Lil was born in the white house at the end of the long curving laneway. It has returned to the earth now. It had an orchard, with an August apple tree; fields ploughed by her father with two horses, one named Bessie; and a barn with hens, chickens and a rooster, and cows whose milk provided family income. There was a smaller barn with pigs and wee piglets, a source of joy in a child’s life.
There was also a front garden. We see it in the photos of our grandparents’ 50th wedding anniversary. It had lilacs and roses and peonies. It was the access to the front door, which went into the parlour, which had an organ and ferns. Only the Methodist minister was welcome in the parlour, except when grandmother played hymns and “serious” music.
Life moved to the rhythm of the seasons. The kitchen garden provided food to put by for the winter, in jars or in sand in the cold cellar under the house. Butter was churned, milk was separated and sold in tins left at the end of the laneway, bread was made in the wood stove in the kitchen, which also provided the heat in winter and hot water for doing the washing in a “machine” moved by hand while seated on a milking stool. Hay in the barn’s loft sustained the animals over winter. The horses drank water from a barrel near the summer kitchen door, fed by a pump. There was no electricity or running water. Living took courage.
Lil was the last child of her mother Mary May Warman (48) and her father John (55), born four years after her youngest brother Lloyd and seven years after her youngest sister Jessie. Her sisters Grace and Nan had already grown up and gone away to Normal School to become teachers. Earle and Carman were still home, tormentors of little sisters! Havelock finally left during the Depression, on a harvest train to Saskatchewan, to find work and support the family; Lil in turn went to Swift Current alone to arrange his care in his last years. Her bedroom had a bed with a straw mattress and down pillows, and a chamber pot beneath it. In the winter, welcome heat came up the two staircases from the kitchen stove. Baths were once a week in a huge tub in the kitchen, near the stove.
Lil thrived. After morning chores, she went by buggy or sleigh to a one-room school, where she used a slate and chalk to do her work. Back home, clothes were sewn or knit, rags became floor mats, and hand-made quilts graced the beds. When it was time for high school, the girls in the family boarded with relatives in Harcourt. Her father had been a carpenter and knew the value of education. When she graduated, she followed her sisters to Moncton and went to Business College. The older sisters supported the younger ones, providing money for board. Lil found work in a Moncton office and flourished. She was smart and well liked. Life took courage during those years - War raged in Europe, our family lost young friends, and everyone worried.
Lil loved children. She graced my birthday parties. Did you know that she invented adding bananas to peanut butter sandwiches? She did this after the War ended, as only one stalk of bananas made it to Moncton during the War – I know, because I was allowed to choose one from that stalk. There were no toys, but having an aunt like Lil to read to me was wonderful – she listened, and made a small person feel big! She helped us in our wartime garden too.
Uncle Ed came into her life. He was a gentle and caring man, perfect for Aunt Lil. Unfortunately, he had a mother who did not wish any of her sons to marry, so the couple were finally married by “eloping” to Halifax in 1950. Lil and Ed were married in my family’s church, the United Church on Windsor Street – I am the child in the wedding photos. They lived in Moncton, with an apartment on Mountain Road, and were so happy to be together. Ed was away from home often, working as a commercial traveller, but still they made friendships as a couple that lasted decades.
Anne was born in the “old” Moncton Hospital, near downtown. My mother visited, and I sat outside on the steps. Children were not allowed to visit hospitals in those days, probably because there were epidemics of polio. Lil waved to me from her window. I remember.
These are Lil’s “Roots”. I will leave it to others to write of her “Wings”. I feel deeply blessed to have been part of her life.
