Once again, I am the bearer of sad news. In the early morning hours of March 11th, Sherrill Trottier (nee Ferguson) died peacefully at home comforted by René, her husband of 56 years, and her three daughters: Lori from Laggan, Kelli from Kingston and Traci from Cornwall.
Sherrill was born May 1, 1941. Her online obituary states that her birth took place in St. Elmo. I’m uncertain as to whether this was on the Ferguson family farm (Lot 28, Con. 7) or in the home of a close friend or relative. I do know that in May of 1941 Sherrill’s parents had begun construction of a two-story residential addition to their general store. Which probably explains why she was not born in Dunvegan, even though Martin and Olive Ferguson had moved here four years earlier when they bought the business from Donald Angus Gray.
Sherrill went to work behind the counter as soon as she was old enough to tally sums and write out a bill. As she recalls, you had a choice: housework or shop work. She much preferred to spend time stocking shelves and dealing with the customers. While the store is long gone, the former Ferguson house still stands on the northwest corner of Alice Street and County Road 24.
Sherrill spent her grade school years in the one-room brick schoolhouse across from the manse on Church Street, or County Road 30 as it is called these days. She then went on to high school in Maxville and Alexandria, where she graduated at the age of just 16. Like so many of Dunvegan’s young people, Sherrill promptly packed her bags and shook off the dust of our little hamlet. In Sherrill’s case, she headed for teacher’s college in our nation’s capital. Since a teaching certificate only took a year of study in those days, she had a classroom of her own in Ottawa by a very young age. These were the days when baby boomers were hitting school age and teaching was a hot profession.
Sherrill didn’t call Dunvegan home again until 1973. After four years of teaching, she hung up her chalk and eraser and settled in Stittsville with her husband, René Trottier. There they remained for nearly ten years, until the pull of Glengarry proved too much and the young family moved to their brand new home on Dunvegan Road. While René set about growing a successful farm machinery business on the outskirts of Alexandria, Sherrill threw herself into raising their children.
Blessed with the Ferguson aptitude for music, Sherrill was an accomplished piano player. She also had her family’s deep sense of community. (Both of her parents and her Aunt Christina had been instrumental in the founding of the Glengarry Pioneer Museum in 1962.) For years, Sherrill and her family donated their musical talents at fundraising concerts and other events throughout the region. And when their kids were gone, she and René carried on as a duo act. Sherrill’s keyboard playing was also a key element in the Glengarry Old Tyme Fiddlers unique sound.
With Sherrill Trottier’s passing, the door to Dunvegan’s history has swung a little bit closer to being shut forever. I am extremely grateful for her help in researching this column. I only wish I had started writing about our corner of the county ten years earlier. I could have gleaned so much more of the past from those who, like Sherrill, had lived it. Thank you, Sherrill. You will be missed.
Bound to get worse, before it gets better
Given the recent spate of emails crossing my virtual desktop from corporate citizens self-identifying as being “deeply concerned,” I’m surprised this global pandemic is still with us. Bell Canada, Scotiabank, Royal Bank, Via Rail, Marriott and a host of other businesses with which I have recently intersected all assure me they “cannot help but think of all those they know and care about around the world, including me.” Furthermore, they are “vigilantly monitoring the COVID-19 situation around the clock” and “working to ensure the health and safety of the public and our team members in accordance with all public safety guidelines.” Even the e-fraudsters have jumped on the bandwagon and rushed out a COVID-19 email blast, purportedly from the Public Health Agency of Canada, to tempt the gullible into clicking for more information, only to have their computer or laptop commandeered for some nefarious purpose. If it weren’t so serious, it would be almost laughable to watch people scrambling to find a silver lining in the rampant spread of the novel coronavirus that supports their pet cause.
Euchre (and two others) bite the dust
If you think scoring a roll of toilet tissue is hard, try finding a public gathering that hasn’t been cancelled. With every community hall throughout North Glengarry ordered to lock their doors as of last Saturday, even Dunvegan’s, event organizers are without venues… not to mention patrons, given the high levels of anxiety in today’s new normal.
