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Fifty years to the day after opening his shoe repair business on Grandview’s Main Street, William Huska was at work as usual on October 15th, at the same location where he and his wife Helen have carried on their business and raised their family of three children. The Huskas were oper ating a shop in Kelvington, Sask. in 1937 when they heard that property on Grandview’s Main Street, which at the time was a laundromat owned by Lee Hi, was to be sold for taxes. Wanting to move back to Grandview, William’s wife Helen was dispatched to come and buy the property. She did, and the couple moved back here to open for business on October 15, 1937. Milliam learned the trade from John Wakaluk, a harness maker and a shoe maker who operated a business in Grandview. “I used to go and watch him work after school each day,” Milliam said. Born at Drifting River and orphaned at age two, he was living at that time in Grandview with an aunt who had a large family of her own. Wakaluk offered to teach Milliam his craft and provide him with his meals and a place to live in return for his help in the shop. So at the tender age of 13, Milliam turned in his schoolbooks to begin work as an apprentice and moved in with the Wakaluk family that same day. At the time Milliam and Helen Huska established their shop here, they were the fifth harness and shoe repair business in town. “This was horse country then,” Helen recalled, and much of their business was in making and repairing horse harnesses and collars. Repairing canvasses for binders, and later for swathers, also constituted a large part of their work and they often fixed 300 can vasses over the course of a harvest season. Helen tells how she got actively involved in the shop. Their elder son, Walter, who was away from home working for CN, came home one weekend and told their younger son, Marshall, who had been helping his father, what a good time he was having. Of course Marshall wanted to go with his brother and Helen thought he should have the opportunity. So she persuaded Milliam to let him with with the promise that she would help him in the shop if needed. That was 35 years ago, and although she doesn’t spend much time there any more, she worked alongside Milliam for many years. There have been many changes in the business over the years. A heart attack in 1979 forced Milliam to cut down on his workload and he no longer repairs heavy canvasses. But, he has continued to take on new projects,such as making mitts and moccasins out of moose hide. It’s the best, he says, because it’s flexible and not oily. He’s also kept busy hemming blue jeans and installing new zippers in purses and snowmobile suits as well as fixing shoes and boots. When it comes to fixing shoes, Milliam still thinks the old-fashioned methods are best. “They don’t nail any more, it’s all cement work, and you have to know what cement to use on each material.’ Vinyl shoes were a problem until the right cement was found to do the job, he said. Proudly, he says this year he’s fixed shoes from as far away as Salmon Arm and Prince George, B.C. and a former Grandview family recently sent him some work from Churchill. Obviously content, at age 75 Milliam has no plans to retire. “I like the work, I like dealing with people, and enjoy serving the public,” he exclaims. Helen adds, “And people have been very good to us.” Story and Photos by Connie Chaloner Milliam displays gift from his son, a ceramic shoemaker vie me Milliam repairs zipper on bag, above Helen watches as he explains mocassin construction
Newspaper Details
Grandview Exponent
Grandview, Manitoba, CA
Wed, Oct 21, 1987
Page 3
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CA 04 Jul 2026
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