The Night I was Born

Lois and Gordon were married on 27 December 1937. The story of that day has been told in a previous blog. Their first child Betty Lou was born 11 months later in October 1938 and Lois Ann was born almost exactly two years later, in September, 1940. Because the birth of Lois Ann had been very difficult, Lois had been advised not to have more children. However, in spite of the excellent advice (and nature being what it is) Lois became pregnant again in the spring of 1942 the year that she and Gordon moved to Dickson's Corners. In spite of the fact that the new baby was due at any time, and in spite of the fact that they drove an old car with bad tires and no heating system, the family travelled north for Christmas day with Gordon's parents who now lived in St. Pauls and two days later they made the return trip to Stratford for the traditional New Year's celebration with Gordon's aunt and uncle, Charlie and Alice Ballantyne. It was already dark by the time they left Stratford for the return trip to Dickson's Corners. The heavy snow which had fallen earlier, had turned to rain and the visibility was very poor. Once on the road they realized that it would be impossible to drive out to the farm to pick up Roberta, Lois' ten year old sister who had been invited for holidays. They pulled into Norman McCully's farm which overlooks the valley of Trout Creek heading to St. Marys and phoned Lois' father to say that they didn't dare leave the main road. The McCully's pressed them to stay at their farm for the night, but they decided to continue on, and after a white knuckled ride south on the 10th concession, through Uniondale, Medina, Kintore and on to Thamesford where they turned left onto Dundas Street and then right onto Highway 2 and so on to Dickson's Corners. As Gordon rounded the cedar hedge leading into the driveway at home the car slid off the road into a snow bank. There they left it. Gordon carried the two girls into the house and left them still in their winter clothes on the couch in the living room while he proceeded to relight the fire which had long-since gone out in the old pot bellied stove which sat on a slightly raised platform in the middle of the living room. It was then that Lois realized that the baby was ready to be born and that she would have to get to the hospital in London. There was a panic phone call to Jim and Mary Calder the neighbours from across the road. Mary said that she would take the girls home with her, while Jim and Gordon went out to dig out the car. After some furious digging and rocking, the car came out of the snowbank, and slid across the lane into the ditch on the other side. With that Jim Calder decided that Gordon and Lois should head to London in the Calder car.  Lois' contractions were coming more frequently, and as they drove into London, Gordon realized that he had no idea how to find Victoria Hospital. They stopped, got directions, and arrived at Victoria hospital to be met by Dr Shute, Lois' specialist who had been alerted by Mary Calder that Gordon and Lois were on their way. After a quick examination, Dr. Shute announced that the baby was coming and that there was no time for any preparation. One of the nurses asked Lois when she had had her last contraction and when Lois said "at Kellogg's" the nurse responded: "Oh you poor thing, you have worked right up until now."  (The attached picture is of what the Kellogg's plant would have looked like as they passed by in 1942 when Lois had her last contraction. They still had a 15 minute drive to Victoria Hospital.)  Lois remembers that the anaesthetic which she was given was strong enough enough to make her drift off but not strong enough to prevent her from saying time after time: "What have I got? What have I got?" Each time she asked the question, the patient nurses reassured her that it was a boy but the question would be asked again. This continued until everyone was laughing. When the baby was brought to her, Lois immediately took off his diaper to check to be sure that it was the boy she wanted after having two girls. Some time later when Gordon left the hospital he felt that the excitement was over for that day but, unfortunately, when he found Jim Calder's car Gordon realized that he had no idea of how to start it. Gordon found a doctor who was leaving the hospital and pleaded with him for help. Deeply sceptical, the doctor finally agreed to start the car and Gordon was able to get home without incidence.

Evening Prayers and the Picture at the Top of the Stairs

In our home - as in many other homes in rural Canada in the 1940's - saying our prayers was an essential part of getting ready for bed.  Like most children I rushed through our prayer without any thought to what it said or meant.  In my head the first line was " nowilayme (all one meaningless word),  I pray the lord my soul to keep ... and so on. The prayer ended with a "God bless" where we listed a series of names beginning with grandparents and relatives - God bless Grandma, God bless Aunt Allie - and ending with God bless Mommy and Daddy and the rest of our immediate family including Skippy the dog.  If someone in the community was ill  my mother would encourage us to add a line that go something like: "Please make Wayne better."  And then we would hop into bed. If the weather was cold the persons mentioned in the "God Bless" line got shorter.  However, if you wanted to irritate your sister who was waiting her turn to say her prayers you could always string out the "God Bless" line to include everyone you could think of.  Typically the prayers were said while kneeling beside the bed but in the midst of January in a cottage where there was no direct heat in any of the bedrooms we were allowed to say the prayers from under the covers.

I now realize that there were several versions of the prayer we were taught.  Other versions were more gentle and did not talk of dying children or souls heading to heaven.  The version we recited came from an 18th century American book called the New-England Primer.  The first stanza went like this:

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray to Lord my soul to keep,
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take

  On reflection I am glad that I never made any attempt to comprehend what I was saying.  It certainly had the potential to cause nightmares in a young child who awakened in the middle of a dark night.

Now for a word about the picture that accompanies this blog.  When we were children my father's elderly aunt and uncle lived in a large brick house on Elizabeth Street in Stratford. Because my Grandmother lived with them our family were frequent visitors in their home.  Unlike us, Uncle Charlie and Aunt Allie had indoor plumbing.  The toilet was located on the second floor in a room separate from the bathroom.  To get to the toilet you needed to climb the heavy oak staircase to the first landing, turn right and begin the climb to the second floor where at the top of the stairs hung the picture (shown above) of the angels floating over the little girl.  I never understood what those angels were doing but I figured that it must have something to do with death.  I also knew that even if I kept my head down and tried to look the other way I would "see" the picture as I passed under it.   And for an eight year old the choice was very clear: scurry past the picture or face even worst humiliations!

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.

Our Calder Friends

When Gordon and Lois moved to Dicksons Corners in 1942 one of their closest neighbours was the Calders. Jim and Mary Calder who lived in a large white frame house on 100 acres of land across Highway

2, had two children: Gordon who was younger than Betty Lou and Margaret who was a year younger than Lois Ann. As children, we spent a lot of time with the Calder kids. Of course, we attended the same school SS#3 North Oxford where Gordon McEwan was the teacher. We also attended the same United Church in the nearby village of Thamesford. Here is a picture taken in March 1946 of the five children standing on the front steps of the school on a Sunday after we had arrived home from church. Then, in a re-creation of that scene, here are the five of us on a recent Saturday afternoon over 63 years later.