MY STORY

The story starts with my life growing up to my education from public school to university. You will meet Gordon along the way. Gordon became my husband after we both graduated from our educational years.

THE ROLES I FILLED

Hello, let me introduce myself, my name is Faye Smedley. I am a mother, a grandmother, a nurse and a teacher. I love, and loved, all these roles.

ABOUT ME

I AM NOW 87 AND WANTING TO SHARE WHAT THOSE 87 YEARS INVOLVED.

I am now 87 and wanting to share what those 87 years involved. As you travel down the page you will follow my life. You will see the 3 elementary schools and the two secondary schools I attended. After high school I went to a nursing school and much later in life I continued my education., by attending 2 universities full time and a couple by long distance. You will see how life events directed my employment and my education.

My Armstrong Grandparents: Robert and Louise Armstrong

robert and louise’s story

Viewing this video will give you a quick picture of Louise and Robert Armstrong our great grandparents.

Robert Thomas Armstrong and Louise Scott met and married on December 14, 1917. They met in Ottawa. Robert was a carpenter, a bachelor and age 47 when they married.

Louise was a widow (Taggart was her married name). She was 37 when she married Robert Thomas Armstrong.

Earl Bertram was Louise’s son to her first husband Mr. Taggart. Earl was adopted by Robert after Louise and he married. Unfortunately, I only have a couple of pictures of Earl her brother. You will see in the video that he was a hockey player for the Ottawa Buckaroos for a couple of years.

At some point in their life Robert and Louise bought and ran a boarding house in Ottawa. Louise was mostly responsible for ruining it. My grandmother became solely responsible for running the boarding house as my grandfather had a stroke. He was capacitated by it.

MY PARENTS: KEITH AND PEARL GROZELLE

Margaret Pearl Armstrong (Pearl) was born to Robert and Louise on February 2, 1920 in Ottawa.

PEARL’S AND KEITH’S STORY

Pearl’s Story

The video of Robert and Louise’s Story gives you a peek at her life growing up in Ottawa, Ontario in Southern Ontario. The video shares pictures of Pearl as a baby. She is shown with her grandmother, mother and father sometimes in their arms other times alongside them.

The pictures shows her in very fashionable clothes. She also owned her own car, which she used to teach Keith to drive. There are some lovely pictures of her and Keith during their courting.

Keith’s Story

Keith Grozelle grew up in Haileybury a small town in Northern Ontario on Lake Temiskaming. Keith graduated from The Haileybury Mining School.

a love story

There is A love story in this video. It describes how Keith Grozelle meets and marries Pearl Armstrong.

Keith is the son of Fredrick and Cora Grozelle (Farrell). The Armstrong, Farrell and Grozelle are united now with the marriage of Keith Grozelle and Pearl Armstrong.

Keith Grozelle and Pearl Armstrong meet

After graduating from The Haileybury Mining School in Haileybury Ontario, Keith searches for a job and finds one in Ottawa. Moving to Ottawa for this job he finds a place to live. It is a boarding house on Laurier Avenue, Louise’s and Robert’s boarding house. Fate stepped in and he met Pearl.

A short courtship followed with the young couple falling in love and marrying at their very young ages of 16 and 18 respectively. They were married. on December 14, 1936. (the same date as Pearl’s parents -1917. The marriage took place in Ottawa.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Keith Grozelle settIed in Ottawa. They furnished their apartment with furniture that had staying power. You can see some of the living room furniture as it is a great feature in our living room at our Camp at Batchewana Bay. These chairs are admired by all who see them and sit in them. The arms and legs are of chrome almost modern looking. I do not know what my dad worked at before they moved to Kearn’s a small mining town. Keith was an assayer for the mines he worked in.

After Pearl’s and Keith’s marriage, they lived and he continued to work in Ottawa. I do not know what or where in worked in Ottawa. After a couple of years he was able to get a job he was trained for as an assayer. Eventually, the new job took the young family out of Ottawa, and away from Pearl’s parents and friends.

a couple of pictures

Before they moved to Kearns Pearl gave birth on April 7, 1938 to a baby girl. They named her Faye Cora Louise Grozelle, Faye was given both her grandmothers names as her second name.

