The Cathedral Communications Committee has invited members of the congregation to share their Christmas memories. Below, read a story from Marilyn Lewell.
Apart from wonderful times with my family, my Christmas memories involve music. Having sung in choirs since an early age, including school, church and community choirs, I remember singing Handel’s MESSIAH for the first time at 12 years of age, and almost annually since.
A special year was when my husband and I lined up outside Kings College Cambridge to be in the congregation for the famous Christmas Eve Carol service. It was magical.
Perhaps the most moving memory involved volunteering for the nurses’ choir in our uniforms, as we sang carols while carrying candles and visiting each unit of the hospital where we worked. Needless to say, that is no longer a tradition in hospitals but it was very special to the patients and nurses alike.
The Cathedral Communications Committee has invited members of the congregation to share their Christmas memories. Below, read a story from Ann Deveau. Stay tuned for other stories as we enter the Christmas season!
I’ve always despised the ubiquitous Christmas song, Little Drummer Boy. Our class choir had to sing it umpteen-dozen times to prepare for the school’s Christmas concert, but I was one of the off-key singers expressly told NOT to sing aloud. It was torture to spend hours pretending to sing PA-RUM-PUM-PUM-PUM and the rest of it. My little brother knew how much the song annoyed me, so, naturally, he played the record or sang it as often as possible.
Fast forward many years. My brother made sure that his children knew how to bug me. The minute I would arrive at their home for Christmas festivities, he’d say: “Hit it, boys.” Two impish faces would light up as they loudly sang Little Drummer Boy and waited for my inevitable and exaggerated groans.
My brother died when his sons were aged 9 and 11. A Christmas or two later, I opened my gift from them. The nephews had carefully made a music CD for me, downloading 19 different versions (including the same one by Johnny Mathis twice!) of Little Drummer Boy. They giggled in anticipation of my usual reaction, but I dissolved in a puddle of tears, laughter and hugs.
The nephews are now 30 and 28, but I still play that homemade CD every December. I grit my teeth at the annoying tune, but I bask in the warm love of family that underpins the creation of the musical collection. PA-RUM-PUM-PUM-PUM………………
Had it not been for a conversation with a nun from Chicago, Kurt Schmidt might never had ended up in Fredericton. Between then and now, there were stops in Cape Breton, Tanzania, Tacoma, Halifax and Windsor, Nova Scotia.
Kurt, 45, was raised a Roman Catholic in Littleton, just outside Denver, Colorado, and attended a Jesuit high school.
“I grew up in the Roman Catholic tradition,” he said. “It’s pretty deep in my family. My mom is the only one in her family not a monk or a nun at one time. We’re Irish Catholic and German Catholic.”
After high school he studied mathematics and African studies at Colorado College, and connected with a small monastic community, called Nada, which had a relationship with his college. In his final year, Kurt did an independent study that included a stay at the monastery.
“While there I followed the rules of the monastery,” he said. “I was living as a monk while doing the study.”
There, over chores, he met the nun whose conversation would change his life.
“She asked me what I was doing after university, and said ‘why don’t you check out this remarkable community in Cape Breton?’”
She’d visited and had written a story about L’Arche Cape Breton. He read the story, and promptly wrote a letter asking if they had any room for him.
The L’Arche website says it is a worldwide organization that creates inclusive communities where the members, with and without intellectual disabilities, share life together. Each member receives support to grow, achieve goals, and contribute their gifts and abilities to create a more colourful, welcoming, creative, compassionate, and joyful community. Members live life together while working, learning and sharing their gifts. It has strong Catholic roots and United church influences.
From Colorado to Cape Breton
Kurt’s letter to L’Arche was obviously well-received.
“Four weeks later I was on a plane to this mysterious place called Cape Breton,” said Kurt. “It was my first experience of intentional community living. L’Arche Cape Breton is the only rural L’Arche community. It has a very special character. It was a really transforming experience for me.”
Transforming indeed, because while there, he met Catherine, his future wife and an Anglican, who was from Guelph, Ontario.
