More Unwed Mother Stories — Peacock Babies

July 21 1999 The Record

 

Another in the series Laundry Babies – Black Market Baby BMH 5-7-66

 

In the 60s society judged single mothers harshly. Intense social stigma made it impossible — or nearly impossible — for them to make choices other than adoption. Unmarried mothers also faced enormous institutional pressure to give up their children to “traditional” couples.

The practice of “forced adoptions” was depressingly routine — according to some estimates, between the 1940’s and the late 1980’s, over a million and a half American women were punished for their pregnancies by Church-sanctioned teams of people who I’d like to be able to describe as “well-intentioned,” but who actually sound kind of evil.

Between 1954 and 1977 it was illegal to sell contraceptives to anyone under 16 years of age. It was illegal to even discuss contraception with under-16-year-olds until years later.

 

Dayton Daily News
Dayton, Ohio
07 Mar 1920, Sun  •  Page 29

Come and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read. Also check out The Tales of Carleton Place and The Tales of Almonte

1. Information where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in The Townships SunScreamin’ Mamas (USA)  and The Sherbrooke Record

   

Laundry Babies – Black Market Baby BMH 5-7-66

Women in Peril– Betrayed by Heartless Scoundrels 1882

Who Remembers the Penny Brite Doll?

For years I always thought I owned a Debby Doll when I was a child. Today I realized she was no Debby she was a Penny- a Penny Brite doll. Penny was 8 inches tall , manufactured by Deluxe Reading (Topper Toys) in the early 1960’s.

 

Clipped from

1. The Ottawa Citizen,
2. 17 Nov 1964, Tue,
3. Page 25

 

 

And That’s the Way it Was….

And That’s the Way it Was…. Linda Knight Seccaspina as read in the Sherbrooke Record

The first TV program I remember watching as a child was the Mantovani Show, and not only was it boring, but it was in glorious black and white. Because we lived 14 miles from the Frelighsburg–Vermont border we were lucky to be able to receive American television channels, but my family insisted on progressing musically from Mantovani to Don Messer’s Jubilee. My father always hated radio and I think he couldn’t wait for television to be invented so he could hate that too.

For a few years my father had a special plastic sheet stuck to the front of the black and white TV that ‘simulated’ full colour. It was sold as a cheap alternative to buying an expensive color TV set and its promise had sucked my father in. Finally he gave in and bought one of the first colour televisions on Albert Street in Cowansville and our home instantly became the local tourist attraction. After seeing everything in black and white for years my world had now progressed to technicolor with a new neighbour coming in every night to watch my father play around with the “horizontal hold” button.

Of course he was the only person allowed to touch it and he spent a great deal of time on the roof adjusting the antenna to get the best picture. After constant calls to Lechausseur’s TV on the Main Street he became obsessed with something called tubes.  Picture tubes were expensive, and it was a sad day if the repairman told you that you needed a new one.

This TV was considered state of the art in those days and was not like the old black and white where he used to take all the tubes out “to test them”. Tube testing was usually a Saturday morning project, and sometimes I went with him. Back in the 50s they used to have a display setup in the local drugstores and I used to watch him put the tubes into a display socket and a meter would tell you if it was good or ‘fried from overuse’.

Once you had colour TV you never went back to black and white- you just went to what was called an “upgrade”.  In the late 60’s some of my friends used LSD instead, and their whole lives became Technicolor without television. Instead of drugs my family just continued to ‘upgrade’ and in lieu of Don Messers Jubilee we inherited The Tommy Hunter Show on Friday nights.

Who knew a Hoedown, Tommy Hunter and Brenda Lee could all exist in colour together? That is the exact moment I seriously thought drugs might be the answer.  Canadian professor, philosopher, and public intellectual Marshall McLuhan once said,”The medium is in the message”. I shook my head after I heard Brenda Lee’s message full of Technicolor words,

“Brother, if you want to get the lowdown, come along and let’s all have a hoedown.”

You bet your sweet bippy Brenda! Don’t you wish there was a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence sometimes? There’s one marked ‘Brightness,’ but it has never seemed to work. For me anyways.




As read in the Sherbrooke Record Quebec

 

1. Come and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read. Also check out The Tales of Carleton Place and The Tales of Almonte
   Information where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in The Townships Sun  Screamin’ Mamas (USA)  and The Sherbrooke Record

   

Who Wears Shorts Shorts? The Law Against Shorts!

If You Can’t Wear a Princess Dress on Monday — Then When Can You?