Pearl was 18 years old and Keith was 20, when Faye was born. The three of us settled into an apartment somewhere in Ottawa before leaving for Kearns.

The moves begin

A few years after I was born dad got a job in a mining town in Northern Ontario. Kearns to be exact. Our first move.

He worked in the Chesterfeild Mine

Calvin Keith Grozelle was born on December 16, 1939 in New Liskeard, Ontario, Canada. This was the area hospital.

Calvin and I being so close in age were best friends. We enjoyed each others company and rarely faught. Life was good as you will see.

LIFE BEFORE SCHOOL WAS FULL OF ADVENTURE FOR MY BROTHER AND ME!

I remember life in Kearns I had a few friends. I even had a boy-friend. His name was Johnny Miller. I am sorry to say, that I bit him. Why, did I bite him? He wouldn’t let me have my turn on the tracter, you could ride on. Aware that I should not have done such a thing, I hid. I hid behind a neighbour’s house. Someone gave my hiding place away and I had to receive my punishment. Isolation!

PICTURES:fAYE, cALVIN AND jOHNNY

The picture below was taken before the incident. Don’t they look like three sweet children.

iT IS 1939 AND THE SECOND WORLD WAR STARTED

Keith enlists in the air force

This mining life came to an end.

The Second World War was happening. Dad enlisted in the Air Force to be a pilot. That meant many moves- moves to various Air Force Bases. in Canada.

When world war two broke out he joined the air force and was training to become a pilot. This involved more moves this time to air force bases across Canada.

Cal and I would call “Hello, my daddy up there.”

We would feel close to him at those moments.

airforce bases

Our life was composed of a lot of moves. We moved to different Air Force Bases through out Canada. Most of the moves were by trains. The trains all had black porters. Cal and I were full of questions about these men. embarrassing our mother. The porters treated us well. They were kind to my mom and we children. Sometimes we slept overnight on the train. Sleeping on the train was such fun. As children we were quite fine with these moves.

saskatoon, saskatchewan, canada

One of the towns we lived in was Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. We lived in a small apartment with railcars parked right across the street,. What fun we had playing in them. Our imaginations were use a lot. Even though we feared that the trains might suddenly move and take us away somewhere far from our mother we kept playing on the box cars every chance we got.

High river, alberta, canada

High River Alberta we lived in a house, that was situated on a windy hill. The wind was kind as it dried my mothers laundry really quickly and she liked that. It was usually a kind breeze. Our stay was not very long there. I do not have many memories to share. Our next Air Force base was McLeod and I have lots to share.

Mcleod, alberta, Canada

McLeod Alberta was our favourite place to live. It was ranch living. There were cows, goats and a ranch hand. Archie, the ranch hand who, liked to have us around. He would take us for rides in the hay wagon. We even got to milk the cows or have some milk squirted into our mouths.

The Goat followed us every where

The best thing of all was we had a pet goat. This goat followed us every where. The goat would saunter behind us on our way to meet our dad coming home for the base. We would meet him at the gate to the ranch. It was a 1/2 mile to the ranch gate. The car had a rumble seat. Cal, me and the goat loved to ride in the rumble seat.

We even got to go to a Rodeo. I did not like the way the calves and bulls were treated. I found how they treated the animals disturbing.

You can see why it was the one town we did not want to leave. However, we had to, as children we had no choice.

It was hard as we were heading to Haileybury without my dad.

Fond memories

haileybury ontario, canada

Haileybury was the town where my father was born and raised. He graduated from The Haileybury School of Mining. We looked forward to meeting our grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. The town was full of our Grozelle family.

My mother felt it was time to settle down, I guess. We left my dad to continue his pilots training without us. We moved to Haileybury as this was where my dad was born and grew up. We stayed there for a couple of years. Life was pleasant in this small town. It was full of my dad’s family. What a warm and generous family. Click the button below to see the Grozelle Family,

The move to Haileybury, Ontario, occurred when I was 5 years old and Cal was 4 years old.

