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Mary Stocks & Ron
I have known Mary and her sister since I was a teenager. They are our second cousins, the daughters of Ida Babcock and Herb Stocks. Since they are about 10 years older than my sister and I, we were in awe…
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My Father’s Spiritual Journey
As I mentioned in my previous post, my father, David Jacob Toews, was born into a Mennonite family in Russia in 1914. Mennonites have a very strong sense of family, and maintaining their tradition is very important. As a group they…
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My Father’s Early Life
In an earlier post, I mentioned that our family moved from Uxbridge, Ontario, to the small town of Bothwell, Ontario, when I was 9 years old. But before I write that story, I need to tell you a bit more about…
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Fashion Show – 1950s Style
When my sister, Jeannette, and I were young, our mother made many of our dresses. Recently, I was looking through some old photos and thought it would be fun to post a few of them. A fashion show of sorts, from…
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Uxbridge Recollections
It’s interesting what memories pop up from our childhood – snapshots of life that emerge in full colour from a gray cloud of time. The photo above shows what downtown Uxbridge looked like when I lived there in the 1950’s. I…
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My Father’s New Car
Memories from Uxbridge in 1955 – a green Chevrolet Bel Air, the Everly Brothers and the Williamson’s. I don’t recall much about the cars that my family owned when I was very young – except for a car seat that my parents…
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My Early School Years
This is my first alma mater, Uxbridge Public School as it looks now on Google. From Sept. of 1952 when I started kindergarten through to the beginning of Grade 5, this was my destination on school days. A few random memories…
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Hurricane Hazel and the Old Mill
I mentioned previously that the infamous Hurricane Hazel roared through Uxbridge while we were living there. The date was Oct. 15, 1954 and it produced an intriguing childhood memory – wearing kleenex for socks in my shoes. Hurricane Hazel is the…
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The New House and The Swing
My parents decided to build a house on the edge of Uxbridge while we were living in the old house I mentioned in my previous post. I don’t know how they came to that decision. It seems like such a daunting…
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The Old House and My Father
I don’t have a lot of memories of my father. He died of a sudden illness when I was 12, but one of my favourite memories comes from the time we lived in this old house. The house is in Uxbridge,…
