Memories with George Goddard

We recently rediscovered a letter Tracey has been saving for many years. It's from George Goddard who was an early Mayfair resident. He shares his memories of Christies!

Dear Tracey:

May I introduce myself. I’m George Goddard, born in Saskatoon in 1920. 

I have just received the spring issue of Prairie North magazine. As I looked thru it I had to pinch myself when I saw Christies Mayfair Bakery on 33rd Street and your story. It opened up a world of memories. We lived in a nice house, 1522 on Ave E so your store was on the corner of 33rd and Ave E. I can still almost smell the cinnamon rolls and bread when you walked in. Charlie Christies and his brother used to walk all over the neighborhood with big baskets of bread and cookies calling at our door. That’s how your business started in the 1930s. Mrs. Cooper has a tiny store next to the bakery, all she sold was different kinds of candy, at least that's what I remember! Mr. Henderson was principal at Mayfair. If you went to Bedford Road Collegiate you would see the names of all the classmates of mine who died in the war. 

Well, Tracey hope I haven’t taken too much of your time - I think the cinnamon rolls etc are ready to come out. Oh one more thing. My Dad had a kennel of Springers (English hunting dogs) in our backyard. We could go to your bakery and Charlie would sell us a sack of stale bread for 25 cents mixed in a pot with jack rabbits. It made great dog food. There was always some stale cooking bakery stuff that we kept. In those days we were the second last house on Ave E North. There was just prairie, the CN railway tracks, and Hudson’s Bay though! Then John Craig’s farm and the airport. 

Wish I could come back to Saskatoon. Stand on the corner of 33rd and Ave E, look for Bill Robinson who had the drugstore on the Northwest corner of the intersection then come in and sample some of your Italian baking. 

I saw my first airoplane standing by your store. 

So long and trust you will accept this letter in the spirit in which it was written, 

George Goddard