Tough Teeth

Russell James (the James for Grandfather Clary), the second child and first son of the William H. Cudmore’s, was born at the Palermo farm on April 29, 1693. He suffered from asthma, especially after the family moved to the damp atmosphere of the Lakeshore when he was six. Consequently, several of his adolescent years were spent on our Uncle Everard’s farm near Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and he went to school there. One skill he picked up in the West was horseback riding, even a few rodeo tricks, which he enjoyed displaying to his children many years later. One time, at the O’Connor farm at Milton he showed them the trick of throwing down a handkerchief and picking it up in his teeth the next time around. The children were suitably impressed and his wife appropriately terrified. I don’t know when Russell returned home to stay, but I think it was when he was about eighteen. He then trained as a telegraph operator, in Toronto, I assume. It was said that he became the youngest operator in Canada at the time. The Bronte railway station was one of his posts, probably the first. He used to tell the story of one lonely and rather spooky night when he shared his office with a corpse that was being shipped. It was here that he met the very interesting Diltz family whose father, much respected by Russell, was the station master. Russell became very friendly with Bert, the oldest son, and enlisted and shared many World War I experiences with him. They were in Ottawa the night the Parliament buildings burned in 1917 and were part of the forces called on to help fight the blaze. Bert later became well known in the education field as principal of the Ontario College of Education and author— editor of several school texts. He was head of the English department of the O.C.E. when I attended. After his stint with the railway Russell joined the telegraph department of the T. Eaton Company and it was from there that he enlisted to serve in World War I in the Canadian Army Signal Corps. I remember Mother taking me to see his picture in the gallery of pictures of all employees who were doing war service. It was appropriate, of course, that he was in the communications branch of the army as a “sapper”, or telegraph operator. Part of his communications job was arranging billeting for the soldiers and horses with the French population. In the course of these duties he became quite proficient in the French and Flemish languages. Many years later, when visiting his son Jim and family in Nontraal he was left sitting in the Bonsecours Sailors’ Church in Lower Town while the others climbed the tower he was not strong enough to tackle. The othere were astounded on their return to find Russell in a spirited conversation with two nuns — in French1 Unknown to the family, he has retained this skill over the years. He was also proficient in signaling with flags and years later with brother Harold put on a demonstration of that art for their families vacationing in Northern Ontario. One had to find out almost by accident about Russell’s accomplishments; he never flaunted them. But if one could get him talking, whtt came out was invariably interesting. On one occasion he told of one of probably many narrow escapes during the war. This time, he had just walked away from his instrument when it was demolished by a shell. Another close call caine when he was very ill with pneumonia. The doctor, not knowing about Russell’s asthma, and noting his laboured breathing, thought he was a goner, but Russell assured the doctor that he would “live to pee on his (the doctor’s) graven. It seems remarkable that with his condition he was ever accepted into the army and ironic that he was involved in the battle in which the Germans first used poison gas. Russell spent the winter of 1918—19 in Germany with the army of occupation, in Cologne, I think, and rather enjoyed the life of the city, with its classy nightclubs and attractive girls (both verboten, of course). It was a great day when he returned hone in the summer of 1919. Some of the family went to Toronto to meet the train. No Russell to be found, and the girl at the information booth helpfully suggested, 11Maybe when he went to get on the boat it was full and he couldn’t get on”. However, he was eventually found. Meanwhile, Mother had arranged a big welcome with many flags and streamers. Russell had had enough of the red, white and blue, and paid me a cent to remove as many of the decorations as possible. He was then twenty-six and I was nine. Eaton’s had a policy of taking back all their returning employees and Russell returned to his old job, where he remained for forty—two years, many of them as Manager of the Telegraph Department.

