Family Visits

 

When Mom’s Dad passed away in 1936, her baby brother, James Van Day (Jay for short)  was just six months old.  His mother was nursing him, and as babies can do, he was picking up on the stress and sadness his mother was experiencing.  Therefore, she was also dealing with one very cranky baby.  In Mom’s words, “He cried a lot.”  Finally, someone fixed a bottle for Jay and her Uncle Velve Heggie held him and fed him.  He took the bottle like he was very hungry and finally slept. 

We moved from Raymond to Rosemary in the spring of 1945.  In November of that same year, then nine-year-old, Jay took very ill.  His mother took him to the new hospital that had been built in Taber.  The doctor was not sure what was wrong.  He sent specimens from his throat and lungs to the laboratory in Lethbridge.  Mom’s family in Taber sent word that Jay was ill, and Mom and Dad immediately packed us all up and we went to Taber. 

A few days later, Jay passed away.  It was Armistice Day, 11 November 1955.

Later that Day, Mom’s sister, Aunt Verna, gave birth to her third child, Bonnie Rae.  Can you imagine the mixed emotions she was experiencing?

The throat and lung cultures came back indicating Jay had diphtheria.  The whole family was quarantined.

They were not allowed to have a funeral, just a graveside service.  The day Jay died, there was a Chinook wind blowing, but the day he was buried, it was thirty degrees below zero. (And that was in the days when it was still Fahrenheit degrees.)  

Rosemary was a long ways from Raymond and Taber, where most of our relatives lived but we did keep in touch and visited back and forth and there were happier times when we could get together.  I remember when Aunt Verna and Uncle Clarence, Aunt Lenor and Uncle Joe, and Grandma came to visit in Rosemary. 

Marvelle and I had such fun playing with our cousins and could not wait until we could visit again. 

Uncle Clarence with Lester Ann on his knee and Louiene.

Uncle Clarence, Aunt Verna, with Arliss and Louiene

Grandma (Sarah Evans VanDam Day), Aunt Verna, Dad (Clarence Hyde), Mom (Floy Hyde), Uncle Joe Edwards and Aunt Lenor Edwards.  In front Lester Ann and Marvelle.

Marvelle and Louiene on the tricycle and Arliss giving Lester Ann 

a ride in the wagon.

Marvelle, Arliss, Louiene, and Lester Ann by Uncle Clarence’s car.

Arliss, Marvelle, Louiene, Gordon, and Lester Ann.