Gastineau Channel Memories

Cantillon, George ?Bud?

from an interview with Betty and Bud Cantillon

My father?s parents left France and went to Ireland and then came to Canada. Both of my grandfathers worked for the railroad. My other grandparents were from Hamburg, Germany, and came to St. Louis where my father?s parents had moved. My parents met there and were married. I went through school in St. Louis and after graduation joined the National Guard. We were called into active service in 1940, and went through the Louisiana maneuvers. When our division was broken up, my company was sent to Alaska to the Duck Creek Camp which was an old CCC camp. That is where I met Betty, at a picnic. We were married in the fall of 1943, when I got the word that we were going to be shipped to Nome. Our apartment there was right on the beach and had one of the few wells in town, even though the water was fit for only flushing the toilet. Betty came back to Juneau the next spring and I was shipped to Seattle. Eight of us, including Erv Hagerup, wanted to come back to Juneau, but we had to do it by way of Hattisburg, Mississippi. I was here for David?s birth, and then my father-in-law and I went to Young Lake, fishing. I finished my military service in various places down south and came back up here. We then went back to Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, where I was taught watch repair and jewelry for about a year. Then we came back to Juneau and I went to work for Betty?s dad in the store. In addition to our son David, we have a younger son Steve and a number of grandchildren.

We have lived in our house at Auke Bay for 40 years now. As a veteran, I helped to start the first American Legion Post and was its first commander. I was involved with the fire department and the public utilities board. I played a lot of baseball with Erv Hagerup, Red Holloway, Joe Snow and all those guys. We couldn?t get television out in Auke Bay, so we did a lot of things like folk and square dancing in the Hagerup?s basement. One remarkable thing I did was to win the Salmon Derby in 1960, with a 42 pound 10 ounce fish. We have seen a lot of changes around Juneau and Douglas. One thing in particular was when we were granted statehood. There was a lot of activity and celebration.

There were only two phones in this area, one at what is now Fisherman?s Bend and one at DeHart?s. Rod Nordling got a lot of old wall phones from the A.J. Mine. We bought a lot of wire and strung a line from his house to Neil Taylor?s at Fisherman?s Bend and to other houses. When you wanted to make a call, you had a code to call each other, and if you wanted to call into town, you had to call Neil and he hooked you into the line to town.