Excursions to Grand Bend in the 1930's

The beach at Grand Bend has been a destination filled with fun and excitement for generations. Here are two pictures taken of Lois and her friends on the beach in about 1930. Of course, no one among Lois' group owned a bathing suit. When they went to the beach, they -- like lots of other young people -- needed to rent a bathing suit. Lois remembers that suits came in two qualities: cotton and wool. While the cotton suits were cheaper, they were also far more revealing, and Lois always hoped that the guy she was with would give her enough money for a wool suit. (Lois remembers that it was seldon that she would have any money of her own.) At the bath house you would pay your $1 and for that, you would be rented a bathing suit and access to a private change room where you would hang your clothes. The bathing suit would very likely still be wet from the person before you. However, for the rental period you would be free to paddle in the lake, take pictures, or play in the sand. In the top picture are Kelly, Lois' younger brother and his girfriend Eileen Dunsmore (on the left), Lois, and Gerald Riley whose family was a good friend of the Hearn Family. The second picture includes Lois' younger brother Ivan. He is the guy in the wool suit, the tie, and the hat. Surely, the suit was desperately uncomfortable on a hot day on the beach. Either, Ivan didn't have the money for a bathing suit, or quite possibly, he felt he looked more attractive in his formal suit than he would in a bathing suit.

A community play

In the years after the Second World War, entertainment in rural communities was often home grown. Dickson's Corners was no exception. In one memorable Christmas concert, Gordon directed a play in which the lead parts were taken by well-known adults from the community. Lois, the teacher's wife played the part of an invalid who spent most of her time in her bed. In reality, her bed was a camp cot which likely threatened to tip over ever time she attempted to get in - or out- of it. Lois' "husband" in the play was Bob Brown, a local farmer and school trustee, whose daughter Janette was in Grade 6 in the school. Zoe Henderson and Gladys Baigent, next door neighbours who lived up the road from the school, were also in the play.



A newly married couple from the community, Bob and Nonnie Kerr, played the part of the young lovers. A mystery woman, her face shrouded in black, was also in the play, but Lois can remember neither who she was, or what role she played. "Maybe she was the music teacher." The props were minimal and I am sure the acting was not terribly professional -- Lois remembers having only two or three rehearsals -- but that would count for little among the highly appreciative audience of neighbours and friends who thoroughly enjoyed watching Bob Brown nuzzle up to Lois McEwan at the front of the hall.

Robert McEwan, Gordon's Grandfather part 2

Sadly Robert McEwan, Gordon's grandfather died when a young man. Here is the story as Gordon has written it: "One night Robert was returning home and lulled by the silence of the land and the quiet rhythm of the democrat wheels, he fell asleep. The fast travelling horse startled by the reflection of the moon in a large puddle by the side of the road shied sharply to one side with the result the sleeping driver was catapulted over the wheel of the vehicle and landed on the gravelly surface of the road causing severe lacerations and bruises to his face.
Some time after that he began to have physical problems and when the doctor diagnosed his ailment as cancer of the jaw a terrible pall must have settled over the family. A portion of his jawbone was removed but one year later he passed away leaving his gritty widow, three children and fifty acres without his strength and guidance." That was in 1893 when Robert was 43 years old. This picture must have been taken shortly before his death when they all knew that he was dying.

Robert McEwan, Gordon's Grandfather

In a previous blog I told the story of John McEwan who was the first of the McEwans to settle in Perth County. He married Agnes Ballantyne who, like John, had been born in Scotland. Their first child who was born in 1849 and who was Gordon's grandfather, was named Robert. If John and Agnes had remained true to the traditional pattern of child-naming, then Robert would have been called after his paternal grandfather. However, since Agnes' father was also a Robert, it may have been that the baby was named after his maternal grandfather Robert Ballantyne. Few stories have been passed down about the character of Robert McEwan. What we do know is that in April 1872 he married Harriotte Hemsley. At first they lived on the Huron Road just west of Stratford and later moved further west to Kasterville. Finally they settled on Lot 19 Concession 3 in Downie on 50 acres of land just west of both the Ballantyne land and the Hemsley land. Here are pictures of Robert and Harriotte, likely on their wedding day, and of the house in which they lived with their three children, Harriotte, John, and Agnes.

Corn Syrup Hockey Pictures My First Collection

I have always been a collector. There is something about the act of anticipating, acquiring, organizing, and building a collection that appeals to me. My first collection consisted of hockey pictures of the famous players on the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Montreal Canadiens and the other six teams that made up the NHL the 1950's. It wasn't because I liked -- or was even interested in hockey -- that I collected the pictures. But rather, I collected for the sake of collecting. And equally important to a boy with no money, the collection could be started, and developed, for the price of a stamp. The company which made this possible was the St. Lawrence Starch Company of Port Credit, Ontario. As its name implies, the St. Lawrence Starch Company made a whole range of products including Bee Hive Corn Syrup, Ivory Laundry Starch, and Durham Corn Starch. My mother used Bee Hive Corn Syrup in her cooking. The syrup came in a deep blue can embossed with a distinctive drawing of a large red bee hive. As I recall, there was a paper label fastened either around the can, or on the lid of the can. All that was required of me was to remove the label, to write down the name of the player whose picture I wanted and then to send it to the St. Lawrence Starch Company. In return I got a 5 x 7 glossy picture attached to a cardboard backing such as the picture of George Armstrong who later became the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs. In retrospect I suspect that my collection was inspired as much by my father Gordon as by me. Since we didn't have a television at Dicksons Corners, and we never listened to the games on radio. I cannot understand how I could have known the names of the players. For me, then, the attraction was in the process of sending the letter, in anticipating the arrival of the picture and then in carefully adding it to the ones already in my collection.
Post Script: Lois corrected my version of this story. Our family -- at least Gordon and his two daughters -- regularly listened to the hockey games on the radio. Lois said that she, too, listened, not because she was interested but because it was a family event. As the game progressed, Gordon, who was lying on the couch would fall asleep, the two girls would attempt to change the station on the radio, but as soon as the station was changed Gordon would wake up and the dial would be returned to the hockey game.
Lois also noted that corn syrup was regularly used as a sweetner in cooking. I wonder if it is still available.