It was a peaceful time.Tjere were a lot of relatives to keep an eye on two small kids. Thus my My mother had time for herself to plant a great vegetable and flower garden. There were lots of peas growing so we would pick them and eat them fresh off the vine.

As the town was small and everybody lived close by we were free to drop over to any of our aunts houses for a visit or even breakfast. The hot choclate has never tasted as good as the ones our older cousin Linda made for us. She was the daughter of our Great Uncle Chic (Cyrl and Great Aunt Marg).

My Great Uncle Harold called Sputt ran the projector at the Haileybury Movie Theatre. We often went to the movies by ourselves We were 4 and 5 years of age.

We met a lot of family. My dad’s aunts and uncles, our great aunts and uncles were, more like his brothers and sisters. They were very close in age and had grown up in the same household, accounting for this phenomenon.

why they grew up together

Cora, the mother of four, my dad’s mother died at a very young age, she was only 33. She died of a simple ear infection. We now have antibiotics to trest such Her death resulted in a big change in a lot of peoples lives. One change was who would care for Cora’s and Fred’s four young children?

Fred’s parents, Antoine and Jane Anne Grozelle took Fred’s four children into their home.

Jane and Antoine had 7 children of their own. Their children were Fred who was the oldest, Viley, Pearl, Dorothy, Harold, Cyril(Chic) and Percy Grozelle.

A gathering at the homestead in Haileybury. All most all my aunts and Uncles.

Antione and Jane raised Cora and Fred’s four children. These children were Richmond, Keith (my dad) Viley and Verne. My dad was ten at the time. You can see why these two families became like one big family. I can only imagine what a day would be like with 11 children.

Fred was a prospector and sent money home to help the family. He had a lovely big house built for them. Everyone had their own room. The bedrooms were on the second floor. When you went up the stairs you arrived in the middle of a long hallway with bedrooms on either side. I remember my Aunt Dot’s bedroom had a vanity with a fancy yellow curtain around the edge. I thought it was so beautifu.

The kitchen was huge. There was a big stove which is where you could find Anne Jane or you would find her at the huge kitchen table rolling out the tea biscuits she would be making for your visit. She served them with her homemade jams.

the ohter room that intriqued me was the unused parlor. I never saw anyone in there. I liked the quite darkness of it. There was a lamp with a fringe on it in that that room that for some reason fascinated me.

five generations of grozelles

One day I was called into that room to have my picture taken with all my grandparents and my dad. This was a picture to show five generations.

This idyllic live ends: another move

Idyllic as that life was, for us anyway, it was time to move. I had to go to school. I was six. I had missed kindergarten and now I had to go to school. My dad was coming to be with us. It is 1945 and the Second World War is over.

My education began with our move to North Bay Ontario

north bay ontario

North Bay Ontario was our next destination. We found a two story house on MacIntyre Street. It was right beside a creek with a large open field right behind our house.

The porridge story and a field

This field plays a part in our lives. The bowls were placed in front of Cal and me. It was a big bowl full of porridge, to much for Cal or me. As soon as mummy placed the bowls in front of us, she prepared to leave, she left. She left with a warning: “Eat all the porridge, Mrs. Durham is looking after you while I am gone.” Of course we promised to, but after a few mouthfuls we took our bowls to the field far from the house and dumped them. We felt safe from mummy ever finding out, however, when she got home she scolded us for not eating all the porridge and for throwing it away in the field. We were stunned how did she know. I still wonder to this day how, did she know?

The dead mouse story

We had a baby sitter, Russ Durham who lived right next door. He was good at his job until he found a dead mouse in a trap my mother had set. When he found it he called me, I of course went to see what he wanted. What he wanted was to scare me, scare me he did. He chased me all over the house until I finally remembered the bathroom door had a lock on it and I made for it with a rush of speed. I made it to the bathroom, locked the door and relaxed. I didn’t tell my mother about this mouse chase. This mouse chase has left me with a very strong mouse phobia. This fear causes me to climb on a chair or pull my feet up off the floor at the slightest sighting of a mouse.

