The late Samuel and Fanny Simkin (née Breslovsky) were driven by hard work, a commitment to Yiddishkeit and Jewish education, and an unwavering belief in the importance of family. It is these values that served as a vital foundation for what was to become a dynamic, successful, and passionate family.

Samuel was born in 1883; Fanny was born in 1880. They were brought over from Russia in 1908 by Samuel's brother Feivel Simkin, who in fact brought over all of his siblings and his parents. The story goes that Feivel was an anarchist in Russia and was once arrested for handing out revolutionary literature. When arrested and accused, he insisted that it wasn't revolutionary literature, but toilet paper for the poor. The officers were so impressed by his answer, they freed him. Feivel was then conscripted into the Czar's army, but came to Canada in search of a freer life before he served in the army. Samuel and Fanny came to Manitoba with their infant daughter, Esther Malka. Samuel started working as a foreman at a large meat-packing plant employing over 700 workers, but contracted asthma and was advised to move out of the city. They moved to Pine Ridge to join a budding Jewish farming community. The site of the former Simkin homestead is now part of Birds Hill Park.

Sadly, their young daughter died at the age of two. Six other children came into Samuel and Fanny's lives: Jen (married to Sam Cohen); Clara (married to Joe Erlichman); Jim (married to Lil Isenstein); Saul (married to Claribel Katz); Israel, better known as "Blackie" (married to Jean Ackerman and then later in life to Myna Schwartz); and Abe (married to Fan Rosenberg). Of the children and their spouses, only Abe is still alive at the time of writing; vibrant at the age of 90.

Samuel and Fanny arrived with virtually no money, and settled on unproductive land in Pine Ridge provided to them by the Jewish Colonization Society. By hand and by a rickety horse-drawn plough, Samuel cleared the marginal land of rocks and wild bushes. He grew grain and potatoes and raised cows and chickens. All eight Simkins — parents and children — lived in a simple two-bedroom farmhouse and managed to make a living, albeit a modest one.

Life for the Simkins and the small Jewish community at Pine Ridge was about much more than sweat, soil, and cultivating potatoes. For Samuel and Fanny, the important thing to cultivate was values and the education of their children. Together with other families, the Simkins brought a teacher to the farming village to make sure that all of the Jewish children could learn Torah, Hebrew, and Jewish culture; they even built a small synagogue. Samuel and Fanny also built a second small house on their property to help other immigrants to settle in Canada through a farm employment program. Their spirit of community and kinship was further illustrated as they built relationships with neighbouring Ukrainian and Polish farmers, all working together to help bring in all of the crops at harvest-time.

As they were growing up, Abe recalls, his parents instilled within the family a steadfast commitment to sharing, integrity, philanthropy, and having a good name.

After about 15 years of farming, the Simkins moved to 456 Stella Avenue in 1928. With Fanny's undying support, Samuel started Simkin's Fuel, first selling cordwood and later adding coal, coke, and fuel oil. At first, the business was operated out of the house. Samuel gained success by building a reputation for honest, accurate measurement and exceptional customer service. Samuel often extended credit to those customers who were short of money; the Simkin sons would take care of collections and other duties. The business prospered, not surprisingly, through hard work and integrity.

Samuel aged and his asthma worsened, so the children took on more active roles in the business. Soon, Samuel and Fanny would work less and spend more time in Phoenix. Saul became more active in the fuel business and later Saul and his brothers grew the business into an integrated and diversified enterprise including building materials and concrete products; heavy construction (airfield runways, hydro-electric plants, mines, the Alaska Highway, and tar sand development); pre-cast concrete manufacturing; and land and housing development.

Samuel and Fanny were engaged in Jewish life in Winnipeg and in Phoenix, philanthropic, and active at the Lubavitcher Shul. Samuel passed away in 1954; Fanny passed away in 1976.

Abe credits the success and happiness he and his siblings enjoyed in life to his parents' work ethic and values of love, devotion, integrity, and compassion within the family.

In the summer of 2012, all 18 of Samuel and Fanny's grandchildren and their spouses gathered for a family reunion in Winnipeg. Although separated by geography, they remain bound by kinship and a deep connection to the Simkin legacy in Manitoba. They celebrated their family and celebrated their roots, and paid homage to their Bobie and Zaidie with a visit to the tract of land in Birds Hill Park where Samuel and Fanny Simkin established themselves in Manitoba.

Samuel and Fanny would be proud of their 18 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, now numbering more than 40. The family has come far from Pine Ridge, but still holds dear to the values and principles that were cultivated there by Samuel and Fanny.

2012