Tough Times

Russell married Mary Jane O’Connor on June 17, 1921. Mary was the sixth in a family of six boys and four girls - Nellie, Hugh, Jim, Florrie, Leo, Mary, John, Wi]ired, Teresa and Adrian — of Philip and Joanna O’Connor, Irish Roman Catholics who had a farm on the Upper Base tine, five miles south of Milton, in Trafalgar Township. The father died when Mary was twelve. The mother, a beautiful woman with a regal bearing and great strength of character, rented the farm till the boys were old enough to run it and in the meantime made a living for the family by nursing. The older boys worked on neighbouring farms, Nellie and Florrie got jobs in Toronto, and Mary got very early experience in housekeeping. Nellie married Dan O’Connor, no relation, and had a family of nine and Florrie married Bill ICelly and also had a large family. Both lost their husbands early and coped with the raising of large families as their mother had done. Mary recalls that ahe met Russell one summer while she was picking berries and living at the farm of Will Sheridan, later the Atkins farm, at what used to be Merton near the present Queen Elizabeth Way. In the evenings the young people used to walk to Bronte, where there was always lots of activity at the Bronte Beach Park and at frequent garden parties. She can’t remember at which of these they met, but according to her grandson Pat’s history it was at the beach and Russell took her for a boat ride. Their wedding was a small one in the church parlours, as Russell did not adopt the Catholic faith. Teresa and Leo O’Connor were the attendants and there was a small gathering at the Cudmore house in Bronte afterwards. They lived till 1927 in a flat on St. Anne’s Road near Dovercourt and College Streets in Toronto. In these earlier years Russell was an avid swimmer and used to stop off for a swim several times a week at the YMCA at College and Dovercourt on his way home from work. In 1927 they bought the house at 63 Wallace Ave. in the Bloor-Dufferin area. They lived there for many years till in later life they bought a house a few blocks away at 139 Emerson Ave. There Russell was a good friend to their Italian neighbours, helping them with documents of various kinds. They showed their appreciation when they came to his funeral en masse, an impressive sight all dressed in black. There wasn’t a lot of money in the Cudmore household, because Eaton’s was notorious for low salaries, but sharing was the operative word, and there was an abundance of love, friendship and laughter. It was a gathering place for all the neighbourhood kids. Mary liked it that way, for then she knew what and with whom her three boys were playing. It was also a second home for nary members of the Cudmore and O’Connor families. Mary often said her greatest pleasure was to receive visitor into her home, feed and refresh them and. send them on their way to whatever business or social engagements they had planned. If so, she must have been very happy! I was a recipient of this kindness on many occasions, especially when I was in residence at Annesley Hall and felt the need of some homey atmosphere. Also, I boarded with them during the 1931—32 season when I was attending that horrible Ontario College of Education and they boosted my flagging morale on many occasions. Mary was a super cook and the food was hearty, among the favourites being huge pieces of home—made apple pie with mounds of home—made ice cream served in soup plates, and huge pans of home-made chelsea buns with “lots of chelsea”. These were depression times, but it didn’t seem to matter there. The only reference I remember being made to it was Russell’s droll quip when he bought his first car in 1932. He said, “I figure when they put me out of my house, I’ll have something to go in”. Another of his comical remarks I remember hearing frequently in the car, made when another car would speed past was, “Drive on, Hall ain’t half full yet”. An important event in their lives was the trip to the West coast they took in about 1950 with Bernice, Bill, Amy and Evelyn Mary, all jammed with their luggage into one car. But they didn’t mind the crowding and had a great time, Russell renewing acquaintances from. his youth and introducing Mary to the Western cousins. Russell had been retired and in poor health for some years when he died on Easter Saturday, 1967, the first break in the family of eight. He is buried in Milton. After his death, Mary kept the home going till 1979, when ill, health forced her to give up. Then her sister Teresa, who had been living with them for a number of years, took over till she had a slight stroke, and the sisters are now happy together in the Extendioare Nursing home in Oakville. It is now time to move on to the stories of the three sons of Russell and Mary. The first, James Russell (Russell’s names reversed) was born on February 2, 1925, in St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, when the family residence was at 18 St. Anne’s Road. He attended St. Anthony’s Separate School and St. Michael’s College School in Toronto. He was inducted into the Canadian Army in 1942 and was sent to England late in 1943 About ten days after D Day he was sent to France and assigned to the Highland Light Infantry as a dispatch rider and infantry soldier. H.L.I was in the ninth brigade of the Canadian Army Division and known as the “Water Rats” because of their participation in the D Day landing and their crossing of several rivers.

