Glebe Report - Volume 8 Number 1 - January 1980

,
GlebeA neighbour on Fifth Ave. invited him to curl
on the natural ice in the Horicultural Bldg. at
Just home from university, he rushed to the sugar bush to work a week Lansdowne. He quickly made it his game, winning
non-stop to help produce the finest Grade A maple syrup he has ever tne Governor-General's trophy as third, in 1935
tasted. The year was 1906. Dr. Thomas D. Higginson - "Doc", now a long- aad, as skip in 1936 and 1941.Governor-General
time resident of the Glebe was 25. His fortune, being the youngest of Byng came to watch then and, in 1972, another
seven, was not to inherit the farm near Hawkesbury, Ontario, but to be- Gdvernor-General, Michener, made him an honorary
come a dentist at Toronto University. A third-generation Canadian, his member of the Governor-General's Curling Club. He
family had come from all parts of the British isles.
most relishes, though, his victory over a visiting
Doc's father was a part-time farmer, carpenter by trade, and Hawkes- Scottish team.
bury town assessor. He also served as a captain during the Fenian Raids. "My father was a great MacDonald man,"he says.
Doc remembers with pride that his father and-uncle built the Holy
Doc can picture MacDonald's face as he saw him
Trinity Church with financing from the Hamilton family, owners of the
as a small child at a rally at Vankleek Hill near
town Lumber Company. After the father's death in 1900, the family pro- Hawkesbury.He remembers Sir Wilfred Laurier as
duced lime for the lumber mill. Dr. Higginson watched skilled bushmen perfectly groomed, dignifed in a way to keep you
with cross-cut saws cut "in a surprisingly fast time" 300 cords of wood, at a distanc e - a man the ladies, I fancy, would
at $1.50 a cord, for kiln fuel. He remembers the spectacular elms cut,
go foi."
Dut says the great pines of the valley were gone by the time he recalls.
In 1901, Dtc got his first job driving the township's first grader Gardening, Machines and Cards
attached to a steam-driven tractor. He still remembers the first day
en he
because the man who brought
retired at 77,
it to teach him sunk
he
the tractor
became
in the mud.
the'family
The
Fixit.
crowd
His
of skeptical farmers had
collection
to dig it out.The teacher
of
disappearedMr.
old radios mirrors
his
and Dr. Higginson took the wheel.
interest in
He proceeded
machinery of
to finish "the prettiest
all types. An August
visit to
little quarter-mile section
Grandpa Doc
you ever saw
meant a
- flat and
feast
beautiful." The
on fresh vefarmers
went away satisfied much to
getables,currants and
the relief
rhubarb.
of the reeve.
A legendary gardener,
he enjoys cooking today - and remembers
special delights of the past like "large oystersthey
threw the small ones away."
Gladys Higginson, his wife of 65 years, passed
away last January at age 88. She had worked
many years on the altar guild at St. Matthev's
Church. She had been proud of her Ottawa Lewis
family connection and especially of her brother
Stan Lewis, Ottawa mayor for 11 years. He is very
thankful for his family for without them "where
would I be?"
Doc loves and excells at card games. His grandzhildren
and great-grandchildren have all learned
o
rr
mathematics playing cribbage with Grandpa. He is
o
a sought-after partner at bridge games each week
at Woodroffe United Church and the GlebeCommunity
Centre. Cards were forbidden at his childhood
home.Left alone one day, he learned from one of
the many peddlars to whom his father gave shelter.
This gift has given him continual enjoyment and
his father's hospitality is re-echoed in his home
today.
1:)(31::9 57 Years in the
L. to R. Leo McCaffrey, Agnes Perkins, "Doc" Higginson, Anne Logan and
xiuriE.1 Davies at Community Centre Seniors Friday afternoon card game.
In 1905, he entered Toronto University. After Doc's graduatioh, Di.
Wilmot, Dental College Principal, recommended him to take over a Sussex
Drive practice in Ottawa. Flat broke, he was happy to take it. In 1958,
after 50 years as a dentist, he was renowned for his gold and bridgework.
He had been the second highest single dental user of gold in Ottawa.
In 19132 Dr, Higginson showed his prospective Bride his house on treelined
Fiftri Avenue in a growing suburb called the Glebe. Bush grew beyond
Percy St. Bronson Ave. and the Bronson bridge did not exist. To gc
to work he purchased for $1,300 an Overland, one of the first cars in
Ottawa. His single lesson was to drive the salesman home. Wanting a'car
with a solid top and the new and comfortable balloon tires, he sold the
Overland ten years later. Having owned and worked on five cars in his
lifetime, he says wistfully,"Perhaps I should have kept it because, after
10 years, it did not have a spot of rust, not a spot." In 1978, at 96, he
decided to give up driving.
During the summer, he took his wife and four children to their lovely
summer home in Britannia Village, outside Ottawa. Ottawans came to swim
at the beaches, relax at their cottages and dance in the-hall at the end
of the pier. Doc loves dancing especially the waltzing in teen and university
years. He has donned his original university dancing shoes -
"everyone had dancing shoes" - for the weddings
of seven of his 12 grandchildren.
HOLIDAY BILLS CAN HURT
Want to pay bills?
Save for a spring vacation?
AVON
gamitlit
aa1iaa4y page .Li.
By Sandra Parsons (grand-daughter)
Glebe
Slebe Advisory Committee meets Thurs. Jan. 24
at 8 p.m.
Congratulations to those Grade 9-12 students
who received hononr crests Jpn. 16.
Parent-teacher interviews - Wed. Jan. 23, 3-6
1
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You'll earn good money selling quaiity Avon products.
Areas in the Glebe still available. Call now.
Mrs. Beverley Kieran
232-8585
Vh7lere5
cotton, clothes for »1eM c wo;e;t.
46 ELGINr.ca...g-- 234-5334
it,007 99 _FIFTH AVE. -`-q;)'-' 235-5577 LI