This ban on public gathering means that Ann Stewart, Linda Burgess and I will not be awakening our popular Euchre Luncheon from its winter hibernation. We had hoped to kick off the new season this coming Friday, but now we will have to wait until April 17th. Fingers crossed the situation improves by then and we’re allowed back in the hall.
Lack of DRA hall access also means that Laurie Maus and Bob Garner have had to cancel their Saturday Night at the Movies event on March 21st. I’ll keep you posted on whether our small group of cinema buffs will reconvene in April or not.
My final entry on this week’s list of cancellations is the Glengarry Pioneer Museum’s Steak Night scheduled for Friday, March 27th at the Windsor Tavern in Vankleek Hill. The popular meat-based fundraiser in support of the annual War of 1812 weekend in Dunvegan will be postponed to some evening in May or June. Here too, I’ll keep you posted.
Remuddled mansion emerges
To balance the preceding messages of doom and gloom, I thought I’d end this week’s column with a bit of good news. Last week I overshot the Bank of Nova Scotia in Alexandria and had to go around the block. This brought me up Kenyon Street East, right past the former Knights of Columbus Hall, a building that had started out life as the residence of Angus Macdonell (1791-1842). Angus served in the War of 1812, and was the lucky owner of one of the parcels of land on which Alexandria developed. He also owned a store in town and held the position of postmaster, at least for a short while. As serendipity would have it, Allan J. MacDonald was on the street and waved me down. I had expressed an interest in seeing the renovations to the Glengarry County Archives’ new home, and he offered to give me a tour.
Macdonell House is the oldest building in Alexandria… older than Garry Fen (1830s) and the Priest’s Mill (1840s). It appears in an 1823 map of Alexandria, a hamlet which then consisted of a total of twelve buildings. When built, this impressive stone house was in a league of its own, surrounded as it was by log cabins and rough-hewn shacks. While the building faces Kenyon Street today, that is actually the structure’s back wall, as one can see from the poorer quality of the stone. The finest limestone was reserved for the Macdonell House’s front entrance to the south. Allan researched the source of the building’s stone and he’s of the opinion it came from a centuries-old quarry located across from where County Road 34 meets Kenyon Concession 1. In 1979, the historic stone exterior walls were covered with stucco. However, Allan assures me they will be restored to their former glory. As for the vinyl-clad walls of the modern addition, more period-appropriate pine board and batten siding will be used in its place.
As was the case with so many buildings in the age of wood heat and live-flame lighting, Macdonell House suffered a fire in 1835. Fortunately, it was quickly contained and the original limestone walls and much of the interior were unaffected. Nevertheless, the basement ceiling still holds clues as to the location and extent of the fire. The floorboards and beams in the east half of the building aren’t quite as old as those found in the other half.
Allan and contractor par excellence, Henry Peeters, are doing their level best to preserve the historic bones of the building. However, you can’t fight city hall. In a public building, it’s all about the building code. Especially when you’re storing tens of thousands of documents. As anyone who has picked up a ream of paper or lifted a Canada Post mail sack, paper is really heavy and, hence, floor loading is a key consideration.
By the time the walls are ready for the painters, Allan tells me the project will have gone though one 35’ steel I-beam and 20 steel columns to support the floor load; more than 700 2x4s; 344 sheets of fire-rated drywall (mainly 4’ x12’); and over 60 boxes of mud to finish the drywall seams. When the rib bon is cut, the citizens of Glengarry, both North and South, will have an archive they can be truly proud of… a facility that from the peak of its roof to its old-growth cedar floor beams will preserve the Counties’ heritage for many years to come. When I was leaving, Allan mentioned that we should be forever grateful to the board member who spotted the potential in the Knights of Columbus Hall and championed it as an ideal location. Tip of my Tilley to Robin Flockton.
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