My Mother - Margaret Scott Ward was born Maggie Scott December 29, 1879 on her fathers farm in Scotland. Her father, my grandfather, James Scott was a successful farmer. His first farm was called The Sheills located not far from the town of Larbert. My grandmother was Agnes Bell born 1852. They married in 1877 and subsequently had a very large family. There were three boys James who died in infancy, Jimmie and Johnnie and eight girls four of whom died in infancy. The name of the first girl, A-Res who died in infancy was given to the next girl born who also died in infancy. The oldest child, Bella, was slightly retarded and after her parents died she lived out the rest of her life with one of her married sisters. She never married. My mother, Maggie, was the second oldest child. Tina, a younger child , never married. Johnnie and Jimmie, Maggie Lizzie and Minnie all married and had families.
Latterly my grandfather moved to another farm called. Touchill, (the ch is pronounced by forcing a breath of air through a. closed throat), was located outside the village of East Plean a few miles from the City of Stirling.
I know very little about my Mothers early life because Scottish people are very reticent especially about family matters and they do not express their feelings with much hugging and kissing. I do know that she must have had a good education because she became a school teacher at a small two-room country school. When I visited the family at Touchill as an RCAF Officer on leave in 1942 I went on a short bicycle tour with my cousin, Ella Scott, a very pretty teenager, and she showed me the old schoolhouse at a fork in the road which was then being used as a County Library. My Mother must also have studied music because when I knew her she was quite an accomplished piano player and she had a supply of vocal music and had a very pleasant singing voice.
It is presumed that the Scott family were members of the Presbyterian Church. I do know that my Mother became involved in the Christian Endeavor Youth Movement, like out Canadia Baptist Young Peoples Union (BYUP). I like to think that this may be where she met my Father. He was also musically inclined. He played the concertina and at one time was part of a dance band. He loved to sing the old Scottish songs walking up and down swinging his concertina from side to side.
Maggie Scott and Archie Ward were married, in 1903 in the Touchill farm home. Almost at once they joined a large group of the Ward family who were emigrating to Canada. My grandfather, James Scott, came down to the docks at Greenock on the Clyde where the travelers were to embark. He said goodbye to his daughter, then turned on his heel and walked away. If he had any gentle feelings they were well disguised. Maggies brother, Jimmie, had left Scotland for Canada a couple of years earlier where he homesteaded in the North West territories - a location which four years later in 1905 became the Province of Saskatchewan.
The Touchill farm was not far from the site of the Battle of Bannockburn where the Scots drove the invading English back to the south. A monument commemorates the occasion. The farm is also quite close to the railroad line of the LMS Railway (London, Midland and Scotish) which runs from London to northern Scotland. Every smmer Queen Victoria traveled from her London home at Buckingham Palace to her other home at Balmoral Castle in northern Scotland in her special railway car along the LMS line. Everyone knew when she was coming so most of the family walked over to the railway line to wave at the Queen as she went by. She waved in return.
The large party of the Ward family had a rough crossing of the Atlantic but eventually landed at Halifax. After a short stay in the Maritimes they went on to Hamilton, Ontario where most of them settled and remained for the rest of their lives. For some reason which I never knew, my Father and Mother settled in the small town of Kenmore fifteen miles south of Ottawa in Eastern Ontario.
In Kenmore my parents, the new immigrants, were befriended by folk named Carkner- a large family, some of whom lived in the town and others on farms in the district. Ther were all members of a small Baptist Church in Kenmore. A number of such Baptist Churches had been established in several small towns of the Ottawa Valley and Eastern Ontario. My Father was a tolerably good carpenter and I presume that he found employment in the town and district. Both my parents became actively involved in church work, particularly with young people.
