Edna Mildred Forth

Gran was the eleventh of sixteen children in the huge Forth family and she spent her early years on the farm in Utterson. She wanted to be a ballerina as a young girl, but never told anyone of her dream as she worried they would make fun of her. And they certainly may have done so, as she was tall and well built, not the dainty ballerina type. 

Gran moved to St. Catharines sometime in the mid 1920’s and worked in a boarding house for a Mrs. Richman/Richmond for her keep. She picked fruit in the orchards and eventually worked at the Maple Leaf Rubber factory in Port Dalhousie making buttons. This factory became home to many different things over the years, ending up as Lincoln Fabrics before it was torn down to make way for new condos.

My grandfather, Harold Prosser, was working in St. Catharines as a taxi driver in the 1920’s. I have no idea how he and Gran met, but it certainly could have been in his cab! He and Gran were married February 21, 1928, in the United Church Parsonage in St. Catharines in front of witnesses Lucy and Albert Stevens, Gran’s elder sister and her husband. The marriage registration is full of errors, from Gran's middle name, which was NOT May, to Harold's mother's name which was NOT Hettie Morton. I noted on my dad's birth registration that my grandmother's middle name was recorded as May there as well. I think, in both cases, my grandfather was responsible for giving the information. I wonder if he ever did know what Gran's real middle name was!

Gran and Poppa had two children in St. Catharines, my dad, Art, in 1929 and my aunt, Irene, in 1931. Poppa had been working on the Welland Canal but when the work was cancelled due to the depression, he moved to Ravenshoe in the early 1930’s to work on the farm owned by his canal boss and former neighbour back home, John Gordon. Gran worked hard on the various farms where they lived in Ravenshoe during the 1930’s. She worked in the fields driving horses, planting potatoes and tomatoes, and pitching hay as well as sharing her long days on neighbouring farms when they needed her help. She still found time to can fruit and vegetables and bake delicious pies, cakes and cookies.

On weekends, Gran would cook up a mountain of these pastries and she and my grandfather would load them into an old, modified Model T Ford and deliver them to the summer homes on the shores of Lake Simcoe to try and raise some extra money. She learned this from her mother before her who did the same thing in Utterson before opening her own bakery in Parry Sound!

Gran compiled a hand-written cookbook which contained all of her secret recipes. In his eulogy for Gran, Dad remembered her cookbook thus: 

“I now have this recipe book. With the inherited love of cooking, I decided not long ago to try out one of her secret recipes. Something I did NOT inherit was the knowledge to READ her secret recipes. Try baking a cake which calls for a pinch of this, a dash of that and stir until it looks right. Add half a handful of flour and stir until if feels right. Cook in a medium hot oven for 30-45 minutes, or until it looks right. She could make it turn out delicious every time.”

Gran’s dad died in 1942 and sometime after 1944, the Prosser family and Aunt Vi, moved to a house down the street at 56 Waubeek Street. Eventually, houses filled in the large space between the two houses and in the late 1960’s this house became 60 Waubeek Street.

One of my first memories at this house was watching coal be delivered through the coal window at the side of the house on the driveway. There was very little ductwork in the house. A grate in the ceiling of the living room delivered a little heat to the main bedroom upstairs. Everyone else just used more blankets. I think there was little money when this house was built and there was little or no insulation. The temperature always may have been cool, but the welcome could never have been warmer. My gran loved everybody to stop by, and they did. She always had something in the cupboard, fridge or freezer to serve as she loved to bake.

In 1952, Gran's first grandchild arrived - me! Almost five years after me, my sister Kim arrived. Gran just loved to spend time with us.

As a member of the First Baptist Church, Gran loved arranging flowers for the altar each Sunday. She and her sister, my great aunt Mabel, both loved to garden and it became a real competition to see who could grow the most beautiful flowers to decorate the church each week. The church was obviously the winner here! Gran never let being a Baptist get in the way of having a good time, though. She liked to go to bingo, to dance, to play cards, and she liked a good drink of beer or scotch.

