ESTEVAN - While doing some spring cleaning, Ron Samoluk, currently of Estevan, came across an old black and white photo from his childhood in Kamsack. The image depicted a group of musicians who made up the Kamsack Mandolinata Orchestra from 1959.
“Right away, it brought back fond memories from my days growing up in good ole Kamsack,” said Samoluk, a retired teacher who once taught at the Kamsack junior high school.
Samoluk said he remembers his parents purchasing a copy of the group photo in the late 50s and he believes they passed it on to his late brother, Laurence. Just recently, the photo was discovered in a box in Samoluk’s basement.
The Mandolinata Orchestra practices were held every Monday at the Kamsack United Church. Samoluk said his mandolin teacher, Carl Eggenschwiller, would get frustrated when it was obvious he had not practiced at home during the previous week.
“I was also playing hockey at the time,” said Samoluk. “I remember how Mr. Eggenschwiller would shake his head in disappointment and say in his thick German accent, ‘too much hockey – not enough practice.’”
Now in his seventies, Samoluk still recalls many of the people who played alongside him in the orchestra. Samoluk said the group would often travel to perform in surrounding communities and appeared a number of times on the CKOS TV program Profile with host Hugh Vassos in Yorkton.
“The Kamsack Mandolinata Orchestra was started by Carl Eggenschwiller and his wife, Ida,” recalled Samoluk. “Sometime later, Carl became the Kamsack head librarian – a position he held for many years.”
“Another orchestra member, Kay Horoholyn, ran the photo studio in Kamsack.
Eugene McKay was the last of the milk delivery milkmen in Kamsack. Everyone knew him and his horse ‘Babe’ who pulled the green milk wagon and knew the route by memory. Marilyn was Mr. Ratcliffe’s daughter. Nadia Maksimow and her parents ran a grocery store called ‘Dave’s Economy’. Other members of the group were school students. Mr. Ratcliffe and Gene McKay played larger versions of the mandolin called a mandola. My older brother, Laurence, who was a student at the time, also worked as a Sports Reporter for the Kamsack Times.”