Kurt spent one year at L’Arche as an assistant, in exchange for room and board and a small stipend, “but it’s not really a practical career move,” he said.
From Cape Breton, he moved to Tanzania to teach for a year with Jesuit Volunteers International, another communal living experience in “the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen, and another non-paying job.”
Meanwhile, since this was 1999, he and Catherine kept in contact through letters, though he knows many were lost in the mail.
Married life
“On my return to North America, my first stop was Cape Breton,” he said. “Catherine and I got engaged.”
They spent their engagement year in another L’Arche community, this time in Tacoma, Washington. It was here, through L’Arche’s help, that he was able to pay off his student loan.
The couple was married in 2001 in Ancaster, Ontario at Canterbury Hills, an Anglican camp. It was an Anglican-Catholic service to honour the religious backgrounds of the bride and groom. Kurt’s uncle, a priest, was one of the celebrants.
The date was Sept. 9, and those guests who hadn’t left Ontario by 10 September, including his parents, were stuck there for a week as North American air travel was halted due to the 9-11 attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
Kurt and Catherine chose Halifax to begin married life, and as they arrived Sept. 11, learned of the attacks.
That first year of marriage was a lean one, said Kurt, with Catherine finding work in home health care. Kurt, ineligible to work in Canada, managed to do some private tutoring.
A year later, his employment visa came through just in time for him to find work as a math teacher at King’s-Edgehill, a prestigious, very proper old Anglican boarding school in Windsor, N.S. He’d sent his resume on a whim. The day before it arrived, the math teacher had backed out of his contract.
With just eight days before the term began, they made a very quick move to Windsor, ultimately spending four happy years there. For three of those years, Catherine was a student at Dalhousie University, taking occupational therapy certification.
From Windsor to Fredericton
At graduation, Catherine was offered a job in Fredericton, and like she had done for Kurt, he resigned at the end of the term and followed her to the city that is now their home.
I’ve felt like our experience here at the Cathedral has been one of very deep empowerment
Once in Fredericton, Kurt found contract work with NBCC and at the Mi’Kmaq Wolastoqui Centre at the University of New Brunswick.
Their daughter, Rachel, was born in 2007, and after Catherine returned to work, Kurt became a stay-at-home dad, teaching a few courses at UNB as well.
“By the time Rachel was school age, Catherine and I had carved out part-time employment — me teaching and she doing occupational therapy — and both of us home schooling Rachel. It was awesome.”
From 2009-12, Kurt studied part-time for a Masters in Education and taught at UNB, while also homeschooling and taking care of Rachel.
Christ Church Cathedral
Shortly after arriving in Fredericton, their neighbour, Verne Sinclair, told them about the 11:45 service at Christ Church Cathedral.
“At the very first service, we happened to sit behind Nathan and Isabel Cutler,” said Kurt. “After the service, Isabel swung around and made us feel welcome. She really extended a warm welcome. We came and never left!”
Two other women in the congregation — Kirsten McKnight and Cindy Pope — were pregnant, and they and Catherine all gave birth to baby girls within six weeks of each other in early 2007.
“I’ve felt like our experience here at the Cathedral has been one of very deep empowerment,” he said. “We’ve had two deans and found both of them very empowering and the entire congregation has been nothing but empowering.”
In 2017, Kurt was hired as the half-time director of Christian formation at the Cathedral.
“It was the right time for me, our family and the Cathedral,” he said. “I’m working on my own formation as well as others’.”
It’s a cross-generational position with “a spectrum of freedom. It’s been really positive.”
So what’s it been like to make the move from Catholicism to Anglicanism?
“Frankly, I still consider myself a practicing Catholic,” he said. “I don’t experience any conflict. My faith is richer by having two approaches to it. I appreciate being able to explore more Anglican traditions.”
He was preparing for reception (into the Anglican Church) on Easter Sunday, but has had to wait until COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.
Rachel is 13, and attending middle school with her friends. Catherine is an occupational therapist for the New Brunswick Extra-Mural Program. Kurt became a permanent resident of Canada while at Kings Edgehill, and has been a Canadian citizen for more than a decade.
