Elizabeth Sawatzky's story chronicles family life on a seismic crew in southern Saskatchewan during the birth of the western Canadian oil industry. Although there is some historical documentation of the western Canadian oil industry, no other book explores the home life of the nomadic crews and their families. The publication of Doodlebugging in Saskatchewan: A Wife Remembers 1950 - 1954 commemorates the 50th anniversary of the first seismic exploration of southern Saskatchewan from a unique perspective.

Born of Mennonite heritage in 1924, Elizabeth Reimer Sawatzky immigrated to Canada from Ukraine with her parents in 1927 and spent her childhood years on a farm in Glidden, Saskatchewan. Growing up in a remote community led her to discover the magic of a stamp at an early age and she developed her story-telling talents through letter-writing. Elizabeth attained her nursing degree from Saskatoon City Hospital and married Henry Sawatzky in 1948. Elizabeth's interests include travelling, needlecraft, golfing, spending time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and writing both poetry and short stories. Doodlebugging in Saskatchewan: A Wife Remembers 1950 - 1954 chronicles the years of wash lines and seismic lines spent with her husband and small children as members of Seismic Party #60 during the infancy of the oil industry in Western Canada.Elizabeth won the Alberta Seniors Award for Accomplishment in Writing in 1999.

Elizabeth Sawatzky's profile page