One Sunday a visiting progessor from McMaster University in Toronto was the preacher at Kenmore. After the service he met my Father and was told of his interest in the church. He asked my Father, Did you ever consider going into the ministry? My Father replied that he had noeducation and would hardly qualify as he went to work in a foundry at age 12. Furthermore he had a wife to support. The professor countered by saying, We have exactly the course for supporting yourself and your wife, I can arrange for you to preach and serve in several student pastorates. Wo with this assurance the young couple went to McMaster University on Bloor Streen in Toronto. Where they lived and how they managed I dont know. My Father did well in his studies with the help of his school-teacher wife. At the end of the two-year certificate course he did so well that he decided to go on for two more years in the degree course which he finished in 1910 with a BA degree. At a somewhat later date he also obtained a BTh degree. He had student pastorates at Belfountain and Stouffville north of Toronto- places that could easily be reached by public transportation. Later on he had a student pastorate in Coaticook in the Eastern Townships of Quebec on the north shore of Lake Champlain.
In 1907 my parents first child was born, a beautiful chubby boy named James. But within two years he died of some childhood disease. I dont know the details or the circumstances. My Mother was devasted. I vaguely recall that my Father once told me that my Mother collapsed in the railway station in Montreal. Ther were on their way to Coaticook. Later that year he came home to the house where they were living. She was standing at an upstairs window looking out over the lake. She was weeping. She had lost her child and she was homesick for Scotland. So it was arranged that when sthe next school year started she would return to Scotland for a visit and while she was away he would live in residence at the University.
Not long after my Mother returned from her visit, my Father graduated from McMaster University and he was invited to become the pastor of First Baptist Church, Brampton. The people of this church really took them into their hearts. My Mother played the organ and took an active part in church activities. And her in 1912 I was born in the church parsonage named Gordon Marshall- my grandmother Wards maiden name. I was the one who took the place of her lost child and all my life as long as she lived I have had a very special place in her affection. Scottish people do not show their feelings openly but they are none the less real because of that. She never said much abut I could feel her love.
In 1913 the family moved to Toronto where my Father became the Associate Minister at Walmer Road Baptist Church with Dr. John McNeil. We lived in a semi-detached three-story frame house at 23 Barton Ave. Here my sister Winnifred Margaret was born in 1914. For this occasion my Mother went to what is called a Lying- In Hospital that handles only obstetrical cases. In this house we stayed until 1919. We lived an idyllic existence surrounded by love and caring. My Mother used to read bedtime stories to me and my sister from Hurlbuts Story of the Bible and she taught us a bedtime prayer and always listened while we said it. When we were older we added the Lords prayer and always listened while we said it. When we were oder we added the Lords Prayer. She always gave us a goodnight kiss.
When Winnie was born she had thick black hair and a dark complexion like her Father. When I was born I had blonde hair and a fair complexion like my Mother- and like James before me. John, the other member of the family, born in 1919, resebled his Father.
In 1919 when I was 5 years old I started in to school- to kindergarten at Palmerston Street School about a block from our home. The kindergarten teacher was Miss Houston. But my Mother had already taught me to read and write., So I got on well.
My sister Winnie and I both experienced the usual childhood diseases - measles, chicken pox, mumps, and in each case our house was quarantined by the local health officer and a large red card was tacked up beside the front door to warn people away to avoid the spread of the disease. This was a great inconvenience to my Mother but she put up with it all very patiently time after time.
In those days it was not uncommon for people of modest means to have a maid to assist with the housework. In this fashion my parents had a maid named Clara Butt. She was not a very young girl but she was a great help to my Mother and looked after the children when both my parents went out to church meetings in the evening. She had her own room on the third floor of the house and she always ate with the family. My Father who was a great tease used to sing this little ditty to her:
Clara, Clara are you going out tonight?Clara, Clara the moon is shining bright. Put your hat and jacket on
Tell your mother you wont be long
And Ill be waiting for you round the corner.
Poor Clara blushed in confusion while giggling. But my Mother, annoyed with my Father, chastised him; saying,, Dearrie, be quiet in her Scottish brrr.
