Some further reminisces from Uncle Mike October 27, 2006

Our Uncle Syd Noye (married to Aunt Dee (Phyllis)) in the 1940's wanted to go to Australia where it was said there were great opportunities for good jobs, and we remember his trying to persuade our Dad to move us all down there. None ended up going, but they did think of it for a time.

Our Nanny, Charlotte Catherine Turner (nee Fleming) had 7 brothers, all in the Royal Navy (Mike remembers seeing photos of them all in naval uniforms). He believes she also had 3 sisters (11 children in all). He believes two of the brothers were named Michael and Patrick.

He remembers that a couple of our Nanny's brothers came over to pay for our Grandfather's funeral expenses as he had been disowned by his family, we believe for marrying an Irish Catholic girl. There is no marker on his grave in Mount Hope Cemetery in Toronto.

He also has been telling Brendan and Shane what life used to be like when we were growing up everything was made from scratch, there were no cake mixes nor mixes of any kind laundry was done by hand in the tub with a scrubbing board (this included all the sheets and towels) and lye soap, then taken to the basement to big tubs and rinsed and then hung outside, even in winter, and the laundry would freeze on the line, would be brought in when sort of dry and draped over the radiators or hung up on lines in the basement to finish drying. (This was how I washed the diapers for Mike and James, with a scrub board in the bathtub, until my knuckles used to bleed). 

He also had memories of our Dad taking us for walks in the Don Valley and passing the barbed wire enclosures which were prisoner of war camps, with guard dogs and armed soldiers. This would have been during World War 2.