The sky is blue and the sun is shining this morning, a welcome change and a lift to the spirits as we stay home, again, today. This is not a big deal for me but I recognize how difficult it is for some. I think a lot about my mom-in-law. She is 97 and a half...each day is an achievement at that age, I think. She is a province away from us in Quebec. She is watched over carefully by my brother and sister-in-law, but for this past year there have no visits from other family and for some time, no outings at all; she lives alone in her apartment.
Several years back Mom spent some time in the hospital; pneumonia is not uncommon in grandmas, although potentially very dangerous. My two week visit to stay with her while she recuperated, turned into two months. (Who wants to leave Quebec?)
During that time we tried to convince her that her time of independent living might be over and that the new English retirement home might be a lovely and safe place for her. (Being an English-speaking person in a Province that is not, this opportunity would not come along every day.) Well, Mom was not of this opinion, and by the time you reach her age, your opinion is one of the few things that you have left.
Eventually, she was convinced to leave her third floor aerie, in the old building with no elevator, and move to a lovely apartment close to my brother and sister-in-law. Compromise, yes, but who knew that in this time, we would be grateful that she is cloistered there and safe.
Added danger and increased restrictions mean changes in contact with the local family supports, and her increased hearing issues (Mom and the hearing aids seem not to be compatible) means increased isolation. I try to write more letters but there really is not much news as we are doing, well, not much.
So, I thought that I would go back to my research and see if I could find something new and interesting to tell her in my next letter. I had recently come across a searchable website for newspapers in Quebec and found some gems. Like the story of Uncle Everett and the stolen bicycle from 1933.
So, Everett borrowed brother Larry's bicycle to go see about some paid work. Larry's bike was stolen. A pursuit ensued and it is written in full detail in the newspaper because, unsatisfied with police response, they went to the newspaper! But all was not lost as a few days later....
In the midst of this research, I received an email from a Jim in Winnipeg. He had seen a photo of a gravestone that I had taken in 2012, in Quebec, in pursuit of family history. Jim has an interest in the stories of CEF soldiers (Canadian Expeditionary Force) from the First World War and requested that I add this man's military history to the memorial where this photo was posted. I told him that I would be pleased to do that and mentioned that my grandfather had given his life in that war.
About a week later, I received another email from Jim, this time with an analysis of my grandfather's war history based on his service file, war diaries and battalion history. Jim had also previously visited the war cemetery where my grandfather is buried and shared with me his photos. I forwarded this to my oldest brother with whom I work on the history of our own family. Being that all we have of our grandfather is a photo, a medal, and a gravestone picture, this was a remarkable, unsolicited gift, all resulting from a cemetery photo.
I was also working at the time, on some family history for my husband's second cousin, K. He was confused that his grandmother could be my husband's aunt, and yet my husband was younger. (This one trips me up every time but the short answer is, big families. The oldest ones are having children when the youngest ones are still kids.) I also traced K's father's line back a few generations. In doing so I came across this Voters List from 1963.
What interested me about this was that at #46 I found the Hutchisons. She is the granddaughter of the sister of K's great grandfather. My program is oriented to show the relationship of each person added, to my husband. In this case she is '2nd cousin of husband of maternal 1st cousin of husband'! So, somewhat distant family of K on his father's side, probably a 2nd or 3rd cousin a couple times removed.
Next I noticed at #41, Harold and Peggy Munkittrick, longtime friends of Mom who attended the same church. Harold had a bicycle store in town, and one summer we stayed just up the road from Harold and Peggy on Lake Wallace and Harold lent our boys bicycles. (One was returned with a scratch or two as our youngest took an unscheduled side trip into the ditch with it on his first outing.) I worked on Peggy's family tree for a time because legend was in her family that there was a connection to Donald Morrison, the Megantic Outlaw. I did not find it but maybe if I'd worked longer I would have found that he was a 2nd cousin of husband of maternal..... Harold is gone now but Peggy, tiny and feisty, is 101.
Lastly I noticed that at #37 are the Pierces...L.B. Pierce; veteran of two World Wars; wounded at Passchendaele and thus unable to return to his profession as a barber; father of a son who did not return from WW2. And whose wife Bessie, was the granddaughter of Mom's GrandAunt Lavinia. All related in some way. All from 'the photo'.
So...people, places, pursuits...connections and remembrance.
PS A copy of the Voters list will go with Mom's next letter. I wonder if she will see more connections?
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