Some Fame

The most famous of these crossings was of the Rhine River in March, 1945. They also distinguished themselves in the liberation of many towns and villages in Holland. As the war drew to a close there was one more river crossing, the Lear River in northern Germany, on April 28, 1945. In this action Jim was severely wounded by enemy shell fire and returned to England. Before going overseas, Jim had planed with his father that if anything happened, and if he was able, he would send a telegram that would not be censored. When the air ambulance arrived in England, Jim gave the pilot money to send the telegram: “Eaton’s, Canada - in England, O.K., Jim”. This alerted his parents two days ahead of the official news. After two months in hospital in England Jim was returned to Canada and spent about six months in and out of the old Christie Street Hospital in Toronto. In 1981, the thirty-fifth anniversary of the liberation of Holland, Jim had occasion to return there on business. Associates there took him to the town which his unit had helped to liberate. He was lionized and shown the church which had been rebuilt, and presented with a piece of the original steeple. Upon recovery from his wounds, Jim decided to make use of his considerable artistic ability. He worked with a small display advertising company and then went to the advertising department of Aikenhead’s Hardware, doing store displays and newspaper advertising. From there he went to the Gypsum, Lime and Alabastine Company, in trade advertising and specification work, as editor of Clearing House. In 1960 G.L.A. and Jim were taken over by Dominion Tar & Chemical Company, which later became Donitar. In July of 1964 Jim moved to Montreal with Dontar Construction Materials Limited, where he became an expert in the construction of walls and ceilings. His present work is with the company’s six gypsum plants, monitoring the quality of gypsum products and fire testing and sound transmission testing of their various products. His present title is Field Quality Manager for Canada, and he does a great deal of travelling across the country in this capacity. Hockey has been Jim’s sport. When his war injuries prevented his continuing to play, he became a referee and continued this with the Toronto Hockey League and the O.H.A. for about ten years. Following his move to Montreal he coached in Pointe Claire for ten years, served on the Pointe Claire Hockey Board for five years and was Referee In Chief for the Pointe Claire Old-timers for five years. In the summer he enjoys working at his summer cottage in the Laurentians near St. Agathe, which he and his family have built from the ground up. Another smart thing Jim did was marry Hilda Mary Donald at St. Anthony’s Church in Toronto on October 27, 1956. Hilda was born in Toronto on October 5, 1928, of Scottish ancestry. Her father was William Robertson Donald, born April 25,1885, in Dundee, Scotland and her mother was Williamina Brown, born December 23, 1885 in South Queensferry, Scotland. Hilda has three brothers, William, Norman and Ernest and two sisters, Margaret and Evelyn, all born in Scotland. She attended Earl Beatty Elementary School and Eastern High School of Commerce, both in Toronto, and graduated in accounting in 1945. She was employed as a secretary in Imperial Oil on St. Clair Avenue in Toronto from 1949 to 1959. The couple lived from their marriage in 1956 till 1964 at 1515 Applewood Road, Port Credit. While there they hosted the annual Cudmore family picnic on Sunday, June 23, 1963. I remember because that was the day Derek Charles Kalff was born in Guelph and a very proud Amy attended the picnic to lap up our congratulations on the birth of her first grandchild. In 1964, on Jim’s move to Montreal with Domtar, they bought their house at 119 Empress Avenue in Pointe Claire, a pleasant suburb of Montreal, and are still living there. Hilda took wonderful care of her mother there for many years, but still found time for important hobbies such as sewing, crocheting, bridge and furniture refinishing. Her skill in the latter and in home decorating is much in evidence in their home. Her sports activities include cross-country skiing, bicycling, tennis and skating. By no means has the least of Jim’s and Hilda’s achievements been the producing and raising of a son and a daughter. Donald James was born July 28, 1959 and Cheryl Ann December 13 1962, both in Queensway General Hospital, Etobicoke. Both attended Regina Caeli Elementary School and St. Thomas High School in Pointe Claire. On graduation in 1976, Donald attended night classes at Dawson College to become a certified Emergency Medical Technician in the Ambulance division and he works as a volunteer Ambulance attendant on week—ends. During summers while at school he worked with the Pointe Claire Recreation Department. Donald loves machines, the bigger and more wheels the better. He is now employed doing what he loves to do, driving trucks for Concord Freight Systems, Dorval, Quebec. Another of Donald’s great