“I’ve lived more than half my life in Canada,” he said, adding, though, that he misses family back home, and he misses the Rocky Mountains “a lot.”
Article written by Gisele McKnight and originally published in the NB Anglican.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The New Brunswick Anglican's new series, My Journey Here, features a member of the Anglican Diocese of Fredericton whose roots are far from New Brunswick. If you are, or know of a parishioner who is from away and would like to tell the story of ‘how I got here,’ send the name and contact information to the editor: <gmcknight at diofton.ca> or (506) 459-1801, ext. 1009.
Fran and I recently spent a very enjoyable hour on lawn chairs on the Cathedral green chatting about her life, and plans after her retirement in June. Fran has been our office administrator for the last eighteen years, and has helped to hold the Cathedral family together with her quiet efficiency and caring.
Fran grew up in Maugerville on the family farm with her parents and is the youngest of four, with two older brothers and one older sister. Her mother operated a small handicraft shop called Homestead Crafts at the roadside for many years, which happily provided a summer job each summer. Growing up on a farm, it was an idyllic life for a kid who loved and named all the barn animals (!) and enjoyed a succession of cats and dogs at her side constantly.
She graduated from Fredericton High School (what is now George Street Middle School) and Teachers' College with a diploma in Home Economics, and then she was off to Montreal to teach. She was just turning 21, teaching middle and high school age students, a couple of whom were even older than she was! The students were wonderful and great fun. A ‘study class’ of approximately 25 teenage boys became a test in creativity. Arrangements were made, after class, if they so wished, to participate in a Chef's Club, which turned out to be very successful. They all loved it. They learned to cook, bake and make a whole meal! And they cleaned up afterward!! When she finally resigned, a group of her most challenging students actually left her a cake and a sweet note at her apartment, saying they would miss her greatly! She was very touched by their sentiment (and their cake, she said, was delicious!!!).
From there, Fran went to the James Bay area of northern Quebec teaching Aboriginal children. She loved the students... they were shy at first but as time went on, they were certainly welcoming as were their families. She found out early on that goose season takes precedence over school classes, as suddenly no one showed up for class for two weeks!! However, the living and working conditions were not the greatest... the water was unhealthy, a number of staff were ill, and there seemed to be huge challenges in receiving a pay cheque. No amount of enquiring or protesting could seem to rectify the issues, so 75 percent of the staff resigned at Christmas.
Back to New Brunswick she came and worked for the federal government, in what was then the Unemployment Insurance Commission. Following that, looking for a change, Fran took a course in Travel Counselling, and became one of the front desk receptionists with Howard Johnson's Motel by the Princess Margaret Bridge. She met lots of interesting guests, including Charles Dutoit, the then conductor of the Montreal Symphony, Mr. Bacardi of Bacardi Rum fame, and had interesting situations arise such as the Tuba player from the Montreal Symphony who chose to practice his instrument at 11 pm! Diplomacy and patience are two highly desirable qualities when you work in the travel industry!
Fran also worked for ten years as a legal secretary in civil litigation at a large local law firm. It was a tremendously busy position. She worked in both English and French as the clients were from all over the Province. After ten years, and after some prayerful thought, and reflection, Fran decided she felt she was being led to make the decision to resign.
So she left the law firm and went to work at a summer job at Green Village, a plant nursery located in Lower Saint Mary’s. It was a job she loved. However, it was only for the summer months. About two months in, Keith and Elinor Joyce told her that the Cathedral secretary would be leaving and asked if she would be interested in the job. Well, the rest is history!
Fran has always loved dogs. When living away, it was difficult to have pets, so once back in New Brunswick, dogs began to reappear. Boots was her first childhood companion - a long-haired Collie, wonderful with kids and families. More recently, there was Sophie, a shepherd/lab, then Simon, a golden retriever, then Jesse, and Jack, both goldens as well. Jack had a bit of a struggle in the beginning of his life, and it took a great deal of patience on Fran's part to finally train him. As she describes the ordeal, her great sense of humour is displayed. Jack and Fran have daily walks on the city trails, in the woods along the Nashwaak River, on city sidewalks and in a large grassy field where they’re allowed to roam. The daily outings are a joy for them both, and keep them both fairly fit.
