Welcome to The Club v3.3 Summer 2023

Welcome to ...
THE Club
I came, I saw... I forgot what I was doing. Retraced my steps and got lost.
Welcome to ...
Summer 2023
I ALWAYS KNEW
I'D GET OLD.
HOW FAST IT
HAPPENED WAS
A BIT OF A
SURPRISE, THOUGH.
Do you live in the
BOONIES?
The CLUB is
available at all
Lambton County
libraries
(while they last)!
TWO LOCATIONS!
GRAND BEND - Wednesdays 8am-1pm,
Lambton Heritage Museum, until October 4.
FOREST - Fridays 9am-1pm, at the corner
of Jefferson & Main, until October 6.
Grandparents Leave Lasting Legacy
Grandparents are interesting people
who can contribute a great deal to
families and society, as well as leave
valuable legacies for future generations.
They add a special dimension and
richness to our lives. I was fortunate to
grow up with an extended family that
included my grandparents on my father’s
side. Grandpa Cook was an Imperial Oil
employee and farmer, born in Brooke
Township. Grandma was a seamstress
born in Dawn Township. Together they
raised a family of four, starting out in a
log cabin.
Memories of my grandma draw me
to the kitchen of two residences, first in
Corunna, then in Alvinston. The kitchen
was the focal point of both the two-storey
homes, the gathering place to not only
have meals but to hang out with other
family members. Grandma seemed to
have her head in the oven a lot, either
putting something in or taking something
out. Even today, the smells of baking
always bring her to mind, especially
the smell of cinnamon. My sister and I
would watch her roll out pastry for pies;
unfortunately, neither one of us carried
on this tradition.
By Nadine Wark, Sarnia • from Daytripping May-June 2016
According to family lore, Grandma
had no problem chasing a chicken out
back and cutting off its head for a ‘fresh’
chicken dinner. Fortunately, we never
witnessed that feat! There was also the
gardening, canning and preserving every
year and sewing on the old Singer. When
I was a very young girl playing in the
orchard in the afternoons, she would
call me to the porch and suggest it was
nap time. Most times I don’t remember
falling asleep as we were busy playing
‘I Spy’ and ‘What would you do for a
million dollars.’ I wanted to know if she
would eat a cockroach for a million…her
reply was always the same, “I suppose I
would if it was roasted first.”
Staying overnight was a real adventure
as, like most grandparents, mine would
ignore the clock, letting me stay up past
bedtime eating snacks (today known as
junk food). Then there was Grandma’s
snoring and her apology, “Sorry, dear, I
will turn over.”
When it was time to visit the outhouse
in the middle of the night, she would
grab the flashlight and lead me out into
the spooky blackness. I always had a
fear that a hand would come out of the
hole and grab me! However, Grandma
assured me that this was not possible.
Both grandparents had a definite
interest in my schoolwork and after
reviewing my report card, would always
find some change for penny candy
at McRae’s General Store. When I
complained of having to walk six blocks
to school, my jaw dropped as they said
they walked five miles to school, even in
snow-storms, to a one-room schoolhouse
with all eight grades and one teacher…
yikes!
Memories of my grandpa include
playing board games like regular
checkers, Chinese checkers, Fish or Snap.
When I was a little older, he taught me
Canasta, I became good at it and
he was ticked off when I beat him
several times! He would pepper his
conversations with phrases like
“between you and me and the
gatepost”…I thought that a
bit strange. When I think
of him, I recall the hours
my friends and I played
hide-and-go-seek in his
cornfields or climbed his
apple and cherry trees. I
also remember my grandparents pulling
up in their Ford to take my sister and I to
the Brigden Fair.
Although only six years of age, I vividly
recall in May of 1953, my grandparents
calling me in from the yard in Corunna
as the skies to the north looked dark
and foreboding. It was May of 1953 and
a tornado hit Sarnia, leaving a path of
devastation, but sparing our village of
Corunna.
My grandpa passed away when I
was 12 years old, so our time together
was short. My grandma, however, lived
to be almost 99 years old. I cherish the
memories as I recall the
legacy of love and
caring they left with
our family.
P A G E 42 “They may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!” -Braveheart, 1995