Above almost anything else, Gran absolutely LOVED to fish. Once she retired, Gran spent a good deal of time at the family cottage and fishing the inlets and channels of Georgian Bay. Dad told about Gran’s fishing prowess in her eulogy:

“Mom developed a real passion for fishing and cottage life. She soon knew all the best fishing spots on Georgian Bay. When you went fishing with Mother and she caught the first fish, it was a good fishing spot. If someone else caught the first fish, it was time to move on as that was the only fish in that spot! In later years, Mom was the oldest angler ever to enter an Ontario-wide Fish Derby - and win!”

Gran never learned to swim or to drive a car, but she never seemed to miss doing either of those things. A taxi took her to and from work after Poppa died in 1966, and she made sure never to fall in “the drink” as she called Georgian Bay, so her lack of swimming skills never mattered.

When I was a small child, Gran sewed the most amazing Hallowe'en costumes for me - my favourite being Little Bo Peep I think, though the blue taffeta magic fairy one with all the stars sewn onto it was pretty spectacular as well! When I got to high school, Gran gave me her old sewing machine and taught me the very basics of sewing so that I could make my own clothes. I was never very good, but I did get to have new dresses for high school dances because I could make them!

Gran loved to bake, and it was always great turning up at her place, walking in the back door which was never locked, and checking to see what was cooling on the counter. Both of my grandmothers were great bakers, but my Grandma Hilton baked with finesse whereas my Grandma Prosser baked in quantity! To a child, both were welcome. One year, we made special Easter eggs together. We used sugar and butter and the yellow dye from the margarine packs to make the yolks, then rolled them in a thick white icing sugar concoction, dipped them in chocolate and decorated them. Gran certainly had the family touch for baking! She loved to decorate cakes for special occasions. I think my favourite was one she made that had coloured autumn leaves all over it. Gran certainly did inherit the Forth baking gene!

I have always been so impressed with Gran’s many talents. She loved to paint and had a style that reminds me of Maud Lewis. This photo of a painting of hers is of Aunt Vi’s Camp Niatta before the addition and porch had been put on, so likely from the early 1950’s. When Gran was in the Long Term Care home, she told me that the murals on the walls had been painted by her mother. Clearly that wasn’t so, but it did lead me to believe that Gran’s mother may have enjoyed painting as well.

Poppa and Gran enjoying time at Camp Niatta

Gran had a passion for earrings, especially dangly ones. This always seemed quirky to me, because she was not a very dressy person and certainly not dainty or lady-like. She was, after all, the person who taught me how to fillet a fish!

My gran and I shared a love of old things. I was the eldest grandchild, and the first one with whom she shared family memories and treasures. She gave me her old family photo album, and some other family heirlooms. Others she shared with my cousin Melody who has generously shared them with me. Gran told me things she could remember about her own grandmother when she visited her at the “big house” in Bracebridge. She encouraged the very beginnings of my search for my family roots. She also showed me how to refinish old furniture and gave me my first piece to work on. She helped me wallpaper my apartment in Mississauga and used to send me recipes in the mail. She was full of practical skills, was my grandma!

One of the strangest things my grandmother and I shared is something of a sixth sense. She would always say when I called that she knew it was me before she picked the phone up. Sometimes, when I was older and on my own, I would wish really, really hard that she would call and she would. I would ask her how she knew that I needed to talk to her, and she always replied that she just knew. She said she could find lost buttons too and sometimes knew things before they happened. She loved to tell the story of finding a special button of Aunt Vi’s in a buggy because she knew exactly where to look. I have never questioned her abilities, for whether they really were special abilities or not, it didn't matter; she was always there when I needed her.

Gran lived longer than any of her fifteen siblings and was the very last of them to pass away. She certainly lived a long and productive life. I knew my gran for 48 years - not many people get to know a grandparent for nearly half a century. I miss her to this day and am so grateful for everything she taught me and shared with me. Thank you, Gran