Fran plans to take a bit of a break for the summer months, deciding where life next will take her. Volunteer work is very appealing and the choices are many so that will take some investigating. She’s also looking very much forward to returning to worship at the Cathedral. At the moment, as spring is gloriously appearing, she is looking forward to working in her beautiful garden, taking lots of photographs, having friends over for a bite to eat, later on making jams and jellies when the berries and fruit are available, taking fun trips here and there, doing lots of baking, summer reading of good books, and re-painting her shed a lovely plum-purple colour, trimmed with white!
I asked Fran if she has any advice. “Simply be grateful for all that our Lord has poured into your life. Look around you and see all the blessings you’ve been given and then see how many blessings you can give to others.”
We wish her well and are glad she will still be an active part of our Cathedral family.
Dalton and Sheila London are familiar faces around the Cathedral. Both participate in the choir, Sunday readings, and in Charis groups. Dalton is also a member of the Religious and Spiritual Care Department at the DECH, takes communion to shut-ins, is a eucharistic assistant, commissioned by the Bishop, and presides over Evening Prayer on Mondays. Lately the Londons have become even more familiar to the community as a result of a recent article in the DAILY GLEANER, about their experience getting back to Canada after cutting short their holiday in France due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Dalton is a native of Woodstock, NB and Sheila is from Nova Scotia. They met while students at Acadia. Dalton then studied at Grenoble, France, where he received a Dd’U in French Literature, and later a post doctorate in Applied Linguistics at the Université de Savoie in Chambéry where they lived for their four full-year sabbaticals.
Prior to completing his doctorate in Grenoble, he was offered positions in Lethbridge, Mount Allison, and UNB. We are thankful that he chose UNB. Sheila received her BA and MA in History from UNB. Both are fluent in the French language.
Dalton was professor at UNB for 30 years, and has been retired for 22. However, it seems he is busier than ever. He volunteers regularly at the DECH, has a passion for photography, (Dalton has approximately 83,000 photos on their iMac), they are noted hosts (they frequently have guests for meals), love to garden, both are frequently seen at musical events and concerts, sing in the Cathedral choir, and are active participants in the lives of their grandchildren.
Dalton and Sheila have a son, Michael, (Vancouver) and a daughter, Marianne, who teaches at Bliss Carman Middle School. Her children are also familiar around the Cathedral. Sebastian, Caroline, and Christian are all members of the Server Team. However, Sebastian, has just recently returned from studying in his first year at St. Andrews University at St. Andrews, Scotland, where he is pursuing courses in Medicine. All three children are very musical and excel in the Fredericton Music Festival each year. This year, however, it appears that experience will be on hold due to the recent epidemic.
Since retirement, Dalton, Dalton has for the past 20 years volunteered in the Palliative Care Unit at the DECH and he and Sheila have spent 19 winters in France, 17 of which have been spent in Nice, on the French Riviera. They are both active in the Anglican Church there, Holy Trinity, and Dalton has volunteered at the Hôpital de Cimiez for the past 15 winters. He frequently shares with us many of the beautiful scenes there. This year, however, they had to cut their stay short. They were very fortunate in that they were on a plane to Frankfurt, Germany, on their journey home, when all of France went into shut-down! Just in time!! They were surprised at the ease with which they crossed borders without much checking on their health status, regarding the Covid-19. They are now undergoing the requisite self isolation, and so far all is well. We pray that they remain in good health, and we can all see one another again soon.
I'll remember Catherine's smile the most. She was often quiet, but her smile was big and bright.