My parents rented the upstairs to a mother and a daughter. While they rented the upstairs, we lived in the downstairs. Trudy the daughter and I became great friends. One activity I remember was kind of gross, but we did it. We compared the toe jam between our toes. Really? There we were on the stairs with our shoes and socks off, looking at our toes. What in the world is the all about I ask myself now.

The birth of a brother

March 8, 1945, Cal and I had a new baby brother. My dad was home at the time and went to the hospital with mom to support her during the birth. Being left alone we decided that it would be fun to jump from the crib, which was beside our parents bed, onto that bed. Oh my, what fun until, something on the bed broke. The break left the mattress sloped toward the end of the bed. We tried to fix it but it was beyond our strength, so we curled up on the slanted bed and went to sleep. Our dad came home sometime during the evening or night. Much to our surprise and relief he did not make a big issue of it. We learned that we had a baby brother and his name was Terry.

North Bay Relatives

We had relatives in North Bay. My Uncle Verne, Aunt Betty Grozelle and their 2 children, Cora Mae and Kenny. Their house was on Lake Nipissing. They had a couple of cabins that they rented off and on. People loved to rent them as there was a lovely sand beach in front of the house. It was the best sand for building sand castles. Cal and I with Cora and Kenny used our imaginations and built many castles and villages in that sand.

We spent hours building sand castles and villages, we were playing in a lumber yard. Needless to say we were not playing there with our mother’s permission. We knew all the terrible things that could happen to us so we were very careful. The places we played were chosen with great care, of course.

when we moved from North Bay to Sault Ste. Marie, the city that we finally settled down in, we visited our North Bay relatives almost every year. Our relatives who lived in Haileybury and Cobalt would come for a visit to see us.

Note the number of people who so often got together at Uncle Verne’s and Aunt Betty’s in the picture below.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

MCINTYRE STREET SCHOOL-NORTH BAY, ONTARIO

I was excited to be going to school. I did well at that school and living on McIntyre Street. I had lots of friends.

Reading was my favourite subject. I enjoyed reading to the class

Teachers can be cruel. I saw that my teacher was cruel. I saw my teacher hit my brother’s small hand with a ruler hitting him several times. Why? He would not, could not, write with his right hand. I know this affected him his whole school life.

I had friends on McIntyre Street. One was a doctor’s daughter and lived in a big house across the street. She had a marvelous play room full of fantastic toys. It was always a treat to spend time in that playroom. These children had naps after lunch. I remember that often I went to find someone to play with and they were having their afternoon nap. I always wondered why we never was made to nap?

My mother enrolled me in dance classes. It was tap dancing. I loved it.

Our dance class had a recital. The Farmerettes was the name of our dance. I can still see the costumes. I had a special part. The teacher asked me to give that special part to another girl? The reason she gave me, she said, this girl was poor and did not have a lot etc., etc. Of course I agreed, because I understood.

After the war it was hard for veterans like my dad to find jobs.

So my dad was often away trying to find a job. He finally found one in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. He would be working at Dubreuil Lumber Company.

Sault Ste. Marie was our last move as a family.

Sault ste. marie, ontario

Our education carried on in Sault Ste. Marie. I attended 3 elementary schools and 2 highschools: Collegiate Institute and Sault Technical School.

david kyle school,

Second Elementary School attended

Our new home in Sault Ste. Marie was to be in an apartment at 123 Douglas Street, on the corner of Douglas Street and First Ave. It was in the west end of town, the Italian part of town. What lovely people we met in that are. They were so good to use, offering us fresh vegetables, like cucumbers and tomatoes from their gardens, which we would eat on our way home. There was always a warm welcomes as we walked by their homes on our way to and from school.

Our new home was an apartment in a house, which might have been a mansion. It was yellow brick with wide concrete steps between solid brick supports leading to double doors. There was a chain link fence enclosing a small front yard which protected it from the sidewalk. I remember that sidewalk, it is where I learned to ride a two wheel bicycle and also dealt with the death of my great grandmother. I felt really sad and did not really know what death meant. After much thought I realized that it meant that I would never see her again. I was nine.