In 1915 my father received an invitation to come to Saskatoon to be the summer supply preacher at First Baptist Church for a month. Since my Uncle Jimmie had his homestead farm a short distance from Saskatoon near the small village of Plunkett along the CPR northernline -and since he had married Emily Powell and had a family of two sons, Jack and Baden, it was decided that the whole family would go west and stay at the farm while Dad would go by train into Saskatoon each Sunday to preach. This turned out to be one of the best holidays we ever had. My Mother having been brought up on a farm was quite at home. My Aunt Emily enjoyed having the company of another woman. My Dad tried to help Uncle Jimmie on the farm but he was not cut out to be a farmer. One day it was decided that my parents would drive a horse and buggy into town a distance of 3 miles to do some shopping and pick up the mail. When my Father tried, to drive the horse Jenny, a faithful old mare he didn't get on, well at all. So my Mother took over the reins and after that everything went smoothly. I guess old Jenny knew who was
in charge.
Mother used to take part in many of the women's activities at Walmer Road. It was a very large church - the largest Baptist Church in Canada at that time. In addition to the huge sanctuary that would seat 1500 people, there was a large Sunday School hall and many smaller rooms. There was a large room equipped with many sewing machines and other sewing equipment for the women where they did all kinds of sewing and needle work for missions and charity. The ladies in this work were organized into a group called the Dorcas Society. When I was small my Mother used to take me along when she went to their meetings or work times. I remember distinctly being in that large room, which was buzzing with activity. She always found something for me to do to keep me busy, or as some say to keep me out of mischief.
In 1919 my Father moved from the house on Barton Ave. to another large house at 11 Kendal Ave., not far from Walmer Road Church. Father bought this house not foreseeing anv move from, Walmer Road in the near future. I had to change schools and now attended Huron Street School, which was many blocks from our home. I walked that distance but there was a bully at the school who kept picking on me and wanted to start a fight. I was terrified and would not go back to school unless my Mother went with me. So she walked back to school with me, much to my relief.
In 1916 my Father suffered a serious illness. He had been plagued with stomach trouble most of his life. He was taken to the hospital for an abdominal operation. The doctors opened him up but decided not to do anything and sewed him up again. It was not until many years later that the proper operation was performed. While he was in the hospital my Mother dressed Winnie and me in our best clothes and, took us to visit Daddy. He told me later that it just about broke him up - seeing those two innocent children standing there and him helpless to look after them. The church at Walmer Road was very generous about allowing my Father as much time as was needed for convalescence. Through a church member he rented a summer cottage at Greenhurst on Sturgeon Lake near Lindsay, Ontario. For the next four years the family spent two summer months at Greenhurst. The second year my Father bought a cottage in the community and with his skill as a carpenter he made numerous improvements including building a large veranda. My Mother had never learned to swim so she bought a voluminous bathing costume and went down to the beach. She sat in the shallows and flopped around in her bathing suit that covered her to below her knees. My Father tried to teach her to swim but it was no use because she was too frightened to let her feet leave the bottom.
My Father loved to fish. He went off in his, rowboat, a light skiff, usually with a friend and came home with fish for dinner. However my Mother refused to clean these fish so my Dad had to do it himself. Soon he taught me how to clean fish so that became my job for some time.
In 1920 my Father was invited to become the Pastor at First Baptist Church in Saskatoon. The family traveled west by train "but due to the post-war shortage of housing my father was unable to find accommodation in the city right away so we were obliged to live with Uncle Jimmie and Aunt Emily on the farm for three months. During this time I went to a country school in Plunkett with my two cousins. Finally my Father managed to rent a house from a farmer, Mr. Moxness for $20.00 a month. This was a large three-story frame house at 817-7 Ave. in the City Park district of the city and here the family stayed for almost twenty years. My Father had been tricked by circumstances into buying a house in Toronto, which he had to sell after one year, so he wasn't going to be fooled again. The result was that he paid enough rent in 20 years to have bought the house twice over.
My Father was a good preacher and an excellent pastor and pulled this church out of the doldrums into an active vibrant fellowship. His daily schedule was as follows: he was a late riser in the morning and often came down for his breakfast after the children had left for school. He spent the forenoon in his study upstairs reading and sermonizing. Dinner was always at noon with the children home from school. One of the children would be sent to the bottom of the stairway in the hall to call Daddy to come down for dinner. Finally after going to the bathroom he came down and came into the kitchen where preparations were still underway. Then he would come to my Mother, put his arms around her and give her a big tight hug. She would say, Dearrrie, you're hurrrting me" as we children watched. Soon we were back off to school again just half a block away from our home.