She flashed that beautiful smile many times after arriving in Canada four years ago: the first taste of sweet, cold ice cream; the first time she decorated a Christmas tree and the colourful, twinkling lights came on; her first doll and some stuffed animals to decorate her very own bedroom; receiving a new shawl which she wrapped around herself with real fashion flair; accepting compliments on her latest hairstyle or new shoes; dancing joyfully with the Making Africa Proud troupe; getting money unexpectedly to add minutes to her mobile phone account; planning to attend her high school graduation in June 2020.
There probably wasn't a lot for Catherine to smile about in the refugee camp where she was born in the Ivory Coast in 2000. Life was miserable. Home was a leaky shack without electricity or running water. Food was scrounged daily; many times, there wasn't any. The camp had too many desperate and violent people. Medical care was non-existent. She attended school for a couple years, but it closed, which left an intelligent girl lacking in literacy and numeracy. It was the only life she had ever known, and when she got to Canada and people kept asking about her goals, she had none at first. It had seemed pointless to dream in the refugee camp.
In Canada Catherine found a warm welcome, shelter, safety, plenty of food, nice clothes, new friends, fun times. She could go to school now and get medical attention. She started thinking about becoming a nurse or a hair stylist some day, especially after the liver transplant gave her a new lease on life. She was studying to take the test to become a Canadian citizen.
The team sponsoring the refugee family admired how she honoured her parents by always helping them with household chores and errands. We were proud of how she stoically accepted all the medical procedures and the endless medications. We had such high hopes for this lovely girl who deserved a long, productive life after all she had been through.
News of her death made me cry. It was like losing a member of my extended family. It seemed so sad and so unfair for Catherine, for her parents who had brought her to Canada for a better life, and to the team who had worked so hard to raise money, provide support and friendship, and help the family adjust to life in Canada. While upset that her life was cut short, we are grateful that she had a few years of happiness in Canada. She was baptized here, and we are sure that she has been promoted to eternal glory.
A beautiful spirit has moved on, and Catherine's smile will forever light up the heavens. Our prayers continue for her grieving family now that she is in a place where there is no sorrow.
--by Ann Deveau
Please note: A memorial service and reception will be held at Christ Church (Parish) Church after the state of emergency has been lifted and public gatherings can resume.
Christmas comes gradually to our house—gradually and somewhat gently. Of course, it wasn’t always like that. When I was a child, Christmas arrived suddenly! It came on Christmas morning when we got out of bed and after opening the living room door, found that the room had been magically transformed with a fully decorated tree.
Santa always left our stockings at the foot of our beds. I still recall waking up and wiggling my toes to see if the stocking was there—and the joy and wonderment of finding it and realizing who had put it there! When you moved it with your foot, it made a special sound that cannot be compared to anything else.
But it all happened on that one day—which made the whole experience that much more exciting! Mind you, there were still events that led up to Christmas. Advertising on radio and TV still encouraged us to get our shopping done early, and there was still the Santa Claus parade. More important than the parade was the opening of “Toyland.” Yes, my friends, I remember when there were no malls, the stores were on one or two streets downtown, and they did not keep a full selection of toys all year long. “Toyland” meant that Christmas was really coming!
But in spite of this limited hype, things didn’t start to get serious for me until the party on the last day of school. After school ended, I would get perhaps as much as two or three dollars from Mom to go downtown and buy something special for my grandmother. It was usually a nick-nack to go on her mantle. Dogs, cats and other cute animals were very popular with me and her other grandchildren. As a result, Nanny’s mantle resembled a menagerie. I am sure that many a saleslady was silently screaming at how much time it took me to choose just the right piece.
On Christmas Eve morning, my sister and I would take the bus to Nanny’s house to get a pair of her stockings. She wore those special “old lady” stockings that were perfect for hanging up. Nylons just didn’t seem to work! We would phone her in the morning, “Nanny, do you have any of your stockings you could let us borrow?” The answer was always “Yes” for her many grandchildren. I’m surprised that Christmas Day found her with any stockings left to wear.
The bus ride to her house was also special. For me, bus rides were always special. But this one, more so. Mom would give us bus fare—a shiny five cent piece, “Put this inside your mitten and don’t take it out until you get on the bus! Nanny will give you another one for the ride back.”
