A practical joke to enjoy

What follows is an excerpt from my autobiography

When the town of Wells in British Columbia decided to hold its fiftieth anniversary in 1984, seven hundred former Wellsians from around the world returned to that small town for the celebration that many had earlier referred to as the place on earth that was closest to heaven.

My mother, Ruth Batchelor, and my brother Dale returned to Wells for the Anniversary along with Althea Fullerton (my aunt) who was the wife of Harold Fullerton. He was the school principal in Wells during the war years. Althea’s daughter, Sharon, the older of her two children also came. I brought my wife, Ayako and our two daughters and Dale brought his wife, Ruth.

You will note that my mother’s name and my brother’s wife’ name are the same; Ruth Batchelor. And this is where the fun began.

The Anniversary was a three-day celebration and on the last day of the celebration, we all gathered at the Wells Community Hall to meet one another. Now as you can appreciate, many years had gone by since many of us that were living in Wells during the war years had obviously grown older.

My mother was 33 years of age when we moved from Wells and when she returned in 1984, she was 39 years older. Anyone who knew her in Wells between 1941 and 1945 would hardly recognize her in 1984, especially since she was by then, 72 years old. That of course went for all of us. For example, I was eleven years of age when I left Wells and was 51 years of age when I returned for the visit in 1984.

Now comes the fun part. The only way we might remember who was who in Wells during the war years was by our name tags since there was a good chance that we would remember the names of our friends.

Ruth Batchelor, my brother’s wife entered the hall approximately fifteen minutes before my mother did. As the women who remembered my mother began searching for the names of women they knew, they spotted my sister-in-law’s name tag. You can’t imagine the shock that showed on their faces when they looked at a woman who was only 48 years of age instead of a woman that would be 72 years of age in 1984.

One of the women took a close look at my sister-in-law and exclaimed, “My God, Ruth! You have hardly aged at all.” Then she turned to a crowd of other women close by and said, “Come here, everybody. Ruth Batchelor is here and you aren’t going to believe what you are going to see.”

About ten women approached my sister-in-law and they too expressed surprise and shock. One of the women asked, “How is it that you have managed to remain so young looking for so many years?”

Now my sister-in-law was no slouch when it came to having some fun at someone else’s expense, so she smiled and replied, “Oh. It’s living in Hawaii that did it. Everyone in Hawaii ages very slowly. It’s something to do with the water.”

I honestly believe that many of the women surrounding my sister-in-law believed her. After all, she was the living proof of that statement.

Unfortunately, their belief came crashing to the floor, shattered into little pieces when my mother arrived at that very moment and cried out, “Hi, everybody. I’m Ruth Batchelor!”

Almost every face was turned towards her as she and my aunt and my cousin entered the front door of the hall. One of the women next to my sister-in-law relied, “That’s not possible. Here is Ruth Batchelor.”

As my mother approached them and they saw her name tag with her name on it, I saw what had been happy faces earlier, turn rather gloomy. Now they suddenly realized that going to Hawaii would not make them appear younger. Some of their faces had dropped even more when my mother said with a big smile, “Oh, I see that you have already met my daughter-in-law.

Perhaps there is some truth in my sister-in-law’s statement about going to Hawaii so that one could age slower. My mother lived in Hawaii for 40 years and she really did look younger than she really was.

Alas, my father, Louis and my uncle, Harold were not able to come to Wells for the fiftieth anniversary as they had died years earlier and years later after 1984, my mother, my aunt and my sister-in-law also passed away.

Everyone has cherished moments in their lives and that moment when the two Ruth Batchelors entered the hall minutes apart was one I shall remember with great glee, for I too enjoy a good practical joke.