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Family Stories
This is me playing piano for our local jam session
Mom was the real piano player in the family
At the age of eight, she was accompanying her father,
who played fiddle for local dances in Midland, Ontario
Mom or Dad could never say for sure who this baby is...
either Jim or myself
I think the baby has my eyes & Jim's hairline
but it's pretty cute....so must be Jim
Dad told me that when he was about seven or eight years old
their house burned down
The family was scattered out to different friends & relatatives
until his Dad could find them a new place to live
Dad was sent to stay with Aunt Vivian Spur (Olive's sister) & Uncle Bill
they had two little boys that died when they were young
Dad had to sleep on the kitchen floor that night
and the next day, he left there and went to Uncle Cliff Allen & Aunt Teens place.
They had three boys....Gerald , that died at twelve....
Murray....who died from a car accident...
(Dad said that he was working nights at Beatty Bros. stove foundry
Murray and a friend came in about 10:00 P.M.
to say goodbye because they were being shipped over seas.
About midnight Dad got the message that Murray & his friend were hitch hiking back to the base
and were on the curve near Wyebridge, Ontario
A car pulled over to give them a ride. They ran across the road to get the ride
A car came around the corner & hit & killed both of them.
Dad said that there was a very large funeral for the two boys
He remembers soldiers, shoulder to shoulder
around the entire graveyard
This is the newspaper report of the accident and trial
Gordon was the other brother
He worked for the post office all of his life until he retired.
Dad stayed with Cliff Allen & family until his family was reunited.
When Dad and his father spent a Sunday together....they loved to play horse shoes...I remember this day well...I ran in front of one of those horse shoes as it was on it's way to be a ringer....my first scar
Our Grandfather and his father before him
were the caretakers for this church for many years
This Anglican Church was constructed on the "lines of communication" between the town and the naval base in 1836. Its intention was to serve as a garrison church as well as for the growing civilian population. The unique centre aisle was built wide enough to allow soldiers to march four abreast.
Our Grandmother Olive Ingram and her daughters
Georgina and Marion (Peg)were all nurses
Aunt Georgina's daughter Gaye (our Cousin) graduated at age 37
from the Mack school of nursing in St. Catherines in 1981
after raising her four children.
Gaye worked in hospital for awhile, then worked with the V.O.N.(Victoria Order of Nurses) for 15 yrs. before her retirement
Our Grandfather worked for the Tannery in town
For a time the family lived in Hastings, Ontario
where he worked for the tannery there....
when the tanneries closed down...
He went to work for the Ontario hospital as the head gardener
He worked there until his retirement
Our mother worked there as the head of the laundry
Aunt Georgina was a stewardess on T.C.A. (Trans Canada Airlines)
Aunt Georgina said "It was a very happy time in my life
and I had many memorable experiences during my short stay,
(photo taken 1940)
two of which are...I worked the inaugural trip to Halifax in Feb.1941
and the inaugural trip to New York May 10, 1941
If you got married you had to leave".
Aunt Georgina graduated from Ontario Hospital, New Toronto
Trained at the East General Hospital
and received her R.N. in 1936 at age 21