The 2019 Nativity Scene at Christ Church Cathedral
Now, we could have walked down the street and taken the West Loop bus that went down the hill, and we would have been at Nanny’s house in no time. But I always liked to take the bus going in the opposite direction. The cost was the same, but you got a much longer ride. You traveled along Water Street, where you could see the Christmas lights and the people hurrying into the stores. They were getting on the bus, loaded down with mysterious packages! People seemed to act differently because it was Christmas Eve. People smiled more, and we often heard those magical words, Merry Christmas.
Over the years our habits have changed. Christmas doesn’t arrive as suddenly as when I was a child. I couldn’t possibly do what my parents did on Christmas Eve. But we are still a family that decorates the tree just before Christmas—as opposed to just before Remembrance Day—and I am, purposely, one of the last on my street to decorate the outside of my house. But mid- November finds us at the tree farm picking out our tree and around the end of November, we start to see hints of Christmas. The ornate wall hanging suddenly shows up. Then, a bit later, the everyday mugs disappear, replaced by the Christmas mugs. By Advent Sunday, the ceramic Christmas tree will have appeared. And a bit later, my well-thumbed copy of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” calls out to me. But the tree in all its glorious and majestic splendor is still left until almost Christmas. On the other hand, our decorations stay up and the outside lights stay lit until Twelfth Night.
Bringing out the Christmas decorations is always special. Seeing that particular favourite ornament is like welcoming back an old friend. Seeing the boys’ special ornaments always brings back memories of Christmases past. And even trying to figure out how strings of lights could possibly have twisted themselves that much while sitting for eleven months in a motionless box is more or less tolerable!
In spite of having celebrated many Christmases, we are still caught up in the rush of Christmas shopping and the dash to make sure that we have those last minute things, which always seem to get forgotten.
But even so, our Christmas seems to come gradually and gently. Perhaps that fits with how the baby Jesus arrived. May your Christmas be joyous and gentle.
They say that the heart always comes home for Christmas and perhaps that is why so many memories of Christmas’s past seem to fill our minds at this special time of the year.
We’ve been asking congregation members to share some of their special Christmas memories with us. Here’s what the attendees of the December Medley Tea had to say.
For Rita Veysey, the thrill of Christmas was the Christmas Sock! This much-anticipated sock and the gathering of the entire family for Christmas dinner are part of Rita’s favourite memories.
Elizabeth Smith lived in Saint John when she was a youngster, and her best Christmas present was a cardboard grocery store complete with canned goods. She was six years old when she received this gift and was mightily impressed with it. She recalled scurrying next door to share her good luck with her friend, who had also received a grocery store, and hers was made out of wood!
Lots and lots of snow and hunting for a Christmas tree in the woods are fond memories shared by Yvonne Milward. Yvonne grew up near Rusagonis on the family homestead and remembers that her father would take them out the weekend before Christmas into the woods to choose a tree. Invariably, in spite of his warnings before the tree was cut down, the children would pick one much too large, and it would wind up having to be substantially shortened before coming into the house. Apparently, little ones have eyes that are too big for both trees and their bellies!
Fern Wolstenholme recalls every Christmas (without fail) getting up very early and getting into the car to head to Wirral and to Welsford. Fern, her sister, and her parents would leave Sussex and travel through rain, sunshine, sleet, or snow to spend Christmas with both sets of grandparents. The girls were allowed to take one thing from under the tree for the journey and usually, they chose a book. Of course, the Christmas trees were real back then and were decorated with real candles, which would be lit for a short time. Fern said that her aunts were probably waiting behind the parlour door with a bucket of water, just in case!
Althea Barlow said that when she was little, the children were never allowed to see the tree before Christmas morning. What anticipation they must have felt when they tumbled out of bed that morning!
The fondest memory that Joan Harrison shared was of the first night that she was allowed to attend the midnight Christmas Eve service with her family. She was only about six years old, and it snowed that night as they walked the mile or so together from their home to the Anglican church in Plaster Rock. She can still picture the beauty of that evening.
