The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.2001, Page 26

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THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 56 #3
nied her by train to Saskatoon. A highlight
of each trip was a visit to my beloved 'Aunt
Emily', when she was in the city, and when
she was well. Always there would be coffee
and cookies in her tiny closet of a room,
and sometimes a visit to the riverbank, with
the ■ marvellous multi-coloured fountain
near the Bess. Once I recall walking slowly
to the Kinsmen park containing the minia-
ture train - a different one than is ridden on
by kids today. Then it was back to Maud's
run-down, falling down old porticoed
mansion on Spadina. You had to watch
your step on the front steps and front plat-
form; the boards would flex and some had
broken.
Emily still made wonderful Easter vis-
its to our farm, where she would stay up to
a month or two at a time. She always pulled
her weight, whether helping in the kitchen,
at the woodpile, or caring for me. I remem-
ber her fondness for jigsaw puzzles, play-
ing cards, and subtly teaching a small boy
about her attitudes to life. Her stays were
probably longer during my mother's con-
valescent period.
Maud's old house, what remained of it,
was bought, I am told, by the Catholic
Church nearby, which then re-sold it when
the Sheraton was constructed. I understand
that Maude had a room or suite in the
upper floors of the Bessborough hotel until
she died.
“Retiring” to Betel
Emily left Saskatoon for good around
1953, to stay in the Betel home at Gimli.
This home, on the Gimli main street, has
now been replaced by a modern nursing
home. She will already have been well-
known there, due to all the summers she
worked.
In 1955, at the age of 12, I was sent to
visit relatives in Winnipeg. In due time, I
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