Those double doors led to 5 apartments.

When you entered those doors and turned right you were at the apartment of Mrs. Bailey and her son, Alfred. One year my mother went treat-or-treating with Alfred and his friend. My mother loved young people.

Straight across from the entrance was the apartment of the Pikinen family. They had a basement as part of their apartment. There wasn’t much down there but there was a swing) f

Turning to the left you walked up a few stairs and you were at our apartment, take a sharp right and up a few stairs and you were at the Mador’s Apartment. “The Mador’s are up” my brother Terry would say when my parents said that he should be quiet or he would wake people up.

The picture below was taken at the back of the apartment building. There was a fire escape that led to the bedroom where Terry Cal and I slept. I would spend many an hour on those iron steps making scenes with the burrs that grew close by.

At night because we could see the Steel Plant from our window we watched the forms that were made by the dumping of the hot ore. It was a big help in going to sleep. Of course we had to argue over what the forms were.

So many memories of that place. We lived there for 2 years.

William merrifield school, wallace terrace, ssm

Third Elementary School I Attended

Unfortunately, all my searches for a picture of this school was not productive. It is a shame aas William Merrifield was a recipient of the Victoria Cross.

I cannot find a picture of this school. This is just a random picture.

For reasons I do not know dad left Dubreuil lumber Yard and worked as a brick layer. As far as I know he learned to be one on the job. He was working on a house that was in the William Merrifield school district so our parents enrolled us in the school. Dad was promised he could rent the house when he finished with the brick work. This did not happen. We still lived on Douglas Street which was a long way to walk to school everyday, which we did for a year. What a difference we only had a block to walk when we went to McIntyre School on Douglas St.

We liked both schools. Both principals were very good to us. Strangely, they both played the fiddle.

On rainy days recesses would be in the auditorium. we would have dances such as Skip-to-maloo and other such fun dances.

At William Merrifield the school, put on a play, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I was brave enough to try for a part and I got the lead as Snow White. I felt that I did an excellent job of fainting after I ate a bite of the apple. The cutest boy in my class was Prince Charming. His name was Peter.

We needed to move

The Douglas Street apartment was not suitable for our growing family besides at one time. It had mice and bedbugs. I found out about the mice, when I was in the pantry to get a bowl when a mouse jumped out and attacked me. Remember my phobia, well that cinched it. I still react to the sight of one.

The mice, my mother could deal with and promptly got rid of them. However, the bedbugs was a different story. We became aware that the itchy red welts on our body were bedbug bites after complaining to our mother about them. When she realized what the bites were from,she was so angry, she visited every person in the building demanding that they deal with getting rid of these bugs. As if bedbugs and mice were not enough, Cal and I got headlice. Off she went to have a word with the parents in the building, she wanted every parent to know how to treat their children immediately and correctly. What a time that was.

waiting for a wartime house

Everyone had to apply to get a house offered by the government to war veterans, dad was one, so we qualified. As the houses were being built it took a long time for your name to come up.

We had our name in to get one of the Wartime house for a long time, too long for my mother, as she was anxious to leave this apartment as it was getting to small for our growing family.

While we were waiting for our house Sandra Gail Grozelle was born on September 21. A beautiful sister for all of us. How I loved mothering her, feeding, changing her diapers and especially taking her for walks in her big navy blue carriage. All the neighbours admired her. I was so pleased.

Moving day finally arrived. Our new home was 35 Crawford Ave. in Monterey Gardens. The home of all the wartime houses. It eventually was named by the families that lived there as Maternity Gardens as so many babies were being born at that time. These babies became my job. I was ten when I earned the reputation of being a reliable and available baby sitter.

King George Elementary School Gladstone Ave.

The Fourth Elementary School I Attended

In 1948 we moved to a war time house, a few months after our sister Sandar Gail was born. (September 21, 1948)we moved into 35 Crawford Ave. It was a two story house with 3 bedrooms and a basement. It was in Monterey Gardens or Maternity Gardens as it came to be known. I was able to do a lot of babysitting and earn 25 cents an hour.