Ken Howlett began every Christmas Eve as a young boy with a family skate on Lake Edward, followed by going to church together. When they returned home from church, they would put a lunch out for Santa before heading to bed. Ken also remembers the sparklers and real candles that decorated the tree and the warning to little ones to sit down and not touch the tree. The mischievous twinkle in Ken’s eye as he related this story leads one to believe that those warnings were well advised!
They say that the heart always comes home for Christmas …
When Carolyn Howlett was six years old, all she wanted for Christmas was a doll carriage. There seemed to be a dearth of doll carriages in the shopping area close to New Denmark. Thankfully, Carolyn had an aunt and uncle living in Toronto and her mother wrote to them to share her dilemma. Off they went to Eaton’s and a doll carriage was shipped from Toronto to New Denmark. For little ones, Carolyn says it was all about the cookies and the presents!
Wendy Brien recalls the Christmas that they spent in what is now the family cottage in Maquadavic. They had moved to New Brunswick from Silver Springs outside of Washington, after her Father suffered an injury. The log cabin on Maquadavic Lake was built by Wendy’s grandfather, and they lived there for a year or so before moving into town. Wendy told us how beautiful and magical a place the cabin was with its huge stone fireplace and still is magical to this day. She remembers an owl who got to spend Christmas with them, due to a broken wing. He was a well-behaved owl, unless he smelt smoke. Then he would hoot and hoot. No need for a smoke alarm in that house!
Mavis Cater, and her daughter Amy Elizabeth, both commented on the year that Amy Elizabeth received a bouncing ball. lt seems it was one of Amy Elizabeth’s favourite toys and one on which she could sit and bounce joyfully all around the house. Mavis said, somewhat wistfully, “I wish I had one as well.” She may have been expressing what many mothers feel at the end of Christmas Day, as well-sugared children head off to bed. “Oh for a bouncy ball…” Mavis also told us how on Christmas Day, she loved to head over to her granny’s house in Williamsburg. She had a young cousin just a year older than her, who due to having lost her Mother at an early age, lived with her grandmother. She would receive lots and lots of toys—more than enough for her and Mavis to enjoy!
… so many memories of Christmas’s past seem to fill our minds
When her children were about two and four years old, Juanita Fowler recalls finally getting them off to bed and asleep so that gifts from Santa could be placed under the tree on Christmas Eve. While the children did indeed get into bed, sleep apparently was a little farther away than Juanita thought. As presents were being placed carefully around the tree, a little voice was heard whispering, “Page you got your carriage!” Paige wound up spending the night sleeping with her mother, and Kevin slept with his father to prevent any further destruction of Santa’s surprises.
Lois Baker’s next-door neighbour could have helped Juanita solve the problem of sneak peeks on Christmas Eve. They had six rambunctious little ones to try to corral in their rooms, as presents went under the tree. The neighbour solved the problem by tying the bedroom doors together during this process!
Lois’s father was the true Christmas lover in the family. They had a big old house where rooms could be shut off and not heated when not being used. Much to his delight, the Christmas tree went up in one of these rooms. That meant that it could stay up long after Christmas. Sometimes it would stay up until Easter. Every Sunday, Lois, her sister, and her father would light the fireplace and sing Christmas carols! That’s a true Christmas afficionado.
One Christmas was especially jolly for Mary Pugh’s little brother. He was running around and round the dining room table, full of more energy than usual because the seven-year-old had indulged in brandy butter! Mary’s family lived in a big Victorian house in England with a huge staircase. Like Althea Barlow’s family, the Christmas tree was never put up until after the children were tucked up in bed on Christmas Eve. One can imagine the expressions on the children’s faces the next morning!
As we head towards Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, keep checking this website for more stories of Christmas past.
We welcome Emily Leavitt and Holden O'Donnell to the Cathedral summer staff and are pleased they are part of our cathedral family for the time.