In the afternoon my Father first had a brief nap on the couch in his study. Then he dressed and went visiting. He made a point of visiting every member and adherent of the congregation at least once a year. He had to travel to all parts of the city by street-car to reach everyone. In summertime he sometimes used a bicycle to get around. When he came home he had to come through the downtown part of the city so he often stopped off to do some shopping. He was a softy for a bakery window and someimes he went in and bought some pastries to take home. This invariably turned out to be the day my mother had done some fancy baking so she was slightly annoyed with him for not asking first. In the evening my Father attended church meetings. Monday night was Young People's (B.Y.P.U.). Tuesday night was Women's meetings to which he was sometimes invited. Wednesday night was Prayer Meeting to which my Mother also went. Thursday night might be Deacons' meeting or Finance Committee Meeting. Friday being Choir Practice was free as was also Saturday. In the late evenings, after meetings, my Father did more work in his study. He was one of those persons who did his best work late at night. Always my Mother would be with him, sitting in the big leather chair beside his desk, reading denominational papers or other books. Occasionally my Father would refer to her for some expression and often he would read large portions of his sermon to her correction or approval. He relied very heavily on her and she was more than capable of assisting him. He seldom went to bed before midnight. My Mother sometimes went to bed before he was ready. My bedroom on the third floor was directly above theirs and sometimes if I was awake I could hear them talking torether far into the night. It was a very comforting sound. On Sunday at church she would always time his sermons looking at her watch from time to time. At Sunday dinner he always asked her how long he had preached. He made every effort to keep his sermons within 30 minutes. Sometimes he went over much to his own disgust. I never at any time heard my Mother call my Father by his first name unless she was talking to relatives. With anyone else he was always Mr. Ward and with the children of course it was always Daddy. And if she was talking to him directly it was always Dearrrie with the Scottish burrr. Some of his closest friends called him Arch.
In Saskatoon we lived within the shadow of the church and our lives revolved around church activities. At first my Mother joined the choir but she was not comfortable in this capacity and she soon withdrew. For a while she was a Sunday School teacher in the Primary Department. She took an active role in the womens organizations of the church. The Ladies Aid was responsible for all phases of church housekeeping. They were in charge of kitchen facilities and were always responsible for organizing and conducting church dinners. My Mother was also active in the Baptist Women's Missionary Society (B.W.M.S.). This group did not meet in the church but met once a month in member's homes. In addition to a speaker on a missionary topic they also had tea and refreshments. Several women would bring contributions to the home of the hostess. We children were always glad when the Missionary Meeting was held in the Minister's home beause when we came home from school and the ladies had left there was always plenty of cakes and cookies and sandwiches left over for us to have.
My Mother was also quite capable of delivering a lecture or preaching a sermon if called upon to do so.
My Mother also did hospital visitation. The Saskatoon City Hospital was located on Queen Street 3 short blocks from our home on 7th Avenue. This relieved my Father of a lot of extra calling. She seldom visited at St. Pauls Hospital which was at the opposite end of the city. They would sometimes exchange notes in the evening.
My Mother never wore cosmetics of any kind. She had a ruddy complexion so characteristic of Scottish lassies who had lived in the rugged Scottish climate. Her hair was long but not very long and she wore it tied in a small bun at the back of her head secured by several coloured bone hairpins. She dressed conservatively but always in good taste. Periodically my Father made trips to Ontario on Church business. He usually tried to work in a visit to Hamilton to see all the relatives there. He always brought home gifts for every member of the family. On one occasion he brought my Mother a Persian Lamb fur coat trimmed with fox fur. It was gorgeous and my Mother loved it. It kept her warm for many winters. She was a quiet spoken person although on occasion she could be quite loud as when she went to the back door to call the children in for a meal.
In 1928 my parents celebrated their 25th Wedding anniversary. It is a sign of the large place they held in the hearts of the congregation in that they were treated to an elaborate church dinner and presented with a Silver Tea Service.
