and graded by the two men that worked for dad.  I was told I did a good job and was sent home for a bath and to help mom with supper.

As I got older and the jobs I was given became larger, I always tried to do my very best, thinking things through completely, and I most certainly attribute my work ethic to that one little “Life Lesson” I learned so many years ago with those darn stones from Canada.

Brenda J. Guyse
Councilwoman

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