The yards were clay with wooden walks to each house. The houses were all built the same. There was a different coloured siding on the houses.

I was enrolled at King George school in grade 5. I would be here for 3 years. I hoped.

It was hard to make friends. I was shy. I did make some friends.

I was able to relate to my classmates. My close friends were from my neighbourhood.

One of my best friends was Jane. Jame lived across the street from me.

The principle Mr. Dunne followed us to McIntyre School from William Merrifield. He entertained us on rainy days by playing his fiddle and encouraging us to dance. Oh how we loved that in him. He was a great principal.

Mr Green, my new math teacher asked me to help students who were struggling. with their assignments. I had learned fractions at William Merrifield School.I assisted those struggling classmates. I blame that on my 100 mark in math at McIntyre Street school, digressing from then on.

Here I am 16 and I am still in one city Sault Ste. Marie. However, I am moving schools again. The school is just down the street from King George and it is a High School.

Sault collegiate institute, Macdonald ave. ssm

Fear, excitement and another long walk to school. Hardly any of my classmates at KIng George were going to be joining me at Collegiate. Most were going to the Technical School. I had all new faces greeting me when I walked into my homeroom. Homeroom and wandering through the halls to your classes was a change. It was great to have the opportunity to move and talk to people and have different teachers.

My favourite and best class was home economics. I started with making a pin cushion, to a blouse to a lined suit and a kilt with a matching vest. Cooking was high on my list of things I like to do, we had great cooking classes. We learned to even make puff pastry.

One class we had to chose a recipe and demonstrate how to make it in front of the class. It was just like what you saw on TV. I thought, I would like to have a career demonstrating recipes on TV.

My math skills were not very good. I had a lot of work to do so that I could get me high school diploma. Gordon, my new boyfriend volunteered to help me and he did. Sometimes he had other plans in his mind though.

To hone my math and have other skills, that would help me get a job, if nursing did not work our for me, I went to the Technical School.

SECOND HIGH SCHOOL I ATTENDED

Sault Technical School

THE GREATER NIAGRA SCHOOL OF NURSING

In 1957 I graduated from Sault Collegiate and Sault Technical School and headed to Niagara Falls. I was accepted at The Greater Niagara General Hospital School of Nursing. I spent 3 years their learning to be a nurse.

The hospital

Another View of the Hospital

The hospital and the nurses residence were both brand new. Designed by a famous architect John B. Parkin. Our first year we lived in the old residence and worked in the new hospital. A bus would take us back and forth to the hospital and residence. If you slept in or worked late the bus left and you had to walk. You would wear your beautiful pure wool cape on these walks and bus rides. They were navy blue with a bright red lining. Very attractive and warm.

Have you ever been initiated? While I was. The initiation took place in the old nurses residence. A place we had never seen or been in. The residence was decorated with things that looked like cobwebs and other creepy things. Once we were shown about the place blind folds were placed on our face and we were exhorted to various places and instructed to touch or smell things. It was scary. I remember being told to touch “these eyeballs”. Oh, no I can’t.In the end I had to it was to gross. It turned out that the eyeballs were actually peeled grapes. I was relieved that we weren’t going to be living in that residence.

The Nurses Residence

Once the residence was completed our classes were held in a lovely bright class room and lab. Our class time was from 7:AM until 3:PM. Our teachers were Miss Doyle, Miss Bunston and Miss Seubert who got married our first year. The director of the school of nursing was Miss Bell. Miss Wilson was Director of Nursing of the hospital. They all were University educated nurses BSN. Miss Bell and Miss Wilson lived on the top floor of the Nurses Residence.

ABOUT THE NURSING RESIDENCE

Why a month off in summer?

The school felt that a month off was more beneficial than taking the usual holidays offered during the year. This monthly holiday occurred during the summer months. I agreed with their decision. Only one student in my year was from Niagara. A lot of the other students were from Northern Ontario, or areas outside Niagara. After completing the course with a diploma in nursing. I wrote my Registered Nursing Exams and waited in Sault Ste. Marie to receive the results. Wow, I had passed the exam I was a Registered Nurse. I could add RN after my name.

