Person:Radu Tonita (2)

Radu Tonita was born in Coza Voda, Romania, and came to Canada in 1907 with his parents and their friends. Radu settled with the rest of his family in the original settlement along the Twelve Mile Lake, living in tents and sod houses.

The first year in Canada he worked on the construction of the Parliament buildings in Regina. While working there he and his fellow Romanians heard that there were some single Romanian girls coming in on the train, so they all got together and went down to greet the newcomers. It was there he met his future wife, Safta Lipon. They became acquainted and on July 1, 1911, they were married at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Regina, Saskatchewan. Radu brought his bride home in a wagon pulled by oxen.

Along with his brothers, they all built shelters to live in along Twelve Mile Lake. Radu had a sod barn with one room attached to it for their living quarters. He worked together with his family breaking the land and a year later built a three room sod brick home on his own quarter of land. The bricks were made of clay, chaff and straw poured into forms and left to dry in the sun. Then laying them in the same method as bricklaying is done today, they made their home. The family worked together and were proud of all they accomplished.

During the early years of settlement the RCMP of Wood Mountain checked on the people, first at the settlement and then later on in their homes. As Radu's place was situated on a trail they took from Wood Mountain to Assiniboia (in the winter time), they often stopped overnight at his place. Many an evening was spent with a drink or two between Radu and the policeman. Johnson, one of the RCMP had a belt that son John took a liking to. As his dad had given him a colt of his own he figured the belt would make a good halter for his horse, so he said so to his Dad. Johnson wanted to know what young John had said, so Radu told him and John got the belt and later his halter.

Whenever people got together on an evening or afternoon and Radu got to feeling good with the help of a "little brew", he would call Safta to sit beside him and they would start to sing. Thus they entertained themselves in those early days at gatherings, along with dancing.

The first two horses they bought were two mares, so they could breed and increase their stock. Each mare cost seven hundred dollars. He farmed the land using both oxen and horses, at one time using one ox and three horses on an eight foot discer.

One day Safta heated milk and set the pot on the floor from the stove. Constance, a toddler of eighteen months fell into the milk, and died as a result of the burns.

In 1923, after the birth of his seventh child, Radu hired a construction crew to build a grand two story lumber home for his family. The home boasted a large kitchen/dining area, a living room, two bedrooms on the main floor and two on the second floor. He was a hard worker and loved spending time with his only son John, giving him his very first horse at the young age of eight. He was very much a family man and enjoyed get togethers with his children and his brothers and sisters and their families. It was at these get togethers that he would often ask his wife, Safta, to sing for everyone. He loved listening to her beautiful voice in song.

In the spring of 1925, not too many months after moving into their nice new home, Radu brought a friend home and during a friendly wrestling match, Radu suffered fatal internal injuries. He died, leaving Safta, a widow with six children, the youngest being about one and a half years old, and the oldest not yet fourteen years. In 1927 Safta married Nick Lucan and they had two more children, one who died in infancy and daughter Sophie. The family grew up on the farm and attended Lakenheath school. Most of the children left school at an early age as they either had to help out at home or went out to work and used the money to keep their family together.