enthusiasms is for sailing. He holds the Canadian Yachting Association Silver Sail, and the Senior Seamanship Award, Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club. He now sails from the Venture Sailing Base, Pointe Claire. He was an excellent hockey player till he was eighteen, but now he concentrates on skiing on winter week—ends. Bicycling is another activity, and he spent his vacation in 1981 bicycling over three hundred miles in Vernont and Upper New York State. A big ambition is to have his pilot’s license some day. He has completed his ground school training and done some flying. But the big machines on wheels are his first love. He hopes to attend Tractor-Training School this summer and get his license for the big rigs. Cheryl was an honours graduate from St. Thomas High School in 1980 with the Technical-Vocational award for drafting and the Snowfire award f or John Abbot College at St. Anne de Bellevue. She is now in her final year of Commerce. After French immersion classes at local schools, Cheryl enjoyed a summer program at the University of Perpignon, France, in 1978. She has also spent two summers working at Domtar Construction Materials Ltd. in Montreal. Cheryl is also a sailing enthusiast, having completed the Iaser program. and racing course at Stephan Marshall Sailing School in Pointe Claire. She now spends most of her spare time in summer sailing from the Venture Sailing Base in Pointe Claire. She has recently become interested in tennis and is a member of the Mirabel Racquet Club. Her two trips to France have given her an enthusiasm for travel. She counts Paris her favourite city, but would like to visit Greece, Austria and Switzerland. Through her travels she has become interested in art and has taken some art Appreciation courses at John Abbott. The second child of Russell and Mary was John Ernest (two names big in the family). He is now known in the family as Bronte Dr. Jack to differentiate from Bill’s son, Buffalo Dr. Jack. He was born on December 27, 1927, after Russell and Mary had moved to 63 Wallace Ave. He was an especially beautiful child of four when I boarded with them. One example I remember of his many droll sayings occurred when having accompanied Mary on .one of her many long walks to her sister Nellie’s in Parkdale, playing all the way to, during and from his visit, he sat dejectedly on the veranda steps and announced, “I’m never going to play again.”. He attended St. Anthony’s Separate School and St. Michael’s College School and in 1953 graduated from the Dental faculty of the University of Toronto with the degree of DDS (Doctor of Dental Surgery). The summers of his years at Dental College were spent in the C.O.T.C., billeted at Quebec City, Ottawa and Kingston. While in Quebec he became quite proficient in French and has retained. quite a bit of this skill - enough to help brother Jim in St. Agathe dealing with the French hardware merchants when buying supplies for Jim’s cottage. While playing hockey for St. Michael’s he suffered a compound fracture of his leg, but that didn’t deter him from a further avid pursuit of sports. He played intramural hockey, football and soccer for the faculty of Dentistry, and has continued to play hockey on various teams. He still plays on an Oakville-Trafalgar Separate School Board team! He has also curled and is now a keen skier, spending many of his free Wednesday afternoons at Collingwood. He said the Cudmore love of swimming skipped a generation, and though the put in a pool for his kids and supports their pursuit of that sport, he is not a dedicated swimmer. He jogs to keep in trim. In his graduating year, on May 23, 1953, Jack married Margaret Carroll and they began a true partnership, Jack as operator of a Red Cross Dental coach and Margaret as his assistant. Half the coach was clinic and half living quarters. Their mandate was to treat children who were more that fifty miles from dental care. Their first stop was at Golden Valley, fifty miles south west of North Bay and their second Britt, fifty miles north of Parry Sound for a total of one year. Margaret tells an amusing story of their start at Britt. She was alone in the coach one evening, when a knock came at the door. Thinking it was Jack, she yelled “Come on in!”. When there was no reply, she bounced out and said “Boo!”, She was mortified to find it was the parish priest, come to see if he could get dental attention for the children of Britt. He then wrote to the Red Cross and it was arranged. After this beginning year, Jack started his practice in Bronte, over the store on the main corner, again with Margaret as his assistant until the first baby came. While in Bronte Jack also participated in the Outpatients’ Clinic of the Hamilton General Hospital under the now renowned Dr. Peter Smylski, where he gained much valuable experience. In February 1957 he moved his practice to Lorne Park Road, where it is still located, and for a while he was on call for emergencies at the now Mississauga General Hospital. Jack’s and Margaret’s first