​The joy of growing up with aunts and uncles close by

Having our aunts and uncles close by as we grow up is a pleasure that not all of us have enjoyed. I was fortunate that Mum’s sister, Evelyn (now Elliott), and Daddy’s siblings, Albert, Sylvia and Howard, were frequently in our home.

This snapshot (right) reminds me of lots of notes in Mum’s diaries and brings back many of my own memories. It was likely taken in the fall of 1945 when Gail was two, I was still four and Aunt Evelyn was 20. I feel as if we were visiting the home of Clarence and Marion Farrell McLeod on the Shore Road. Maybe?

I think Mum or Grandma had made our matching outfits or they had been a gift from Grandma’s cousins, Winston and Mary Gordon. I don’t know why I wasn’t showing mine off proudly.

We had lived in the Pollock home on Concession 8, Huron Township, for the first 18 months of my life. My Baby Book, a gift from Aunt Evelyn, notes that I was named Ruth Anne at her suggestion.

Even after she went to Normal School in 1942, we saw her often. She taught on the Northline of Kincardine Township (anyone know which school?) and would drop in with her green Ford Roadster, which had a rumble seat, on her way home.

Before long, wedding bells were ringing and I was going to be a member of the wedding party. I distinctly recall peeking around the doorway to the bedroom at the top of the stairs where the trousseau was laid out. As Aunt Evelyn displayed to the cousins and neighbours her wedding dress, Eileen’s bridesmaid dress and then my long blue sheer gown, my heart was bursting with excitement.

Aunt Evelyn will be 99 in a couple of weeks. When I was visiting with her in July, we were looking at old pictures and talking about the wedding. She wondered if I had been disappointed with my bouquet - a tiny nosegay of sweet peas and ribbons. I was able to assure her that in my eyes, it was beautiful.

January, 2023
Ruth Anne Hollands Robinson