Linda’s Nickel Opinions — Blasts From the Past Part 11

Linda’s Nickel Opinions — Blasts From the Past — Part 10

Linda’s Nickel Opinions — Blasts From the Past — Part 9

Linda’s Nickel Opinions — Blasts From the Past — Part 8

Linda’s Nickel Opinions — Blasts From the Past — Part 7

Linda’s Nickel Opinions — Blasts From the Past — Part 6

Linda’s Nickel Opinions — Blasts From the Past — Part 5

Linda’s Nickel Opinions — Blasts From the Past — Part 4

Linda’s Nickel Opinions — Blasts From the Past — Part 3

Linda’s Nickel Opinions — Blasts From the Past — Part 2

Linda’s Nickel Opinions — Blasts From the Past Part 1

Twisting my Dignity Away with Jimmy Manson

 

One Friday night my Mother watched with interest as I danced to the song “Seven Little Girls Sitting in the Backseat” in front of the HiFi. My Mother screamed for my father to come and watch my performance and told him excitedly that I had a really good beat and maybe someday I would become a professional dancer.

That was the day a phone call was made to a neighbour and I was immediately put into a ballet class after school. I will never know if that was a mistake, but it did stop me from gaining weight for a few years. As with everything else in life I was a misfit from the word ‘go’. I had natural rhythm, but just hated regimental bar exercises and my creative steps were frowned upon. After not being able to dance a series of skipping steps for part of the Nutcracker Suite I was banished from ever becoming a Sugar Plum Fairy and sent to the gallows of the Waltzing Flowers.

Every afternoon at 4pm I danced my heart away in the living room while watching American Bandstand. One day Clark introduced Chubby Checker and I attempted to perfect the dance called The Twist. Over time I had every step down pat and was ready to try my moves at the Grade 5-8 dance in the Cowansville High School gym. My mother had made me a soft royal blue jersey dress with a fake fur collar, and I had on my broken-in Mary Jane shoes ready to go.

The teachers lined up the boys on one side and the girls on the other with none of us knowing who we were going to get as a dance partner. I looked at the tall lanky boy across from me with a tight suit and thin tie and screamed at him,

“Hey you! I hope you know how to dance!”


He nodded and actually looked afraid of me after I yelled at him, which he probably should have been. The Twist music began and the both of us were just like the dancers on American Bandstand. How two people ages 10 and 11 who had never met each other before danced like professionals is beyond me.

After 20 minutes there were just three couples left in the finals and we were one of them. After what I seem to remember as some fancy jumps and spins, we won the contest and each were awarded a Cadbury’s Snack Bar. Jimmy, being the gentleman he was, carefully put the candy bars in his pocket and we danced the rest of the night away.


Later I found my friend Sheila and asked her how she thought we did. She promptly told me that the reason we probably won was that my fast dance movements had kept spinning my skirt around and I was constantly flashing my pink underpants. She deemed it a hands down “underpants’ win.

 

Years later as I heard Twist music playing during a 60’s revival night in some forlorn corner bar in Sept-Iles it suddenly brought everything 360. With no one wanting to dance I just went out by myself in the middle of the dance floor and twisted solo for three songs.

It was only a dance, for heaven’s sake, but The Twist opened up a new world and it was the first dance in which the genders were created equal. Then again, maybe that gender stuff was all hooey and all I really ever wanted to do was just dance.

Hobos, Apple Pie, and the Depression–Tales from 569 South Street

Ashes to Ashes and Spins of the Washing Machine

The Days of Smocking and Spanish Bar Cake

Been Caught Stealing– Bank of Montreal

Angry Mobs, Wolves and Bloodsuckers –Selby Lake

Memories of UFO’s Earthquake Lights and Gale Pond

Misty Glen Mountain Snow Bunny Hop

Music in the 60s- Memories of Herman’s Hermits

Back to The Future — Twisting Your Dignity Away

Groovy Hints on How to Catch and Keep a Boy – 60’s style

The Dreams of a Sugar Plum Fairy

I Was A Free Range Child

Scrapbook Photos of Cowansville

6 Seconds of Cowansville High School – Our Miss Phelps

The Benefits of Having a Large Human Chassis for Traction

The Day I Tried to Long Tall Sally Paul McCartney

From the Sherbrooke Record

Darren Criss, who plays Blaine on the TV show Glee, came very close to being hurt on stage last year. He was on tour with the rest of the cast, in Washington, when a young woman dragged him into the audience. Luckily he was not hurt, but he did tweet about it after the incident. I believe his exact words on Twitter were:

“Seriously close call tonight! Like, please don’t kill me- I’m nice.”