My Mother was also a good cook. Breakfast was always oatmeal porridge. It was prepared by putting the proper amount of rolled oats in water in the top of a double boiler and allowed to stand over night. In the morning the fire was built in the kitchen stove and the porridge was put on to cook which often took half an hour. This was often my job as I arose first since I had a long way to walk to school and I sometimes had my breakfast and was away before anyone else was up. Occasionally my Mother would hear me, and she would come downstairs in her nightgown and bare feet to help me on my way. On Sunday we had dry cereal for breakfast - shredded wheat and corn flakes were the only kinds then, bran flakes came later. Breakfast also included toast and marmalade or honey. Coffee was unknown but my Mother drank a lot of tea - very strong tea. The children drank milk or water. I never tasted tea or coffee until I was an adult. Our diet was varied. My parents both liked fish, which we had occasionally. My Father was fond of honey and we used a lot of it. On Saturday morning the kitchen table was cleared and out of the pantry came the large baking board with six-inch walls on three sides - together with all the baking needs - a large bag of flour, all the tools, spoons etc. baking powder, baking soda, salt, a flour sifter, pepper and some other spices. Also came out a large 18-inch iron griddle with a huge iron handle. This was placed on the stove to warm up. Two kinds of Scotch scones were baked. First was the flat scone where the prepared dough was placed in small amounts on the hot griddle. When the dough was flattened and cooked the scone was flipped over like a pancake to cook on the other side. This made a flat scone - very good. Then some of the dough was spooned into a muffin dish in the separate spaces. This was then placed in the oven to bake - two kinds of scone, both good. My Mother also baked bran muffins. Some times she also baked a large white cake which was usually later iced. And always on Saturday she baked two, sometimes three, pies, usually apple or rhubarb or raisin but sometimes a custard pie. One of these was for Sunday dinner at noon after church. We also frequently had rice pudding which was one of Dad's favourites, also bread pudding or tapioca. At Christmas time my Mother baked dark Christmas cake and Scotch shortbread. In the autumn the fruit came in she did a lot of preserving for winter. She preserved pears and crab apples and peaches, sometimes plums. She made chili sauce and applesauce but never pickles. The large wooden cabinet on one wall of the cellar was filled with shelves of good things for the winter.
During the week my Mother would go to the corner grocery store half a block away to do her shopping. She had a list and one by one she told the grocer what she wanted. He would go to the shelf to get the item which he placed on the counter. Then he wrapped them up and she paid him. Then she went next door to the butcher shop to get get her supply of meat for the week which the butcher carved from the carcass as required. Mince meat was minced on the spot as required. There was no such thing as self-service in those days. It did not come in until ten years later when Eatons Groceteria introduced and it became very popular but more expensive.
On Sunday afternoon my Mother would sometimes lie down for a brief nap after dinner. Then she would go downstairs, sit at the dining room table and write letters to her folk back in Scotland: to her mother and father while they were still alive and after that to her married sisters. She also received letters regularly from them all. In the early 1920's my Mother lost both her father and her mother. The news always came by telegram which usually heralded bad news. I knew that she felt the loss very keenly particularly because she was so far away. My Aunt Minnie Taylors daughter Nan was the oldest grandchild. I was the second oldest grandchild. My Mother suggested that I start having correspondence with Nan Which I did and for some years we exchanged letters which was very interesting. Many years later the Taylor family emmigrated to Canada and settled in British Columbia. On one of my trips to the West Coast I met Nan who was married and had a family by then. She was working as a nurse, They lived in Chilliwack B.C.
Then my Mother finished her letter writing on Sunday afternoon she would sit down at the piano and sing some of her old songs that she had brought from Scotland. The ones I remember are: Beautiful Isle of Somewhere, Ora Pro Nobis, His Eye Is On the Sparrow, God Will Take Care Of You, Jerusalem, The Way of The Cross Leads Home and others I can't remember. She also had a small song-book written in the tonic soh-fah mode which fascinated me but which I never learned to read. Dad used to love to hear her sing. He also had a good baritone voice and sometimes he joined her in singing Baptist Church hymns. Music was very much a part of our life at that stage. Winnie and I both took piano lessons. I took to it like a duck to water and was soon playing hymns out of the Canadian Baptist Hymnal which pleased my Father very much. Later, of course I studied organ and eventually became a church organist.