home in Bronte was in the Cudmore house, in a few rooms, for six months, with Mike and Vera. They then bought a little bungalow on the then Trafalgar Road, Bronte, and now Bronte Road, Oakville. Their next move was in 1961, around the corner to a larger house on Hixon St. Then came the big move when in 1969, wanting a wholesome country atmosphere for their kids to grow up in, they bought seventeen acres and the house and buildings of the Vansickle Century Farm from Jim and Laura Vansickle. Jack Proud, and lately Carl Wettlaufer have kept most of the acreage in crops, still leaving lots of room for the many kids, ponies, chickens, cats, dogs, pool, cars, that go into the raising of a large family in the country. The home is on Tremaine Road, the old Nelson-Trafalgar Township Line, postal address R.R. 6 Milton, but actually just within Oakville, Burnhamthorpe Road immediately north being the Milton boundary and Burlington starting just across the street to the west. Cudmore-style, Jack has actively participated in community affairs. He was for a number of years on the Oakville-Trafalgar Planning Board. This was an especially heavy responsibility in 1957, when the controversy was raging over allowing the two oil refineries into the district. Jack was also a member of the Halton Regional Separate School Board for a total of thirteen years. He has been prominent in the Oakville council of the Knights of Columbus, part of the time as Grand Knight. The council was formed in 1953 and Jack joined in 1954. Its main charity is the Arthritic Society. An interesting hobby is the collecting of antique clocks and watches, of which he has many valuable specimens. He has made many good friends among the fifteen original tome Park members who now belong to the Toronto chapter. He has attended many gatherings at various points in the U. S. and Canada. He now occupies much of his leisure time in serious reading, having worked his way through the History of Mankind, and now embarked on English and Celtic History. Jack’s helpmate in all this, his wife Margaret, is sixth in a family of seven children of Martin Carroll, from Ennis, County Clare, Ireland and his wife, Marie Welsh. The mother died when Margaret was just four and an aunt moved in with the family to help raise the children. Margaret attended St. Rita’s Separate School and Oakwood Collegiate in Toronto and was working as an I.B.M. key punch operator with C.N.R. when she met Jack at a Catholic Youth Organization dance . In addition to raising six very active and accomplished children, she has found time to curl and cross—country ski, and loves playing marathon bridge, knitting and reading. She loves browsing among antiques and old homes, as evidenced by the most attractive restoration and redecorating that has gone into their present home. Margaret has done a stint at volunteer work with FISH, an organization of all the Oakville churches, driving shut-ins to appointments and activities. She worked also as a physiotherapist in a private clinic, and is currently working as part-time aide in the physiotherapy department of the Oakville Hospital. And now we come to the careers of the six kids. Jane Marie, named for two grandmothers, was born on November 12, 1955. She attended St. Dominic’s Separate School in Bronte and White Oaks Secondary School in Oakville. This renews the Cudmore connection with Mazo de Ia Roche, as we can assume that the school was named for the family depicted in her famous Jalna novels, of which the setting is supposed to be at nearby Clarkson. Jane then attended the University of Guelph, graduating with the degree of B.Sc in Human Kinetics. She has currently completed the one-year acadamic part of a two-year course at the Institute of Medical Technology in Toronto to be a respiratory technician, during which time she worked part time in an allied field in Toronto Western Hospital. She is now completing her one year of practical training at the Toronto General Hospital and finds that there are lots of job openings for her as soon as she is ready. Jane’s other career, swimming, got started because her mother, having a fear of water, decided that as her children were to be raised near water, they must be good swimmers. Consequently, at an early age, all received instruction in swimming and water safety, and all but Paul, who is not yet old enough, have their bronze lifesaving medals and are qualified lifeguards. Jane has put this training to good use, lifeguarding for the Oakville Parks and Recreation Department during summer vacations. On entering university she set out to make an assault on the record set by her Great-uncle Harold during his undergraduate years there, and she became captain of the girls’ swimming team. Incidentally, she was also House Representative of the co-op residence, an apartment being the perquisite. After graduation she did lifeguarding at Bronte Creek Park and at Dovercourt Boys’ Club and for a time worked in the fitness field in Lady Fitness in Toronto. She is currently doing recreational