Sitting in a memory chair

   Sunday evening, my wife Christine was in the living room watching TV. I realized it would be unfair to ask her to not watch a TV show while I have a quiet spot to write so I moved my laptop to the back room of our house. I had to clear a bit of path as, yes, we do have a lot stuff in our home.
   At the farthest back point of the room sits an antique oak desk with a fold down front. It has been with our family for more years than I have been alive. It belonged to my Grandfather McFadyen, my mum’s father. My Grandfather McFadyen died in 1932 and that was 16 years before I was born. I am not sure how long before that he owned the drop leaf desk. It used to have many story books on the bottom shelf. Ones I remember included the early 1940s Dave Dawson and Freddy Farmer World war II adventure books. 
   I am also sitting in grandfather’s chair where I am told he sat and listened to Gaelic music records as he longed to return to the Isle of Tiree. His daughter, my Aunt Jean went to Tiree long after grandpa’s death and thought Tiree was a bit sparse and said she couldn’t understand why he would want to go back. My grandparents were also from Edinburgh and they came to Ontario, and later to Wapella, Saskatchewan. They farmed there for a short while and that is where my mother was born in 1911. A few years later, they moved to Winnipeg and grandpa worked as the caretaker at the Somerset block on Portage Avenue. That building is still in use  and is immediately east of the Canada Life Centre, home of the Winnipeg Jets. I have in my possession, a reference document for Grandpa McFadyen, signed by many of the Somerset block tenants from the early 1900s to 1920’s.
   The old desk I am sitting at has some memorabilia in it, but not from grandpa but a bit more recent past. There are some of our grandchildren’s pictures and there’s a faded cushion cover from the Royal Winnipeg Rifles Regiment where my dad served in World War II. There’s a hospital ID tab from my brother’s birth in 1938. A Town of Neepawa hat pin from the centennial in 1983. There’s a Royal Winnipeg Rifles hat badge or at least I think that’s what it is.
   All this leads me up to some poignant moments in our family history. My mother died at age 75 in 1986. Some months later, my dad was in a contemplative mood and I said. “You miss mum don’t you? He said he did and that they had been together 54 years. And then he said something that struck me as strange. “She has a baby brother buried out on the farm at Wapella.” I stored that memory up and after dad died, and I was visiting Aunt Jean, I told her the baby brother story. She had no idea and was taken aback. People in those days didn’t always talk about such things. Shortly after the baby’s death it seems, they left the farm and came to Winnipeg.
   On Dad’s side, he too lost a brother, an eight year old, and very shortly after that, the family left Christieville, Quebec and moved to Emo, Ontario and then to Winnipeg. It’s an interesting similarity of events that brought both families to Winnipeg after the death of a child.
   What does all this mean? Not a lot I guess, except to say that life goes on until it stops. I am sure the families both grieved in their own way. A lot of time has passed since my grandparents from both sides came to Winnipeg, both very much working class men and stay at home wives, as most people were in those days and the intervening years.
   I have written a lot of this information into a family history booklet. The 1900s, especially prior to 1960 brought some hard times. Breaking land, harsh road conditions, especially in winter. Two world wars and the Korean war served up huge doses of grief and hardship. We all need to honour our parents and grandparents and I admire those who have written up the many community history books, we have a dozen or more on our shelves and refer to them every week. We stand on the shoulders of giants even if some of our ancestors were slight in stature. They were great men and women who, for the most part served their families, their communities and their countries very  well. May they rest in peace and be well remembered.
   Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are the writer’s personal views and are not to be taken as being the view of the Banner & Press staff.