In the 1920's my Father's bachelor half brother, my Uncle Jim came to live with us in Saskatoon for a few months. He had never married but had looked after Grandma Ward, his stepmother until she died. When she died my Father went east to Hamilton for the funeral; Thereafter Uncle Jim lived part time with his two half sisters in Hamilton Aunt Jean and Aunt Margaret until finally he went into a Nursing Home. We children were delighted with Uncle Jim because he played with us and took us for walks and was a great joker. He taught me to play both checkers and dominoes. But he was a great trial for my Mother because he was sloppy and careless about his person. At meals he saucered his tea and spilled his food and sometimes he got lost and the whole neighborhood turned out to find him. So after a while my Father had to send him back to Hamilton. He obviously had Alzheimers Disease which in those days was called Dementia. I should mention that just before he left Uncle Jim gave me a $50.00 Victory Bond which he had kept since the First World War. The two of us had got on well together but this was a great surprise to me as well as to my parents. I kept this bond for a long time and only cashed it later in life when I was in considerable need.
Behind our house was a laneway between 6th and 7th Avenues. Along the laneway were garages for each house. Between our garage and the house was a small garden in which we grew a few vegetables every summer. We had the ground. plowed by a traveling farmer each spring. Then I worked up and smoothed the soil and together my Mother and I planted rows of lettuce, radishes, carrots, beets, string- beans and peas and lots of potatoes. Between the two of us we watered and weeded and cultivated and in due time we harvested. One year we planted a row of sweet peas beside the garage, which we trained up the wall to produce a mass of pretty blossoms. We compared our garden with those of neighbors across the lane and down the lane but ours could never compare with the one directly across from us belonging to a local jeweler who was an expert gardener and spent many hours in his garden. Our effort certainly helped out with the kitchen budget and was good for our health. My Father had absolutely no interest in gardening and claimed that he was too busy to be bothered. But I think that my Mother enjoyed it and we liked working together. She also had several potted green plants in the house in an alcove of the dining room which she watered and tended regularly.
My Father remained in the pastorate for nine years. Then he accepted an invitation to become the Superintendent of Missions for the Province of Saskatchewan which entailed visitation of all the Baptist churches in the Province. He had always taken an active interest in denominational affairs and was a regular member of the Provincial Mission Board. Some time before he left the pastorate he began to have trouble with his eyes. Local doctors could not find the cause although they prescribed some drastic treatments which were hard on the patient but did not cure the disorder. At last they sent him to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He could not go alone so my Mother accompanied him and they stayed in rented rooms during- their visit. The Mayo doctors tried several things but eventually they sent him home and told him to come back again. This went on for several years. Sometimes my Mother went with him and sometimes Winnie and John accompanied him when school was out for the summer. I couldn't go because I was earning money for my University education. On one of these occasions I had graduated from the University of' Saskatchewan with a B.Sc. degree and was preparing to go to McMaster University for further education in science. It was decided that I would drive our car with my Mother to Rochester, stay with the family for a week or so then take a bus to Hamilton. We took along Mrs Bridgeman and Florence (my age) who would drive our car home. Winnie was still too young to drive. My Mother helped me to prepare for my departure. She gave me one of the two trunks that she and my Father had brought from Scotland years before. I filled it with all my belongings -- books, clothes etc. and sent it by C. P. P. Express to Hamilton. Then she took me downtown to the JH Ashdown Wholesale Hardware Store where my Uncle Jimmie of Plunkett dealt all the time. On his recommendation she bought me a handsome brown leather club bag, which I used for many years.
In the evening we went to a meeting of the B.Y.P.U. All the church people knew that I was leaving and since I had been very active in the B.Y.P. U. and the Sunday School and Trail Rangers they had prepared a gift for me which was duly presented. I was flustered and embarrassed as this was a. new experience for me. I muttered a thank you and did not realize that I should have opened the parcel to show every one. So I took it home unopened. When we got there my Mother let me know how displeased she was. I was chagrined. When I left on the bus for Hamilton she kissed me which was unusual.
