When the late Peggi Calder of Dunvegan West left us unexpectedly back in May, her two children, Kathy and Byron, were undecided as to how they would honour her memory. They knew that in these Dark Virus Days, a standard funeral with all the trimmings wasn’t an option. Even its more modern equivalent, a “celebration of life” checked all of the no-no boxes. So they had to get creative.
Kathy and her two daughters, Corra and Hana, have been back in Dunvegan for about five weeks, after having done a marathon, almost non-stop drive from their home in British Columbia. In addition to sorting through Peggi’s lifetime collection of information on nature and local history — not to mention family memorabilia — they’ve been working on a collaborative tribute to their mother and grandmother.
They started by approaching the Glengarry Pioneer Museum to see if it would be willing to provide temporary display space. The museum generously agreed and the first iteration of the tribute will be ready as of today in the museum’s Roxborough Hall. The underlying idea of the display is that it will serve as an inspiration for other members of the community. The hope is that as friends and acquaintances drop by over the coming months, they will share their loss with the family in the Book of Memories and hopefully add a story or photo of their own to the celebratory display. The museum is open all summer, preferably by appointment, Wednesday to Sunday from 11 am to 4 pm.
For those out of town or unable to be here, Byron’s partner, Samantha Schofield, has put together a touching memorial page on Facebook. It can be found at: fb.me/peggicaldermemorial. Kathy tells me that an audio-visual presentation is also in the works and says she’ll give me a head’s up when it’s available for people to view online.
Driving tour tickets now available
While much of the museum’s 2020 season has been laid to waste by the numerous mutations of Covid-19, I’m pleased to confirm that at least one of the events has survived relatively unscathed: the annual Historical Driving Tour. It will take place on August 11th from 9 am to noon. Not only will the tour be shorter in duration, but it will also be divided into two groups. These measures will enable the museum to hold the popular event while still respecting the necessary public health guidelines.
The tour groups will start in Vankleek Hill and make their way from one historical site to the next, until the convoy arrives in Dunvegan and turns in at the Glengarry Pioneer Museum. Tickets are $25 per person and must be purchased online through the museum’s web site: GlengarryPioneerMuseum.ca. If it sells out quickly, the museum will try to schedule a second date with the same itinerary and reach out to those who were unable to go on the first tour.
A perfect time to visit
If I can’t interest you in trying the Historical Driving Tour — at least this year — might I suggest visiting the museum itself? I can promise you a truly unique experience. For the very first time, the Dunvegan museum visits are by reservation. In other words, you’ll have the novel opportunity of reserving a heritage site visit knowing that you and your family, and perhaps one or two other small groups, will be the only visitors on site. I’d suggest packing a picnic lunch and making a day of it. It’s a great way to escape the confines of isolation and spend some quality fresh-air time in the country.
To ensure the safety of the public and staff, the museum has made some policy changes. Firstly, you are encouraged to phone or email ahead to reserve an arrival time. Upon arrival, the staff will greet you with a mask and offer either a guided or self-guided walking tour. Naturally, masks and physical distancing rules apply. And only one household or family group will be allowed in a building at a time. As well, no touching of the artifacts or displays will be allowed.
Ask and ye shall receive
In last week’s column, I made an appeal on behalf of a reader from Cornwall. She had picked up a handsome, leather-bound book at a yard sale some years ago entitled Life & Literature Book 2, Grade 8. Inside the front cover was the inscription: “Eunice MacGillivray, Cotton Beaver School, 1942-43.” She hoped I could help her find a relative of Ms. MacGillivray who would be interested in having the book, which young Eunice had won as a school prize.
Lo and behold, a few days after the paper hit the street, I received a call from another reader, this time from Maxville, with some key details on Eunice’s life after grade school. It turns out that she died peacefully on February 23rd, 2009. Born on October 7th, 1929, she was the third child of Donald Rory and Mary Olive MacGillivray. After completing high school in Glengarry, she moved to Ottawa and graduated from the Civic Hospital School of Nursing in the spring of 1953. She subsequently met Garth Watchorn, her husband-to-be, in our nation’s capital and the two were wed in 1958. A family followed that includes sons Michael and Kevin and five grandchildren. I have reached out to the Watchorn family and hope to report a happy ending for this story next week.
Teacher on a hot seat
Last week, I left you with a tentative explanation for Kenyon SS #2’s “Cotton Beaver” nickname. And it will probably have to do until I can gain access to the Glengarry County Archives again and consult Ewan Ross’s notes on local place names. In the meantime, I thought I’d dig a bit deeper into beaver grass, the “beaver” part of Cotton Beaver.
Once I read the description of how it grows in humps or hummocks, I distinctly remembered having come across it when travelling through marshy areas. Beaver grass or Carex stricta is a type of sedge. In fact, it’s a member of the same family as Papyrus, the stuff ancient Egyptians used to make paper. According to an account I found in Uses of Plants by the Hidatsa of the Northern Plains, indigenous tribes would harvest beaver grass in order to weave cords for stringing dried squash. To quote from a 1916 interview with Buffalobird-woman: “I would take a small bunch of the grass and soak it overnight in a pail. In the morning my two mothers would makes strings and sometimes I helped. Beaver grass differs from other grasses in that a stalk grows up and branches into four or five leaves. It is by this peculiarity that we could tell the grass.”
I also reached out to Kent MacSweyn to see if he could weigh in on the origins of the Cotton Beaver name. Alas, once again I was a generation too late. However, Kent did recall a story his father told about the nettles that used to grow profusely near Cotton Beaver’s outhouse. Apparently, the class had a supply teacher that the older boys didn’t much care for. One recess, a time when the teacher usually used the outdoor facility, the boys grabbed a bunch of long nettles, inserted them through the rear of the privy and wiped them under the seat. “I guess it made for an interesting afternoon,” Kent wrote, “with all the various motions one would go through trying to get relief from the awful reaction nettles have on exposed skin.”
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