swimming as a Master Swimmer at the Alderwood Swim Club and last year set a Canadian record in the 800 metre freestyle class. That her record was broken just a week later doesn’t alter the fact that she made it! Last summer she was a member of the lifeguard team from Bronte Creek Park that won the first aid cup in the Ontario Lifeguard competition. Jane‘s first brother, Michael, named for his Uncle Mike (who wasn’t Michael, but that’s another story)- was born on May 4, 1957. He also attended St. Dominic’s, White Oaks and University of Guelph. His degree is a B.Sc. in Computer Science. On graduation he was employed by the Province of Ontario as a Computer Analyst at Bay and Bloor Streets in Toronto and soon was giving courses instructing others. He is now with Planned Computer Systems Ltd., Toronto and is sent out to other firms to set up computer systems for then. Michael also did some summer lifeguarding, but worked more in factories, which gave more money. Also the dirty, tough work provided more incentive to further his education. He made the University swim team and stood 24th in Canada in a national meet. He still swims competitively in division 2 of the 50 arid 100 metre I freestyle, and last April won a bronze medal. Michael also loves skiing, but is not allowed to do so while he is still taking intensive swim training. Number two son, Christopher James, arrived January 31, 1959. He attended St. Dominic’s and White Oaks but did not want to go any farther. He has worked at Wimco Steel and De Mag Crane Company and has just achieved his major goal of being taken on as an apprentice lineman with the Oakville Hydro Commission. During summer vacations he did lifeguarding with the Oakville Parks and Recreation and there met Christel Beaudette, also a lifeguard. They were married in St. Dominic’s on June 9, 1979. Christel’s father is French Canadian. from Cornwall, Ontario and her mother is English. Chris and Chris have a lively little girl, Jessica Lee Charlotte, a first grandchild for Jack and Margaret and great-grandchild for Mary. They have bought a little house in Bronte (now Oakville West). Christel resumed her lifeguarding as supervisor of pools in Oakville. Meanwhile, Jessica is expecting a little brother or sister to arrive any moment now. Number three son, Patrick Joseph, was born on February 8, 1961, and was four months old when the move was made to Hixon Street. He attended the same two schools and then went on to Mohawk College in Hamilton and graduated in 1981 with a diploma in Recreation Leadership. This is appropriate, as Pat is a real people person. Last summer he got a government grant to run a day camp for retarded in Hamilton. It was the first of its kind in Canada serving that particular segment of population. He is continuing in this field, having started last fall a fulltime job with severely retarded adults in Hamilton. He is enjoying fixing up his own apartment there. Patrick also loves to swim, and enjoyed his summers lifeguarding in Oakville. His other hobbies are crafts and gardening. Number two daughter in Margot Catherine, born on May 22, 1962. She attended the same schools and has just now completed the second of a three-year course in Computer Technology at Mohawk College in Hamilton. She is just home from a work term in Ottawa in connection with the course. Her summer lifeguarding has been done at the Rotary pool in Milton. Horses were her first love, and so she took lessons and enjoyed riding at the nearby Burton Riding School. Next came softball. She played in the Ontario Champion Midget team in 1978, in the Juvenile division last year, arid will play junior ladies’ next year. The youngest in the family, Paul Russell, was born on July 20, 1965, the day of the Moon landing. He also had the distinction of being a tiny premature baby and spending his first six weeks of life in the hospital. At seven months he was again in hospital critically ill in intensive care and recovered slowly. After having his tonsils removed at eighteen months he picked up quickly. He attended St. Dominic’s but unlike the other five kids, is taking his secondary education at Assumption High School in Burlington, now finishing Grade eleven. Unlike the others, also, he doesn’t have a special interest in swimming and it may be a struggle to get him to complete his lifesaving training. He prefers skiing. Paul is very mechanically inclined. He loves taking things apart, and appropriately his summer job is in a garage. He hopes to go into computer technology and is a keen member of the Computer Club at school. He has also made it into print in the school newspaper to parents with a quiz designed by Paul Cudmore. Now we go back a generation to Russell’s and Mary’s third son, brother of Jim and Dr. Jack. He is Edward Joseph (Ed.) born August 24, 1929. Like his brothers, he attended St. Anthony’s and St. Michael’s, with an extra year at moor Collegiate. From there he started working in Northern Electric in April 1948 and has been with the same company ever since — thirty—three years - though about six years ago it became Northern Telecom. He has been active in the local union, Communication Workers of Canada (C.W.C.). Ed. shared the family dedication to sports. He first played hockey with the C.Y.O. Church league and then Intermediate with Northern. He then participated in the Toronto Hockey League with a team of brothers Jim and Jack and including friends Jim Hall and Bren Furlong, who called themselves the Monarchs. Next he played with a team at Nobleton, consisting of four teams. He still skates and stopped playing organized hockey only recently. Ed. has also played a great deal of baseball, first hardball with St. Anthony’s in a church league and then with a St. Mary ‘s Bolish Bathurst Church Junior ball in Toronto Baseball League. He then switched to softbail for his firm in an industrial league, and stopped playing only three years ago. For a hobby, Ed. joined his brother Jack in. his interest in antique clocks and has a fine collection. On April 17, 1953 Ed married Bernice Bonnis, whose father worked on the Muskoka Lake boats out of Gravenhurst. They bought a house on Wallace Avenue, just around the corner from the family home. Their son Steven Michael was born March 9, 1954. In January of 1957 Bernice left, taking the baby with her, but she soon found that she could not work and take care of the baby properly too. Ed had rented their house and moved back in with Russell and Mary, who had just moved to 139 Emerson Ave., and by a court settlement in April, Steven came to live with them in August. Steven followed his father and uncles at St. Anthony’s and then went to St. Helen’s for a year before going to J. J. McCrand Junior High School. His secondary school was Western Tech, where his major subject was drafting. His first job was as a draftsman, doing layouts for an electrical engineer. He then did part time work with his future father-in-law, a flooring contractor, and painting and odd jobs with cousin Tom O’Connor. Steve and Ed together took night courses in woodworking at Brocicton Collegiate for three or four years and have a well equipped workshop in the basement at Ed’s house, where they have made some fine pieces of furniture. Steve then took the two-year course in furniture design and building at George Brown College. This paid off, for it was through an instructor there that he got his present interesting job with the C.B.C. as set constructor. He is now also teaching an evening course in carpentry at Brockton, where he took his evening courses in woodworking. Steven’s dedication to swimming began when his grandmother took him as a small child to the summer Learn to Swim program run by the Toronto Board of Education at Bloor Collegiate. From there he joined the Dovercourt Boys’ Club in Dovercourt Park at age about seven, and he swam there all of his spare time till he was fifteen. He got his Red Cross Bronze medal and qualified as a lifeguard. This was his summer job for a few years, with the Harbour Police as Sunnyside pool and at Earlscourt pool. He swam for Western Tech. in the City High School meets where be won prizes and went on to the Ontario High School meets. His specialties were breast stroke, medley and relay. At fifteen he joined EMAC (Etobicoke Memorial Aquatic Club) and there met Merrily Stratten who was a star member of their team and whose brother Gay was the coach. Merrily was good enough to go with the Canadian swim team to the Munich Olympics in 1972 and to participate in World Student Games. She has her Master’s degree in Physical Education from the University of Toronto and is now on the fulltime staff there, primarily as Aquatic Instruction Supervisor and coach of the women’s swim team. Through Merrily, Steven has become interested in playing water polo with a group at the university and is now a member of the Golden Jets water polo team which came second in the Canadian championships in Edmonton in the spring of 1981. They have done well at various meets throughout Canada and the US. The social event of the 1981 season for the Cudmore family was the marriage of Steven and Merrily on July 11 at The Heintzman House, a historic mansion in Thornhill. It was a perfect summer day and the spacious gardens with their colourful flowers and majestic trees were a lovely setting for the informal ceremony. The reception and dinner for the guests was followed by a dance at which the crowd was augmented by numbers of young friends of the popular couple. It is interesting to note that Steven and Merrily had unknowingly chosen the forty-fifth anniversary of the marriage of Steven’s Aunt Amy to Charles Rivaz. Also, it is a sobering thought that the Saturday following the wedding the lovely old trees under which we had stood and the part of the building in which we had dined were badly damaged by a savage thunder storm and downpour! Steven and Merrily have bought and moved into a house at 473 Euclid Avenue in Toronto and are busy renovating and refurbishing it, using Steven’s special skills to good advantage.