At last the doctors told my Father that he had to be resigned to being blind for the rest of his life. He was greatly helped at this time by the CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind) Home Teacher who was trained to take patients through this time of trauma. Soon he accepted this role and went on to live a very useful and productive life. He insisted on continuing his job as superintendent of missions. Sometmies Winnie drove him in our car, sometimes he went by train as long- as there was a person to meet him at his destination. Fortunately my Mother never learned to drive the car. One time my Father tried to teach her but it was no use. She said that she would try again sometime if they got rid of that gear shift! She was not mechanically inclined. This whole experience of accepting my Father's blindness was very hard on my Mother.
I graduated from the University of Saskatchewan, with a B.Sc. degree in 1932. My Mother wanted to give me a gold ring with the University crest on it. However she was anticipated by our friends Mr and Mrs Aden Bowman who gave me a gold ring with a large black onyx with the University crest cut into it. So she compromised and gave me a beautiful silver tie pin with the University crest at the top. Every well dressed man wore a tie pin in those days but they are long since out of style now.
Neither of my parents were present for any of my graduations. In 1932 in Saskatoon they were at Mayo's in Rochester about my Father's eyesight. So we asked my Uncle Jimmie Scott to come to the city from Plunkett. Which he did. I was so pleased to have him because I was very fond of him and he liked me. His personality was very like my Mother's. We had our picture taken together on the front lawn of our house when I was wearing my Gown and Hood.
I graduated from McMaster University in Hamilton with an M.A. degree in 1933. My parents were still living in Saskatoon, too far away to come for the event. However I had many relatives in Hamilton. I had been seeing a great deal of my cousin, Isabel Stevenson - a bit older than me. We were kindred spirits because we were both church organists. She had recently been disappointed in love when the man to whom she was engaged dropped her for another woman. I invited her to accompany me to several McMaster social functions. We had a good time together and really enjoyed each other's company. We thought alike in many ways. One day in jest I asked her to marry me. She said, Don't be silly! You know that cousins aren't allowed to marry.'' Eventually she did marry Percy Shrimpton, a man somewhat older than herself. It was a happy marriage with one son.
In later years on some of my trips to Toronto from Southwestern Ontario I often called in at their house in Ancaster for a short visit. When it came time for graduation at McMaster Isabel was unable to come with me for some reason so I invited another cousin, Margaret Campbell who was considerably older than me. She came and enjoyed herself immensely at the graduation banquet. The last time I saw Isabel was in hospital shortly before she died of breast cancer.
I graduated from the University of Toronto with a Ph.D degree in 1952. Both my parents were gone although I knew that my Dad would have been very proud of me. He was once offered an honorary Doctorate from McMaster in recognition of all the work he did for the Baptist Denomination - but he declined the offer.
For this graduation occasion in Toronto my Father-in-law, Rozzie Helmer came from Ottawa. It was a completely new experience for him as he had been a lumberman and a railway man all his life. He was a fine Christian gentleman and I was glad to have him with me. After the ceremony my Father's second wife, Olivia Hamilton Ward, arranged a party for me in her new apartment and invited many relatives of the family from Hamilton.
The onset of my Father's blindness created a heavy burden for my Mother. In addition to looking after his physical needs she had to do his office work and read to him. Eventually he got a part-time secretary first my sister Win and then a young woman from the church.
My sister Win married Rev. Harold Stibbards and went to live in Edmonton. Then since John was the only family member at home, my parents decided to take in a couple of boarders to help with expenses. One of these was my cousin Jack Scott - one of two University students. Jack did a lot to help out my parents around the house as John soon left home.
All of these things happened, during the Great Depression of 1930 -1933 in the West. One thing that happened at that time was that Ontario churches collected a carload of used clothing and sent it to the West where it was distributed to various churches for disposal to needy folk. A portion of this carload came to First Baptist Church Saskatoon and volunteers offered to sort and distribute it. One of these volunteers, as if she didn't have enough to do, was my Mother. This was almost too much and, soon after at a church dinner she collapsed and was taken to hospital. She had suffered a massive stroke. The people of the church rallied round and helped out in time of need.
