Remembering my paternal Grandma.

Today, January 20th, is my paternal Grandma's birthday.

She was born in 1908. She died in 2004.

I put together a collage of some old photos using PicMonkey program, which is free online.

This is her 68th birthday in 1976.

My Mom always made a cake for her, and had her over.

This is our kitchen on Monmouth Avenue.

This is how I remember Grandma.

This is Grandma's last birthday.

I like how her hair was cut, although if she knew (she had dementia) that she had short hair and was wearing slacks she would have been horrified! She always had long hair rolled into a bun, and always wore a dress.

Although she had dementia, and was in a care home for a long time, she was always pleasant and in good spirits. I still miss her. She had beautiful blue eyes, and a very quiet voice.

I'm not sure what date the above photos were taken. Probably 1929; that could be my Dad in the high chair. I'm not sure why Grandma is hardly wearing any clothes. Maybe she was that poor? They lived in Saskatchewan until 1941 when they moved to Vancouver BC. In this photo she has short hair. I believe that's Grandpa on the left; he loved horses and he was 20 years older than Grandma.

Grandma holding Audrey, with her younger brother Harry on the left, and his twin Violet on the right. That's my Dad, Jack, in front of Violet. This is 1931 or 1932.

Grandma had a long and interesting life. She was born in Cardiff, Wales and moved to Canada in 1927. She met a Welshman on the prairies, and was married in August 1928. She had 4 children in Saskatchewan, and after moving to Vancouver she had 3 more. 

I remember Grandma loved to read and garden. Her favourite flowers were snapdragons. I loved the old house she and Grandpa bought in the 1940's on E 22nd Avenue. It had two monkey trees in the front, and the bathroom was upstairs where two bedrooms were. The main floor had a bedroom, living room and kitchen. The basement had two bedrooms and the laundry room.

Grandma also loved to bake Welshcakes with currants, and she loved to tell us stories when she babysat us. She was a Christian and enjoyed attending a small church for many years. 

One day I hope to meet her again in Heaven.

Loretta Houben

My paternal Grandfather, the actor...1928

I found this online, in the book "Spalding Roots and Branches".

I also have this book, published in 1981 and containing everything you wanted to know or learn about life in Spalding SK at the turn of last century, and through the 1970s.

If you look closely at the above Dramatic Club poster, you will spot my Grandpa's name.

He is the 8th person down, "Knox a writ server", name of Mr. J.G.Williams.

The only way I ever spotted this was while browsing through the actual book, and noting my Grandma's underlining of the name! I wonder how well he acted? 

This part below is from my Grandma, Alma May Williams' memoirs. 

I think it belongs with the above poster, as it illustrates the type of entertainment available in the little town of Spalding Saskatchewan in the 1920s.

"In 1927, I had a most embarrassing experience. Jack took me to a concert, it went on for a while and what a shock I got as I heard the man call my name, he said something like this; “Now Miss Palmer will come and play her piece on the piano”. And here I hadn’t played the piano for such a long time, that it made me almost sick with fear, as there was a hall full of people. Well I went with trembling and played the piece called “Robin’s Return” and I left the middle part out as I had forgotten my music. I can say that was an awful experience for me. Jack had put my name down to play the piano. I could have slapped him. I only hoped that there wasn't an experienced piano player in that Hall. He never told me he had put my name down till after it was over. Written by Alma May Williams in 1977"

By Loretta Houben