The Rings

Lois wears three rings on the second finger of her left hand. The first ring, the one with the three opals was given to Mae Rolston by Bob Hearn as an engagement ring sometime before they were married in 1910. Mae wore it all her married life, and after her death in 1933 the ring was given to Lois by her father. The second ring is Lois' engagement ring given to her in 1936 by Gordon. The tiny diamond in the ring is an accurate reflection of Gordon's financial situation as a young school teacher in rural Ontario during the Depression. On one particular occasion this ring caused a huge panic for Lois. It happened when she was working part-time at Douglas' Paint and Stationary Store in St. Marys. She was sorting cards when suddenly she noticed that the diamond was missing from her ring. The other clerks in the store all stopped what they were doing to search for the missing diamond which, in reality, is a diamond chip. Fortunately Hazel Fairbanks found the missing stone and Lois went immediately to Ross Andrew's Jewellery Store to have it reset. On seeing the ring the saleswoman suggested that Lois upgrade the setting to something of better quality. Lois refused, insisting that the ring be left as it was originally, stone chip, simple setting and all. The third ring with the ruby stone surrounded by diamonds was given to Lois in December 1977 by Gordon to commemorate their fortieth wedding anniversary.

Wedding Gifts

In the summer of 2006, Lois had a new asphalt roof put on her house. All the old roofing was thrown into a large dumpster parked next to the house. When Bob arrived for his usual Saturday afternoon in the garden, Lois explained that the reason why there was an old plastic swimming pool and and a broken bicycle in the dumpster, along with all the old roofing, was because she had invited neighbours to use the dumpster as a means of getting rid of their old junk .... and, by the way, she had tossed out some old wedding gifts that had been sitting in the basement for years. An hour later when Lois was picking up branches in another part of the garden, Bob scrambled into the dumpster, and found, under lots of heavy roofing, a small cardboard box containing a variety of silver plated candy and serving dishes. None was valuable and all were very black. Here is a sample of what they looked like (after they had been cleaned) and here is the note which Lois wrote when she gave each of her four children one of the reclaimed-from-the-dumpster wedding gifts from 1937 (remember, double clicking enlarges).

Mrs. Tyler's Wedding Gift

Mrs. Tyler was one of Mae Hearn's best friends. She lived around the corner, north from #9 school. She was reputed to be a women who never stopped working. One of the many essential tasks of the farm housewife during the 1930's was to feed - abundantly and well - the men when they came in from the fields. Timing was essential in planning the meals. The hot food could not be taken off the stove until one caught sight of the men beginning to move in from the fields. While she waited by the window for the first sight of the men, Mrs. Tyler would stand and knit. Then, when the men appeared, she would put the knitting down and begin to transfer the hot food into bowls and on to the table. After Mae Hearn died, it was Mrs. Tyler that Lois turned to whenever she needed help with learning how to cook or can or to do any of the hundreds of other tasks which women performed. Here is the only picture we have of Mrs. Tyler. It was taken in 1920 at a St. Pauls Women's Institute meeting. With the white hair she looks much older than we would expect. Seventeen years later when Lois married Gordon, Mrs. Tyler gave Lois a quilt, every stitch of which Mrs. Tyler did herself. Now, 70 years later that quilt is displayed, preciously and never used, at the foot of the spool bed in the boys' room of Lois' house.