After I left home my Mother wrote to me every week and I wrote weekly to her. She also wrote weekly to Win in Edmonton. Now that she was unable to write this task fell to my Dad who was unaccustomed to letter writing. For years he had composed his sermons on a small portable typewriter. So now with his sight gone he resorted to the typewriter again. He made numerous errors but it was quite legible. Instead of writing a letter to each of his children he wrote one letter to me, asked me to send it on to Win and asked her to send it on to John. He called this his 'Round Robin And we all got the news.
My Mother never fully recovered from her stroke. She used a cane for a long time. When she was sitting at ease she could be seen constantly massaging her left hand with her right. Her speech was slightly blurred at first. But she continued to keep house.
In 1938 my parents left Saskatoon and moved to Toronto. Father had been offered a position with the C.N.I.B. as their "Director of Education". He would continue to preach but would present the story of the Institute to different churches. He never appealed for money. They moved into a first-floor apartment on College Street at the corner of Beverly Street, a few blocks from the CNIB headquarters in a very large old house. They brought all their furniture from the West. However on their way to Toronto they came first to Ottawa where I was married, on September 3rd to Aribert Helmer. My Father conducted the wedding ceremony and he and my Mother stayed with the Helmer family until after the wedding. Then they set up housekeeping in Toronto.
It was not easy for my Mother of course; my Father being blind was not of much help. They joined Walmer Road Church again after many years absence and my Father became active in Baptist Denominational affairs. Fortunately the people of the church came to their assistance. Several women came to the apartment to help my Mother. And one man in particular, Laurie Mason was always available to drive them anywhere they wanted to go. He drove them to church every Sunday.
Birdie and I moved to Toronto about the same time my parents arrived there. I was starting to work on my Ph.D. at the University of Toronto through a ''transfer of work approved by the Department of Agriculture. Birdie was continuing her studies in singing- under Mrs. Park at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. So for several months we saw quite a bit of each other. I drove my parents to church until I had to put my car up for the winter. Then. Laurie Mason took over. We were living in a small apartment on Spadina Ave. directly across the street from a large Presbyterian church. One Sunday for a change I took my Mother to this church on a Sunday morning.
She thoroughly enjoyed the service, especially the old Presbyterian Psalms, as it revived memories of her days at church in Scotland. My Father preached in a different church. every Sunday but one sermon, which was a good one , was used all the time. He soon began making appointments at churches outside the city, Hamilton where their relatives lived etc. In 1941 he made appointments in Ottawa and they both came to stay with us for a couple of weeks. Our daughter Judith Ellen had been born October 3, 1940 and she was a beautiful lively child. We placed Judy on Grandma Ward's knee and it was a joy to see radiance in her face - her own grandchild. She could not say much. Her speach had become halting. However we thought that she was in reasonably good health. But she died on October 1, 1941 of a second stroke. Once again the church people rallied around to help.
I left by train for Toronto as soon as I heard. Laurie Mason had phoned me and he met me at the train when I arrived. We went immediately to the funeral home. She had not yet been prepared and was still in the morgue downstairs. I asked if I could see her and they agreed which was very unusual. So I went down and saw her lying on a table. I stood looking at her for a while. I shed no tears but a huge sob burst from my throat. So I turned and walked away. I stayed with my Father at the apartment. We were sitting silently on the chesterfield. And suddenly a huge sob of anguish broke from his lips. I put my arm around him and tried to comfort him. He was devastated. At the funeral in the funeral home there was a large crowd of relatives - many from Hamilton and some from Toronto whom we had not seen for years. One of my Aunts who was now a widow agreed to stay with my Father, at least temporarily again the church people were most helpful.
One evening about a year after my Mother's death I was sitting alone or maybe in bed (I don't recall). Everything was very quiet and suddenly I heard her voice calling me - Gordon. It was as clear as if she had been in the next room. I wasn't dreaming, and it wasn't my imagination. It was real! I listened for more but that was all.
DEO GRATIAS 