Cooks in the kitchen of the Auxiliary Hospital at the Yorkton Airport. On the left, Martha Mehling (née Robertus) and assistant, Mabel Levans. Martha was interviewed in year 2000 at Queen Elizabeth Court, Yorkton, Sask. Martha talked of her experience working for 8 years, starting in 1947, as head cook and baker at the Auxiliary Hospital. This building had been the Royal Canadian Air Force base hospital of the Flight School (1941-45) of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan during WW ll. In 1947, a year after the base closed, the Yorkton General Hospital used the premises as an Auxiliary Hospital. Martha was supervisor of three women kitchen helpers. For a few years, her younger sisters, Hilda, and Esther also came to work as assistant cooks. Every morning, before the cooks arrived one man was in charge of firing up the large kitchen stove. Heated with wood, it had two large ovens which made it wonderfully easy to bake several pies and cakes at one time. Martha’s hours were from 7:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M., six days a week. She enjoyed cooking regular fare such as pork chops, stews and roasts, etc. There were also patients on special diets to plan meals for. Nearby, a hangar which had been converted into suites was her home during the work week, and on her days off she would spend time in Rhein with her children from her first marriage, Ron, Joy and Sylvia Poppenheim. Martha and Jack Mehling operated a farm in the Rhein district.
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