Clinical Experiences

Here I am hard at work.

Unlike today a nurses education ( called training) was taught either in a hospital setting or at a university. Because we were learning in a hospital setting we had a lot of hands on care and worked the three shifts 5 days a week for 8 hours for six weeks. We usually had four patients.

We did not feel that we had anyone really responsible for us while caring for our assigned patients. I am sure the nurses whose patients we were looking after were watching us pretty closely, as was the head nurse.

Yes the head nurse was keeping an eye on how we cared for her patients. One day on the surgical unit where I was assigned to. the head nurse Miss Misner was making her rounds.

After her rounds she called me to her office. Everyone was frightened of her and I was no exception. She was a big lady and a fearsome one. staff and students feared and respected her. So when I heard “Miss Grozelle come to my office I was terrified.

She told me that I coud not give a decent bath with only an ounce of water in my basin. I of course, was offended a I prided my self on the great baths I gave. My defense was that I had finished the patient’s bath and I only needed a small amount of water to do his back before his back rub. I was known for my great back rubs. Miss Wismer accepted that explanation and when I left her unit she gave me a very good evaluation.

During the six weeks we were in the hospital we spent at least 2 weeks or 4 on different units so we would when we graduate work any where we were needed. We even manned the switchboard for a scarry day. when I was assigned there it was busy and the woman manning it left. While she was gone I had to place a long distance call for a doctor. Unless you are new at such a request you will not understand the horror to be all on your own to do it. I succeeded

Another assignment was in the ER. That was easy, just a sore throat, a stomach ache nothing too scarry until I was to go with a gentleman came in who had cut through his boot at the knee. I had to look calm and knowledgeable as I removed his boot and blood was oozing out and all over. I had to clean the wound until the RN came in to relieve me. Talk about empathy, I now know that it is in the pit of your stomach.

My favourite assignment was in the nursery and the infant ICU. Close behind was maternity and pediatrics.

GRADUATION 1960 – A VERY HAPPY DAY

GRADUATION 1060

This picture was taken at the entrance to the nurses residence. Afer graduation I returned to Sault Ste. Marie and was hired at the General Hospital for a couple of months before my wedding in November.

THE GENERAL HOSPITAL

OUR WEDDING DAY

I married Gordon Smedley on November 26, 1960. He like me, had just graduated. He graduated from the University of Manitoba in architecture.

We had a small wedding, at Ste. John’s Evangelical Anglican Church. After a lunch for guests and family in the church hall we left to start our life together. We planned to live and work in London England. We had no return date. A honeymoon was planned before we were going to apply for jobs.

The honeymoon started from the Sault. We were going to travel overnight by train to Montreal. We had the honeymoon suite at the Hotel Champalese. One of our wedding gifts was a meal at the hotels exquisite restaurant. The meal wonderful food, wine and drinks. All was absolutely perfect.

The next day we travelled by bus to Quebec City where we boarded the MS Italia Ship for London England. Wonderful as that sounds I was seasick most of the trip. Needless, to say when we finally docked at Southampton, I could not get off the boat fast enough.

From Southampton we spent a few days site seeing London before we headed to a small town in spain called Torremolinos where we honeymooned for a few days. We left Torremolinos and visited more towns in Spain. We spent Christmas and New Years in Madrid. We celebrated by going to an English movie. Other things we were so lucky to do was see a bullfight in Barcelona. Holland was the last place we visited before we returned to England and reality. Gordon’s parents had friends their who took us on tours of Amsterdam. We left Amsterdam and returned to England.

Gordon applied to an architect firm in a small town called Ipswich. It is located by the ocean and so quaint. The bed and breakfast we stayed in also served us an evening meal. The hosts treated us as if we were royalty. They kept a fire burning in the living room for us and warmed the bed with hot pans at night. The job was no longer available so we reluctantly left and headed back to London.

