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About Us
This site will eventually attempt to link Peddes everywhere, worldwide,
in one easy-to-find cyber-meeting-hall. Please roam around the
site to see how I propose to do that, hopefully with the help of other
Peddes as they become aware of this project. But first, allow me
to introduce myself.
S.J. Pedde
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My name
is Siegfried Julius Pedde. My friends call me 'Sieg.' I live near
London, Ontario, Canada. Growing up, I always thought that besides our
family and our direct relatives, there were no other Peddes in this
world of ours. It is only with the advent of the internet and email
that I have come to realize that there are indeed many Peddes
worldwide. Canada, Germany, the United States, Italy and Brazil and
(perhaps even elsewhere) is where you'll find us. Join with me to
create a resource for all Peddes to share. There is no charge to become
part of our database or to list your email and other contact
information.
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Over the coming
months and years, Pedde.net will grow in direct proportion to the
amount of interest and co-operation I get from other Peddes around the
world.
If you are a Pedde who wishes to be listed in our database or if
you have a website which you would like linked from this site, please
contact us by clicking the appropriate link at the bottom of this page.
If you are
curious about whether you have any connection, however remote, to our
family tree, try typing your surname into the search field below.
If you want to see if there is anything else of interest to you
specifically (politics, philosophy,
religion, etc.,) type in your search subject and a list of all pages on
the
site that contain that topic will be listed for you. Here is the
search
field:
My History
I was born in
Germany in July of 1945. In May of 1949, my parents left for Canada on
the Cunard liner S.
S. Scythia. As any almost-four-year-old child might be expected to
do, I decided it prudent to accompany them on this great new adventure.
There has never
been a dull moment since.
We landed in
Montreal and immediately boarded a train for Edmonton, Alberta. We
ended up living a while near Freedom, Alberta, an interesting
coincidence given my proclivity for individual liberty and minimal
government. My brother, Alfred was
born in Barrhead where we
lived through the winter of 1949 in a converted chicken coop. My
parents cleaned out the chicken poop, installed a wood stove and we all
spent a very cold Alberta winter in that tiny abode. One of a very few
things I remember from this period was playing on the floor and seeing
ice on the bare, un-insulated
walls. The ice started fairly thick at floor level and tapered off
higher
up with the warmer air. My father, Julius, couldn't find employment
with
any real promise of providing for his family, so he left for Ontario
early
in 1950 and the rest of us followed soon after. We settled in Port Colborne.
In 1960 or so, the Maple Leaf Milling Company where my father worked
burnt to the ground. The rebuilt mill was smaller and there was no job
for Dad. We moved to St.
Catharines where he became a janitor for two banks. My mother,
brother and I helped out.
In 1962 at age 17, I started my first business. It was a teen-age
night-club. Drinking age was 21 in Ontario at that time and older teens
had no place to go. I thought that a place devoted to teen-agers was a
good idea, so Club Unicorn was born. No alcohol. Girls had to wear
dresses
or skirts and boys had to wear suits or sport coats. That all seems
unbelievably quaint now, but Club Unicorn became an instant success.
Parents dropped their kids off at a place where they knew they would be
safe. Kids loved the place because they were treated like adults. A
uniformed doorman kept out the occasional rowdy and we all had lots of
fun. We provided live
entertainment including whatever band I was playing in at the time.
Initially, I had a partner in Club Unicorn. That proved to be a
mistake. I gave him the boot after several months when he proved
himself dishonest. Many years later, I read in the St. Catharines
Standard that he and his wife had been arrested for defrauding their
respective employers. Go figure.
After a while I
tired of it all and, feeling the need to spread my wings, left home in
search of my fortune. I lived in Stratford, Mitchell, Sebringville,
Hamilton, Burlington, Toronto, (all in Ontario,) and in Edmonton,
Alberta. I worked in retail stores learning about business and wandered
around Canada, returning to
school occasionally when I felt that I needed a change. Because of my
many
absences, I didn't finish high school until 1967 at age 21. In
September of 1967 I married Margaret June Sadler and set off to London,
Ontario to go to the University of
Western Ontario. My intent was to get a PhD in Philosophy and
English, become a university professor and write.
Reality intruded and mocked my intentions. Having experienced the world
of business I found university quite... how can I say this... well, if
you insist, boring. In the summer after my first year at Western I
started Helix Courier and
by January of my second year at university I had had enough of school
and dropped out. I have never regretted that decision. My brother Alfred joined me at Helix in
1968 and we were partners until 1985 when I bought out his interest. He
had
had enough of the wild ride and settled down to raise a family with his
wife Joyce. They have four children: Jasmine, Amber, Jordan and
Jessiah.
In 1976, Margaret and I split up and divorced sometime later. Margaret
was (and still is) a great gal and now lives back in St.
Catharines. She married again and has two grown children. In
1983, I met and married Chrystyna
Dzwinka Domazar. We are the proud parents of Zachary Alexander who was
born in 1992.
Over the years I have had numerous businesses, some successful,
others not. My mind flits about constantly and I love the chase but
tire
of the humdrum. It has been a wild ride but I am still here,
still
starting new businesses and interesting projects. I have come to
realize that I will likely never retire. What would I do with myself at
home?
Want to know what I do with my time? Try these links:
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