07-01 Then There Were Two

Mother and Dad were married in August 1932 and I was born in August 1933. According to mother, they were “poor as church mice”, and instead of a crib, I slept in a dresser drawer. The baby photo is from age 6 months.
Our father had never seen his parents hugging or kissing, so he did not know what to do when married, in terms of showing affection. Mother said she showed Dad how to put her arms around her when he came home from work and to give her a kiss. “But your Dad”, she loved to explain, “was a quick learner”. In the photo, I am a child spending a day on Centre Island. It was the holiday spot for people of limited means.
When mother was pregnant with Ian, Dad purchased grandma Halter’s duplex on Manning Avenue, shown in the photo. It was in an ethnic area near College and Dufferin. This home is a big part of our family history because our grandmother bought it without telling her husband (when he was in France during WWI). She worked from home, altering clothing for Eaton’s department store, and rented out two rooms on the top floor.
Ian was born in November 1937, a year before Dad opened his own clothing store on the corner of Bay and Hayter Street, a block below College. In the photo, I am 7 and Ian is 3, and we are still living on Manning Avenue. I attended Palmerston Avenue public school, where a lot of immigrant children were still trying to learn English.
A big part of our childhood was Mother’s sister Ray, who married Uncle Jack Young in England. He came to Canada and became a partner in John Bulloch Ltd. Their first child was our cousin Linda, who was at our home at least a day a week. In the photo, Ian and I can be seen with Linda at our cottage on Lake Simcoe.
Dad had unlimited access to gasoline during the war, because he was working for the war effort making officers’ uniforms. I remember telling Linda when I was ten years old, that she was my best friend. Linda died in her 40’s of cancer.
This is my favourite childhood photo of Ian. Dad had him posing at the window, with a book, looking into the back yard at Bowie Avenue. He is four years of age. Happy memories.