Hertha Dechief grew up with a working family. Her parents owned a general store and she watched, along with her sisters and brother, as they worked hard every day of their life.
"Hard work too, we never noticed it, at the time we were too young really," Hertha explained. "We weren't young, but we were too young to realize it was really a lot because to us it didn't mean anything... and it doesn't really to kids, it doesn't. You can be older and it still doesn't hit you very good."
"We just thought, 'Why do they have to do all this? They don't have to.' Well of course they had to, where does the money come from. Stuff that when you're young you don't grab hold of then after awhile you know it. It's right there looking at you."
When she was younger this meant she watched as other children would go on trips with family members. She would blame this on having numerous siblings and that missing out on the "good things" was sad; but, eventually she came to realize that her family led a good life. One built on hard work.
"[Having many siblings] was okay, there were times that I thought it was awful and I don't want to live here, I want to go out, I know so and so and she doesn't go like I have to... she was on her own and she went where she wanted and did what she wanted and went to different places with her parents, all over," Hertha said. "We could never go because we were too busy and didn't have the money because there were too many of us, so we didn't do all that "good stuff" as we used to call it. Once we got older though we thought this is good too you know."
From this, however, came one of Hertha's life lessons: "Money isn't everything."
"Money isn't everything," Hertha smiled as she further explained, "Somebody said 'Well then why don't you give it to me.' Well, no that's not what I was getting at, you need money, but there's more to life."
Being able to make a life for your family and spend time with each other is most important, which for her meant helping in the store when she was younger. They worked together and made enough for a good life as a family.
As a young girl, Hertha also remembers going to school. She and her siblings all attended. It was a short walk since they lived in town. Though she didn't have a favourite subject she explained she could do it all, although her brother was particularly good at all subjects.
When asked about her life, Hertha went on to explain that something which has stuck with her all of her life is her hairstyle, a perm.
Throughout her years, Hertha has also had the pleasure of watching her daughters grow.
"The girls were really fine," she said. "They could be little devils, you had your hands full. But they all went to school and all got done. And I love them."
Her daughters came from two different husbands. Her first and second husbands both passing away, but she smiled remembering them
"We had a good life though," she said. "A really, really good life."
"I had two of them and it's better than having none. And when you have them you have them, and someone said, 'Hertha, no you don't,' but you do..."
This was her other main lesson in life, that when you happen upon the right person/s in life something will just click and it will hit you that you've found the right person.
In Hertha's words, "All of a sudden it will hit you, 'Oh my gosh.'"
