Trois-Rivières

St. James' Anglican Church in Trois-Rivières, Quebec.

More to follow about this old institution.

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At church a few weeks ago a friend stood up at the Polychronia where we celebrate and remember important events. She mentioned her mother who had lived in Trois-Rivières.

I had a chat with her at the coffee hour. She remembered all the dates of her mom living there. She herself had been baptized at the Anglican Church - St. James - which my mom attended.

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So I wondered about dates related to the city. Some of them are just estimates. I have some more exact information in the family archives but at the moment I am not inclined to dig it out.

My grandparents were married in Montreal in 1913.

My aunt was born in March 1915. My mom was born in July 1916. Both were born at home.

Ingrid went away to MacDonald College in Montreal to study Household Science (Home Economics) and become a dietician. She left home in 1931.

My mom went away to McGill to study biochemistry in the fall of 1932.

My grandparents continued to live in the city. My dad mentioned it often in his letters written home during the war.

My grandfather died in 1952.

My grandmother moved to Ste. Hyacinthe at some time after that date to be closer to my aunt. I remember staying with my grandmother in her apartment on avenue Després.

　
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My grandmother kept a diary of her last trip to England. In the last pages of the diary she wrote about leaving the apartment and staying with my aunt and uncle as they looked for a seniors residence. She ended up in Montreal at the Griffith McConnell residence where she died at the age of 99.

Traf reunion: part 2 (Montreal)

I met up with her on my short walk around the McGill campus. She has been there a long time. What was Royal Victoria College - the women's residence - is now the Music department.

She was there in my mom's days at McGill and I certainly remember her from my time there as well.

I travelled by bus to my school reunion. Coming into the city I wondered where exactly the train tracks were. Windsor Station that we came into from Lachute is now closed. The view from the bus looked quite familiar and it was along the same route.

I took the Metro from the bus terminal - now Gare Centrale - to the stop near my Bed and Breakfast accomodation. I had to cross Sherbrooke Street which was very busy.

I easily found my B&B on a side street just going up the mountain. It was an old house that had been renovated. It was quiet and quite convenient for where I wanted to be. Traf was a 10 minute walk away.

I walked around the McGill campus. Many of the buildings looked to be the same - at least from the outside. The students looked to be younger.

I also walked down to Rue Ste. Catherine to the Anglican Cathedral. The outside of the Bay looked very familar. I walked through the building which was once Eaton's. I wonder what Timothy Eaton would have thought of the new boutiques in the building.

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I walked over to Traf for the morning event. The streets were much the same and the walk up the hill on Simpson Street was just as steep as I remembered.

Actually the streets are not quite the same - as McGregor is now named Doctor Penfield. Strangely enough across the street from Traf there was an old street sign with McGregor still on it.

I walked around the area and remembered very well the boarders walks. I also remembered the restaurants we used to frequent when we were let out on our own without being supervised by a teacher. We were not supposed to cross Sherbrooke Street on our own but of course we sometimes did.

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Saturday morning I walked over to the Metro station to go back to the Gare Centrale to take my bus back to Ottawa. Stepping into the station, there was a very distinctive smell which I remembered from many years ago. Was that the smell of the rubber tires?

Traf reunion: part 1 (the school)

I had signed up to go to this not expecting to meet too many people from my class of 1968. I did not meet too many but I was still glad that I went. The encounters were good and it was good to be in Montreal again.



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The first event was a talk at the school. There were 3 of us for that. The talk was excellent - on Montreal's old buildings and how they have been renovated. The Powerpoint pictures added to the talk. It made me think of Ottawa's old buildings and how they have been renovated.



Then we went for lunch at the Café des Beaux-Arts at the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal. There were 2 more classmates there. It was interesting to hear everone's life journey since we graduated 40 years ago.

Then in the evening it was back to the school. Again there were only three of us from the class of 1968.

There were displays from various class years. There was wine and cheese. There were tours of the school. That was interesting as I had not been there in over 20 years. Trying to remember how things were was sort of fun but a challenge too.

The library used to be the gym. On the wall there were listings of McGill graduates as the school has always had close connections with the university. My name was there as I graduate with a B.A. in 1972.

Then it was time for dinner and picture taking of the graduating class. It was nice to see almost 15 folks from the class of 1958. Maybe when we get to our 50th reunion we can do better on the numbers.

Bookmobiles

This is one of the 2 bookmobiles that the Ottawa Public Library has. I see them parked at the branch where I often go to return my library books.





Have you ever used a bookmobile? They have to be well organized to use all the space and have special shelves so that the books do not slide around.

When I was growing up in Lachute, an enterprising member of the community arranged for the McGill McLennan Travelling Library to stop in the town. This bookmobile served areas of rural Quebec. The local library facilities in English were fairly limited but I do not think the French language facilities were much better.

I remember getting large piles of children's books. I have enjoyed reading for a very long time.