This past Saturday, Terry and I took a tour of The Palace/Le Palais in Alexandria. We were both curious about alternatives for my mother’s care. So my friend (and Alexandria columnist), Nicole Bourbonnais, kindly offered to show us around the facility where she has worked for over 25 years. For those unfamiliar with the seniors’ residence, it’s located across the street from St. Finnan’s and incorporates the former bishop’s palace at the corner of Bishop and St. Paul streets. Hence the name.
For years, Nicole and a number of the Palace residents have attended the DRA euchre luncheons in Dunvegan. So we took a few extra minutes to stop by and say hello to these loyal card players. And it was in the course of one of these visits that I learned about a milestone that had taken place at the Kenyon Presbyterian Church. While chatting with Mora Cunning, I discovered that her sister, Eileen Campbell, had recently retired as Dunvegan’s church organist.
A follow-up call to Mrs. Campbell confirmed the story and uncovered a few other details. It turns out that Eileen hung up her keyboard at the end of December, after accompanying the choir and congregation for over 35 years. I say “over”, because in addition to playing full-time since 1980, she had filled in part-time since 1961.
This is a rather impressive musical career given that Eileen is largely self-taught. She did take some formal lessons, at 50¢ apiece, from Mrs. Oliver O’Hara in Maxville. This was when she was boarding at the Dan and Edna Cameron’s on Fair Street while attending grade 8. It was just after the war and there was no school bus service to Skye Road. So she, and many other rural students, had to board in town to complete their education. But her lessons with Mrs. O’Hara came to grinding halt when Eileen transferred to Alexandria High the following year.
I asked Eileen if any one occasion stood out more than the rest during her years as organist. She replied, “not really… I enjoyed them all, the happy and the sad times.” However, when pressed, she did admit to really enjoying last November’s St. Andrew’s Day service, the first that the Dunvegan church celebrated, in recent memory at least. I could also tell she had great fondness for the annual children’s Christmas service.
I was delighted to hear that the congregation made a special effort to formally thank Eileen for her decades of dedication. After the service on Sunday, February 7th, they held a luncheon in her honour and presented her with a lovely watch.
As for who will fill Eileen’s shoes in the future, the Church’s web site indicates that Dona Addison has volunteered to step into the position. Well done, Dona.
Erratum notificatio
On two separate occasions in recent weeks, I’m ashamed to admit that I misspelled a person’s name in my column: Shashtin Winchester. I left out the second “H.”
As Shashtin e-mailed when she pointed out my error, “One’s name is a funny thing. People whose names are never misspelled or mispronounced might think it fussy, but it is not.” And she’s right. Our name is a large part of our identity. When mispronounced or spelled incorrectly, it feels wrong. “On the other hand,” admits Shashtin, “it is truly music to my ear when it is pronounced correctly.”
It turns out that the true spelling of Shashtin’s name, in Swedish at least, is “Kerstin.” She tells me that, In the Swedish language the letter “K” followed by a vowel becomes soft, like “Ch” in Charlotte. So to get something that would come close in English, she settled on the phonetic spelling of “Shashtin.” For simplicity’s sake, her friends just call her Shash.
Coming full circle
As you may recall from one of my recent columns, Andrew McCormick, Miranda Burgess and their young family recently pulled up stakes and moved from County Road 30 in Dunvegan to Bush Road in Lochiel… Lot 23 Concession 3, to be exact. The home, most recently occupied by Susan Joiner and Bill Gilsdorf, affords the couple and their children a whole lot more growing room than they had in Dunvegan. But little did they know when they signed on the dotted line for their new abode, their purchase also connected the dots to a whole lot of history.
Unbeknownst to Andrew, his great-great grandfather, Hector McCormick, had also owned the same property almost 150 years ago… in 1868. It was in July of that year, that Andrew’s GGF paid David Buchan $840 ($15,094 in today’s currency) for the 200-acre farm. While there’s no official confirmation, there weren’t a lot of building permits back in the early 1800s, Andrew believes this purchase included the original square log home that is at the core of their new home.
Just nine years later, in 1877, his great-great grandfather divided the property into two one hundred acre parcels for two of his sons. This is supported by the 1879 H. Belden Historical Atlas map of Lochiel which lists Lot 23 on Bush Road as belonging to “Rob. McCormick.” And now the land, or 12 or 13 acres of it and the house, are once again in the hands of the original McCormick family. How’s that for serendipity?
Support the GPM… with your fork!
I just learned that the War of 1812 Living History Reenactors are holding a Steak Night fundraiser on Friday, March 4th in Vankleek Hill at the Windsor Tavern. Proceeds will go to support the annual two-day “Battle of Glengarry” War of 1812 Reenactment event at the Glengarry Pioneer Museum in Dunvegan. Dinner will be served from 5:30- 9:00 PM and the cost is only $15 per person.
Reenactors dressed in their early 19th century garb will greet diners and escort them to their tables. In addition to a delicious steak dinner, there will be a 50/50 draw and a host of door prizes, including a print depicting the SD&G Highlanders and a signed copy of Silvia Pecota’s Remembering Our Fallen, containing beautifully detailed artwork and photography by the award-winning artist and photographer. For more information, visit: 1812@glengarrypioneermuseum.ca
They really value our input… NOT!
Were you aware that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is surveying Canadians about the broadband Internet service they enjoy… or in the case of rural Canadians, DON’T enjoy?
No, I wasn’t either.
Apparently, the CRTC has decided that “…reliable, affordable and modern telecommunications services are now important for daily activities, such as health care, banking, education and government services.” Duh… we never knew that. As a result, they are in the process of reviewing Canada’s basic telecommunications services so the Commission “can stay in step with the future and the changing needs of Canadians.”
The only problem is that they seem to have forgotten to tell the folks who most need their help about the survey — the ones living outside of urban centres. Do they really think that Torontonians and their counterparts in other cities really need a faster high-speed connection? Can’t the bandwidth hogs wait a bit until the rest of us catch up? While I hear tell they placed ads in some smaller market daily newspapers, I’m not convinced they advertised the survey in weekly publications like the Glengarry News.
But the CRTC web site assures me they want us to share our views on the telecommunications services that are currently available in our area by filling out their questionnaire. They even offer a number of ways to do so:
- By going on-line to the CRTC web site — http://www.crtc.gc.ca — and searching for the “Internet Survey” (or here’s a direct link to the survey site… https://97.ca/ekos/cwx.cgi?EN:01616R)
- Calling one of their “agents” at 1-877-249-2782
- Or requesting a paper copy of the questionnaire that you can return in the prepaid envelope or, for the sixteen people in Canada who still have one, by fax
The only catch is that you have to complete the survey by 8:00 PM (EST) on February 29, 2016.
For those readers who are unhappy with true high-speed Internet service in rural areas, which includes most of North and South Glengarry, this is YOUR chance to speak your mind. Click, call or fax your CRTC Broadband Connectivity survey today.
-30-