This is the sixth and final instalment of an ongoing guest post by Pat Grafton. (Start at part one for a proper introduction and continue on from there.)
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The years between 1969 and 1976 are very difficult for me to write about as we lost a wonderful friend and many family members. The first death in 1969 was Ken, one of our closest friends who committed suicide. We were all in the country including his wife and children who were waiting at their cottage for him to come home to dinner. He was missing for two days and was finally found in his mother-in-law’s garage in his car with the ignition turned on. It was a terrible shock to all as he was without doubt a most popular man and loved by all and no one could imagine why he would do such a thing.
The following year, Geoff’s father, Ross, died very suddenly at age 75. He had been let out of a car near his apartment on Sherbrooke Street having volunteered as usual at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Apparently he had a heart attack while walking in heavy snow and was picked up and taken to a restaurant nearby by a couple of young men. Geoff was then phoned by the restaurant as Ross had died and they had called the police. It happened that a terrible snowstorm was taking place and it was impossible for Geoff to get to his mother to tell her what had happened and he was forced to call her on the phone to tell her the news. We were able to make arrangements the following day and his funeral was held on Christmas Eve. This was a very sad time as he was loved by all; always fun and full of jokes. He was like a father to me as my father had died many years before.
In 1971 my eldest niece, Nancy,
died at age 27 of a brain aneurism after having been married only five
weeks. This was a terrible blow to all
of us. I personally felt very close to
her as we had many happy times together at the cottage and in town. I particularly remember times in the country
when she would come out to be with me as I was alone with the two babies due to
Geoff and his father having to be away.
We were both afraid at night but didn’t want the other one to know. One night off we went to our beds pretending
bravery. Later, I thought I heard a
noise and sneaked out of my bedroom to see what it was and my noise awakened
Nancy. (In the country one could hear a
pin drop.) She came quietly came out of
her room and we bumped into each other creeping around and screamed first with
terror then with laughter. We then went
out to the front porch to laugh and talk for a while. Strangely enough, we never woke the children
during these episodes. This is a very small
incident in our happy association of many years but a very vivid one.
My youngest niece, Pamela, died in
1975 of anorexia at the age of 23. She
had been ill with this “eating disease” since she was 16 and as doctors knew
very little about this problem then, she was not able to be helped. She was sent to many psychiatrists and
hospitals to no avail. This meant my sister had now lost two daughters and we
spent much time together trying to rationalize these tragedies and finally
overcoming and accepting them.
That same year Geoff died
very suddenly while curling at our club.
We were all overcome with shock and grief and eventually our thoughts
turned to the country and how things would be changed for us as he personally
had run the place himself and had not shown Scott how to do anything. Fortunately Geoff had “officially” closed the
cottage for the year but Scott had no knowledge of how to open it the following
spring. Shortly after Geoff’s funeral,
Scott and I drove out to see the place.
Our great neighbors, Dick and Hazel joined us only to announce that they
were selling their little house, leaving the island and moving to Victoria,
B.C. to be near Dick’s aging mother. Now
we would not have our close friends and neighbors when we returned the
following spring. A very sad pair
returned to the city that day.
The following year, John,
my sister’s husband died of a heart attack.
He had been ill with a heart condition plus cancer. However, on that day as he had felt
particularly well, he, Doris and their little dog went for a walk on the
mountain and he seemed much improved after that. Unfortunately, he died that night. In a period of only five years, Doris lost
two of her children and her husband.
Doris, Joanne and I became much closer after all these sad happenings.
In May 1976, we returned to see what was
in store for us to get the house opened for use.
I vividly recall our sitting very
dejected on the back step when along came our new neighbor Tom to
introduce himself. He told us he had
bought the Germanie’s home during the winter, was a bachelor and an Air Canada
pilot. He was so friendly that we
started to feel better immediately and it was the beginning of a new friendship
that is still with us today. He eventually married Michelle and they built
a huge year-round home to replace the small one. In due course they had two children who were
the same ages as my four granddaughters.
Meanwhile there was a pump to get
going, pipes to be drained, etc. and thanks to the help of Ted, Scott
was able to get things going and learned on his own how to run the old house
which he does to this day.
In due course, we had another Air
Canada pilot living on the other side of us, Peter and his wife
Adrienne. The two couples on either side
of us now became good friends of our family and we had many get-togethers. As mentioned earlier, Tom and Michelle ripped
down the small house and built a beautiful large home on their property while
Peter and Adrienne modernized their house as they all lived there year
round. They eventually had two children as
well, so that by the early nineties there were eight children total. Victoria and Laura (Scott & Anna’s two)
were born in 1987 and 1990 and Alexandra and Katie (Gerry & Diana’s) in
1988 and 1990. They were all good friends
and played together for the summer months.
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| All eight children sitting on Tom's wall (1993 or 4) |
There was never a dull moment with
our pilots on either side of us. On their way to Dorval Airport from some
far-flung country, they would deliberately fly over the island and we’d wave to
them. One day Tom landed a small plane
at our wharf. Scott and I were the only
ones there at that time and when I saw this plane about to land at our wharf, I
was so shocked that I literally shouted at Scott to come and see. Luckily I have a photograph of this event
otherwise I’m sure no one would believe it!
Here it is:
Having four granddaughters running
around made the country much more fun again.
They were and still are very great friends and loved playing in the
water and in their playhouse.
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| Four very happy little granddaughters |
A very exciting event occurred in
summer 2008 when a film company asked if they could use our cottage as one of
the locations for a CBC French weekly series.
After due consultation, we agreed and they spent two weeks in August and
one in October filming inside and out.
They completely changed the look of the house and the scenes were
supposed to be in the 1950s and not a well-kept place. They also painted some rooms in different
colors but when they were completed, they put the house back exactly as it was
and revarnished the living room floor so that the whole interior looked better
than when they had started.
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This is my favorite picture taken
from the end of the wharf and I think a perfect one
to end
this history of the cottage on Ile-Cadieux for now.
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Exciting news to add to this story; Alexandra and
Rick are now engaged to be married and Rick proposed and was accepted on our
wharf. I am so glad personally that it
was formalized on Ile Cadieux. As I
mentioned earlier in my memoirs, that’s where it all began for Geoff and me
many years ago.
-Pat
