OUT OF THIN AIR

The Prince Edward Island Light Horse—PEI’s militia. In those days the signaller’s commanding officer was my grandfather, Lt. WK. Rogers, or “WK.” as he was known around the island.

Grandfather was a self-reliant individualist. During the early days of Canadian railroading he was a telegrapher with the Canadian Pacific and the Great Northern Pacific Railroads. He and Grandma married when he was just eighteen and she just over seventeen. He had to leave for the midwest right after the wedding. Of course her parents were adamant about her not going, but Grandfather had a way with him, and he was able to persuade her father to let her go.

Their first homes were in railroad shacks on the frontiers of Manitoba and Idaho. She spent weeks alone in a cabin with only a young Indian girl for company. What a change the alien and empty prairies

were from her home in cosy old Summerside.

W.K. Rogers was interested in cars and foxes. They called him “Good Roads Rogers” because he organized his friends to work on the Island’s red clay roads.