In London Gordon got a job with an architectural firm in downtown London, England. Then it was time to hunt for living accomodations. That proved very interesting. We were shown apartments with a bathtub in the kitchen, one that came with a cleaning lady and one that we would share a bathroom These places were not very expensive but we were spoiled by our Canadian living accommodations. Eventually we found this wonderful place situated on the Thames.

In a few weeks I managed to get a job at The Hospital for Nervous Diseases Queen’s Square. It was in the Outpatients Department. The hospital was a famous for its education of Medical Doctors from all over the world. My job was to prepare the patients for their assessment by the teaching professor for the students to learn. I worked 9 t0 5 with weekends off. I also became a registered nurse in England for life. I did not have to do any exams just confirm that I was a registered nurse in Canada.

We left England in 1962 as we were about to become parents in May. I wanted to have my child born in Canada. We arrived back in Canada In April. Julie Anne Louise was born May 26. James Julian was born June 10 1964. I was a stay at home mother for 5 years. However, I did volunteer.

1N 1962 I was a stay at home mom raiding 2 small children. After much asking and encouragement I accepted the challenge to teach a course in hospital services for St. John’s Ambulance Services.

In 2005 I volunteered to work on CAPT’S website. This involved inputting information and sending our emails to their supporters. I am still maintaining their website and sending out emails.

I volunteered in 2011 to go house to house on our street asking for donations for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. I only did that once as I didn’t like the way people responded to the ask.

My working life begins in 1969. The children are now at school Julie Anne full time James half time. I feel like I want to work. My dad saw an ad in our newspaper for a teaching position, he was sure it would be a great job for me. It was a teaching job at Alexander Henry High School an alternate school for students having difficulties learning. The course was Home Care and Hospital Services. I applied for the job and I was hired under a Letter of Permission.

After having experienced teaching and finding that I really liked it, I had a decision to make. Do I explore teaching or do I work at a hospital? In 1968 I started working at the Plummer Memorial Hospital, to see if that was what I really wanted to do.

Much as I enjoyed working at the bedside, I decided that I really wanted to teach. I decided that I should find out what I would need to teach in the nursing programme. To teach in a nursing programme you needed a BSCN degree. Unfortunately, Algoma University did not offer this degree. I felt a university degree would be good for me and in 1969 I was accepted at Algoma University, where after 2 years full time and several years part time I earned my degree in psychology and English. I applied to Sault College to teach in their nursing programme and I was hired. YEH!

ALGOMA UNIVERSITY

Algoma University was a wonderful place to learn for a 30 year old woman. It was affiliated with Laurentian University. The clases were small, the teacher were friendly and helpful to the students. The university was located in the Shinwak Hall. Shinwak Hall, was a residential school for Anishinaabe children.

I started to earn my degree in 1970 to 1971 as a full time student and finished in 1987 as a part time student.

In 1987 I entered Lake Head University in Sault Ste. Marie Michigan to get a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSCN) Degree.

AS A NURSING PROFESSOR AT SAULT COLLEGE SAULT STE. MARIE

SAULT COLLEGE 2000

SAULT COLLEGE

These two pictures show the variety of my job as a teacher at the Sault College in 1970. I am the one in the blue uniform with my first clinical group at Tendercare Nursing Home. I am doing my duty for Sault College Nursing programme by manning a booth.

INSTITUTIONS I SUPERVISED IN

TENDERCARE NURSING HOME

DAVEY HOME FOR THE AGED

RETIREMENT YEAR 2000

time for friends and sailing

Retirement allowed me more time for sailing and sunbathing on the Beach at our cottage at Batchawana Bay. I now had time to do some research on my ancestry. This is how I found out I have a passion for history research.

I have a passion for history..

Retiring from my nursing career has given me time to examine a very old photograph album with pictures of my ancestors from the 1800s. I have studied these photographs and the relationships of the people in them. I researched them on Ancestry’s and My History’s websites. After learning about these families I wanted to share with my family. This resulted in developing this website.

As there are many talented people in my family and the fact that I have an abundance of pictures of them I have added them to the website.

I am hoping that my family will take advantage of this website and enjoy learning what I have found out about these long gone people.