Holden O'Donnell and Emily Leavitt
Emily Leavitt is a 2016 graduate of Fredericton High School now studying for a music degree at Mt. Allison University. She hopes to go on to a Masters of Music when she completes her undergraduate degree. While at Fredericton High she was a member of the Pit Orchestra, the Glee Choir, the Concert Band and took part in many musical productions. She also participated in the FHS Kats Kitchen. Her experience runs the gamut from volunteering in several music programs and workshops to clerking at Westminster Books, working with Meals On Wheels and even being a polls revision officer for the municipal election.
Holden O’Donnell will be entering his grade 12 year in the fall at Fredericton High. He is very interested in history, particularly that of New Brunswick and Fredericton which is one of the reasons for his having applied for the job as guide. He is a two-time national finalist at the Canadian Geographic Challenge, is working toward his bronze level Duke of Edinburgh Award and member at the Fredericton South Youth Roundtable. His work experience is varied as an umpire in 2017 with the New Brunswick Umpire Association as well as a warehouse and production worker at Valley Graphics.
Meet Carole and Michael Hines and their 11 year old grey cat, Foggy.
They both come from suburbs of Birmingham , England, and met while working at the University of Birmingham. Michael was a Research Technician with the Bio-engineering Department, and the University of New Brunswick recruited him to join their Engineering faculty here. Michael came out first to scout the idea, and then promptly proposed marriage to Carole long distance over the phone! They were married within two months after that call, in 1970, after previously being engaged for four years.
Carole and Michael
When first in Fredericton, they attended St. John's Anglican Church in the Parish of Douglas and Nashwaaksis on Fredericton's north side, where they lived. After several moves, and settling on the south side of the river, they came to the Cathedral, drawn there by an ALPHA course [read about ALPHA here]. There they met new friends, among them Isabel Cutler, who was most welcoming, so they stayed!
Carole and Michael have one daughter, Samantha, and one granddaughter, Willow, who live in Nova Scotia. They remain a close family and are together as often as possible.
When Dean Keith Joyce and family moved from the Deanery about six years ago, Odell House was deteriorating rapidly because of its age and because it had been sitting empty for almost a year. There was great concern about the future of the building, especially if it remained unoccupied. The Hines’, feeling directed by God, their appreciation of historical buildings and a desire to hopefully be of help, volunteered to live there, and care for the building and garden until decisions were made about the house's future. In the past six years, they have made many improvements to update and brighten the interior. Bishop and Chapter directed that exterior repairs needed to be made by replacing the roof and by carrying out repairs on the veranda and porch this past summer. The Lychgate was designed, made and installed by a close friend of Michael's. The garden has also been re-shaped and revived (after previous hard work done by Nathan Cutler), hopefully for the enjoyment of all.
Gardening is Michael's hobby, and he does it well. Winter seems long and he is anxious to return to his garden.
He has also been a member of Rotary (held the position of President for both the North and South Side Rotary Club (not at the same time!), directed and participated in the maintenance of Camp Rotary at Grand Lake for fifteen years, is a Freemason, and is an active member of the Guild of Saint Joseph at the Cathedral. Michael is also an ardent Toronto Maple Leafs Hockey fan, and even sported an authentic Leaf jersey with "HINES" prominently printed on the back!
Gardening is Michael's hobby, and he does it well.
Carole is an active volunteer with the Cathedral, with Outreach on Monday mornings, coordinator and active volunteer of Helping Hands, member of the Health Ministry Team, and member of the Cathedral greeters team. She is also a member of a Charis Group, and she and Michael both have participated in the ALPHA program.
Michael had a quadruple bypass in Saint John three years ago, but it didn't slow him down for long. He has been able to pass along the wisdom from that experience to other members of our congregation to try to help them through a similar situation, as others had helped and supported him.
Both are so willing to help whenever possible. When asked if they would pass on any "words of wisdom," they suggested that if you want to meet people and make friends in a new country, city or church, just volunteer, become active and join clubs that interest you. You will be glad you did! We are certainly pleased they joined the Cathedral family.
