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Jerry Raboch was born in Lom U Mustu, a mining community in Czechslovakia on April 21, 1901. He went to school for five years in Czechslovakia and before school every day he would have to take 4 or 5 geese and goats to the pasture. After school he would have to bring them back off the pasture and then do his homework before he had time to do the things that he liked. Jerry liked soccer, gymnastics, and most of all, the violin. He began playing the violin when he was eight years old.

Jerry had three brothers and sisters who stayed in Czechslovakia with Jerry`s parents when, in 1913, Jerry emigrated to Frank, Alberta to join his uncle and aunt Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Stamberg Sr. Jerry's aunt and Marie, Anne 's mother, were best of friends. The Stambergs and the Vysohlid`s went down to the train station to meet Jerry. Jerry was a young twelve-year-old boy sitting on an old trunk and four-year-old Anne saw Jerry and started laughing. Her mother scolded her when they got home and when Anne was asked why she had laughed at Jerry she replied, "Well you would laugh too. He was wearing the silliest looking cap I ever saw."

In 1914, Jerry moved to the Enderby area, and was living at Peavine Hill in a log house his uncle built. He attended Ashton Creek School (a small log school near Cooke Road holding about ten students), and experienced difficulties because he didn't speak any English, so he went to school for only one or two years. Within a year after quitting, school Jerry could read, write, and speak English.

After he left school, he began working on a farm at North Enderby for $12.00 a month. When Jerry was fifteen, he worked for another farmer for $15.00 a month and another farmer for $1.25 a day. When Jerry was sixteen, he started driving a team of horses in the Enderby area; then he worked at Chase, where he was swamping for the horses for $3.00 a day plus board. This job involved clearing trails for the horses to skid logs. This lasted for several years and he worked in Enderby and Vernon; he also cut cedar poles at Sugar Lake.

In 1920, he worked on a CPR boat that carried cargo (mostly fruit) between the Okanagan Landing and Penticton areas (at this time there were no trains there). At that time the boats were run by steam and the men had to load the coal. Jerry also worked at a cannery in Penticton at that time.

In 1921, he went to California and worked at various jobs. The longest lasting job lasted two years. This job was as a steam gauger for the Edison Project near Fresno. Jerry enjoyed this job very much because he was paid well, there was lots of spare time, and Jerry was working in the heart of nature. After measuring the flow and depth of the water, he had plenty of time to fish and to play his violin. "It was more like a holiday than work," Jerry said. He caught a lot of Rainbow Trout in the mountains, but more important, he got plenty of practice on the violin. His uncle Jerry Stamberg continued Jerry's teaching on the violin when Jerry first came to Canada, and with all the practice Jerry got, his talent with the violin was increasing. He spent three years down in the States, and in between jobs, Jerry played his violin in amateur talent shows. He won many prizes, and once a band leader came up to Jerry after a show to congratulate him on his violin skills. The leader left his address and asked Jerry to call him, but Jerry didn't see this as a significant event in his life.

Jerry returned to Canada and went back to work in the bush. By 1926, he had his own timber limits, and started selling poles to Carney Pole Co. (He worked in the Trinity Creek area near the river). He visited the Vysohlid family quite regularly. Jerry came to visit every night, so that he could borrow the lantern to walk home. He would then bring it back every day. In 1926, Jerry and Anne were married. Jerry took her up to Jerry's logging camp for their honeymoon. Anne had to cook for 12 men for a week which was quite an experience for her because she was so shy. A Chinaman then became cook. The camp was up in Hidden Lake. The timber was cut down then slooped down the river to be shipped to the mill.

In 1931, Jerry and Anne settled onto the property between the Lumby Road and the Hidden Lake Road. Jerry continued to work logging and in the forestry industry until, in 1940, he joined the army to fight in WWII. He went overseas to Britain in March 1941, and was there until October, 1943, receiving his army discharge on January 28, 1944.

In 1944, he bought a portable sawmill, set it up in the yard intending to sell it, but his son Gerald, who had just finished high school, suggested fixing it up. They got the mill running and it operated in the yard for many years. Anne was kept busy as the fist aid helper while the men worked on the mill.

Jerry continued as a timber cruiser while his son Gerald took over the sawmill in the yard. He then bought out Kingfisher Sawmill and began operating it on his own as Riverside Sawmills.

In 1958, Jerry entered in the North Okanagan Orchestra in Salmon Arm. The next year, he joined the North Okanagan Symphony Orchestra (N.O.S.O., under the direction of Conductor William Birtch) in Penticton where he played first violin.

In 1960, Jerry semi-retired because of a previous injury that was causing his legs to give out on him. He still cut poles to pass the time away. He had plenty of time to play in the N.O.S.O. now that he had semi-retired.

He was in the N.O.S.O. for seven years. He had to drive to Penticton for rehearsals twice a month which he did willingly through all sorts of weather. In the first few years he also played for community dances and concerts. Anne would come along and help serve the food.In 1966, Jerry went back to Czechslovakia and visited his three brothers and four sisters whom he hadn't seen in over fifty years. In the fall of 1966, his brother Josef came to Canada for a visit and in 1967 another brother (and his wife) also came to Canada for a visit.

Jerry and Anne have three sons: Gerald, Henry, and Alvin. Gerald, the oldest, went to the Trinity Creek and Enderby schools, and had to bike ten miles to Enderby or stay with Harold Bawtree in the winter, and go to school with Alfred, Harold's son. Gerald also attended night school in Vernon for four years, taking different courses every year. He then married Phyllis Steele.

Henry married Rosella Siemens whom he later divorced and married Francis Crevenchuck. He was employed in his father's mill and had three daughters: Gloria, Cheryl, and Rosalie. Henry died of cancer on January, 1989.

Alvin, the youngest, was principal of Mara School, and is currently self-employed (1990). He took his teacher training in Victoria, and Vancouver, one year at each University. He was married to Rosella's sister, Elsie Siemens whom he later divorced and then married Peggy Davies. He and Elsie had three daughters: Loreli, Cindy, and Shelley.

Jerry Raboch died in April of 1989, eight days away from his birthday. Anne can still remember all the fun the entire family had together. Anne recalls an incident when all three sons were still boys and living at home. Henry was one of his brothers standing on the porch with his stomach vulnerable. Henry ran up and punched his brother in the gut. When Henry was asked by his mother why he did what he did, Henry said, "I'll never get another chance like that again!"

Anne Raboch is spending her remaining years at Parkview Place in Enderby, and she gave her home to her oldest grand-daughter, Gloria Davyduke. To this day, Gloria and her three sons: Clarke, Curtis, and Corey still can find old tools which show the family's history.

Mellissa Woloshyn, Ron Wiebe, Corey Davyduke
ALF School 1989