Mary Charleson’s story of Nancy
Nancy Daley was born in Magnetawan, Ontario on July 30, 1924. Although the population of Magnetawan briefly ballooned above 300 with the birth of her five siblings, it has remained solidly a “village”, relegated to a humble, yet proud small town status in rural Ontario about an hour south of North Bay. Her father, Tom Daley met his future wife one summer while delivering vegetables by canoe on Ahmic Lake. Nancy’s mother Lydia had ventured to Canada’s lake country from Pittsburg to take a summer job as help. At 16, she fell in love with both Tom and Canada. Together they built a family, a sawmill and hydroelectric business, and nurtured family connections that have remained strong to this day. Read the rest of this entry »
Kimiko Suzuki’s story of Miyoko
My mom Miyoko was born in Kishiwada city in Osaka, Japan on April 28th of 1934. Her mother’s name was Mitsuko, 28 years old and her father’s name was Jitaro, 44 years old. They had a 7 year old daughter, Emiko and a 3 year old son, Akira. Her father was an internist at Momoyama Hospital in Osaka and her mother was staying home to take care of their three children. Read the rest of this entry »
Judi Fletcher and Lucidea Moore’s story of Raj-Kaur Poran
Writing our mother’s story was a wonderful opportunity for us to reflect upon her life. And what a life she had. Our mother was born in the small village of Mehta,in the Punjab in India. The year would be a guess because no one kept birth or death records in her village, probably sometime around 1910. Read the rest of this entry »
Beate Sigriddaughter’s story of Sigrid
My mother, Sigrid Herta Rausch, maiden name Pietrzyk, was born on July 1, 1914, the fifth of nine children born to a chain of three consecutive married couples. Her mother had remarried when her first husband died. My mother was the first child of her mother’s second marriage. They were landowners, raised horses, poultry, pigs, and owned a brick factory. Read the rest of this entry »
Anonymous story of Elisabeth
There is a photo of mother Elisabeth, my favourite photo, taken in 1954, she looks so happy and as I have always remembered, beautiful. It was the most special event of her life; she was to be presented to the newly crowned Queen of England in Ceylon. Read the rest of this entry »
Onni Milne’s story of Channa
My mother, Channa Veller Milner, died of a heart attack in 1981. She was in her 70s. It wasn’t until after her death that I learned she was more than what I had experienced with her. My father had shared stories about his family with me but my mother never spoke of her childhood or family experiences. Read the rest of this entry »
Patrick Ready’s story of Bess
Bess Ready was a wonderful mother. God knows, without her and the way she dealt with others in this life, who knows how we would have turned out. That’s particularly referring to the seven of us—the six kids she raised, and dad. Ultimately we all became what we became because of her, at least the good parts of us. Read the rest of this entry »
Chris Cutress’s story of Norma
My mother, Norma, was born in Hyas Saskatchewan in 1923. When she was about 4 years of age her mother died in childbirth (with twins who also died). Read the rest of this entry »
Ruth McIntosh’s story of Maureen
My mother, Margaret Maureen McIntosh, began her life in a small town in Lancashire, England on 29 July, 1930. She was born to Mary (May) Elizabeth and Thomas Hope. In 1933, a year after her brother Arthur John (AJ) was born, May took the children and left Tom. This began a life of constant moving. Maureen never did find out what it was that Tom did to warrant May leaving, but it must have been an intolerable situation. Society dictated separation and divorce to be a disgrace, so May told her children and anyone else who asked that Tom was dead. Maureen knew he was not, yet she followed her mother’s wishes and never spoke of her father. Read the rest of this entry »
Kim Seary’s story of Patricia
My mother, Patricia Primrose Lazell, was born in Grays, Essex, England, on January 16, 1924. She was the daughter of Harry and Ethel, and the youngest of three children. Harry was a longshoreman at the Tilbury docks, and was a handsome 6’1” to Ethel’s 4’11”. Ethel had had polio as a child and wore a special boot. I remember my mother saying something about how her mother was bitterly self-conscious about her pronounced limp.