People seemed to think this was a tad over the top, but I did not even bat an eye when I read it. Growing up in the Beatles era, it seemed to be the norm for me and millions of other girls. If you got the chance to get near a music star, you just stood there and screamed your heart out.

In 1964 I was sent to Mercer Island, Washington for the summer, and my grandparents hoped that their best friend’s daughter, Sarah, would keep me out of trouble. When we started plotting an imaginary trip to Vancouver, Canada for a Beatles concert, they knew what a mistake it was to mix us together. The Beatles were set to perform August 12th at the Seattle Center Coliseum and we had not been able to get any tickets. The 14,300 five dollar tickets were sold out in no time and some were even scalped for $30 later on. Instead of tickets, my step- grandmother came home with a Paul McCartney “Beatle Bobbin’ Head” doll. It did not take her long to find out that the little rubber doll was not going to cut it with me. An immediate call to Sarah was placed, and we began plotting our next move.

If my grandmother thought that Sarah was the perfect teenager she was greatly mistaken. In whispers, Sarah suggested we get her brother to haul her parent’s boat out to the harbor. It was nothing short of a dangerous attempt to get near The Edgewater Inn, where the Beatles were staying. If I was scared to walk 200 feet across the floating bridge, there was little hope I was getting into a boat. Plus I had already figured out it was too dangerous to get her brother to maneuver such a feat and I insisted she come up with another plan.

 

The great day of the Beatles’ arrival, we asked my grandmother to drive us into Seattle to go shopping at ‘The Bon’. I have to admit, she really got sucked into that one, and just smiled at me and clapped her hands. To her, that was a lot better than having to drive all the way down to San Francisco to pick me up off the streets after I ran away. I was most certainly a terrible young teen who was always bound for trouble!

Armed with a ten dollar bill and my “Beatle Boppin’ Doll”, Sarah and I were driven downtown, let loose and told to meet my grandmother at 5 pm.

Somehow, we weaseled our way near the entrance and when the cars holding the Beatles showed up, they stopped right in front of us. If you ever saw the movie, ‘A Hard Day’s Night,’ we were worse than those felines who were shown knocking on the Beatles’ cars in the film. I banged my Paul McCartney “Beatle Boppin’ Doll” on the window and I guess the scenario looked pretty funny to them. Slowly the window of the car inched open, and there in plain sight was Paul McCartney’s head, and it was ‘boppin’ with laughter. In the same vein as the woman who went after Darren Criss, so did young Linda Knight go after Paul.Faster than you can say ‘She Loves Me,’ I reached my hand into that 12 inch space and grabbed some of Paul’s hair. In one split second, my arm was pulled out and grabbed by what seemed like millions of girls. They were touching it with wild abandon and trying to wrench it out of my arm socket. Security rushed in and literally saved me from what was going to be a ‘Twist and Shout’ massacre. My arm was beginning to bruise and there were lots of scratches on it, but I was okay and quite shaken.

In my dreams I wanted Paul to exit out of that limo and save me. Was that not what every girl wanted in those days? Instead we were hauled into a police car and my grandmother was called. My mother had died in September of 1963 and my grandparents had been told to handle my sister and me with kid gloves. The gloves were off that night and I was sent to my room without dinner. This was the second stunt I had pulled and that was it for them for the summer holiday.

My late father always blamed The Beatles for my creative ways. Anything that I did that was different from the norm he would look at me straight in the face and say,

“It’s all that ‘ya ya ya’ business!”

Maybe he was right and one day when I need some of my youth back I think I am going to sit down and listen to nothing but Beatle songs-“when I’m 64!”

Notes from the Peanut Gallery:

 

Sounds like you had a “Hard Day’s Night!”- B Bailey

So What Happened to the Marble at the Tatlock Mine?

They said that in the 60s there was millions of dollars in marble inside the Tatlock Mine. For more than a 100 years people have known that but for years they said that the only blue marble that was supposed in the world was right there in that very mine which was 26 miles from Perth. There are mines in Europe that are supposed to have blue marble but nothing to rival the colour of the blue sky that the Tatlock mine had.

In the 60s development was going on and they were hiring local labour. It was anticipated that the Tatlock Quarry Marble would soon be used in projects in the United States and Canada.

The marble was being taken out at that date in blocks weighing 90 to 300 tons which was the size of a small home. The huge blocks were of 12-15 tons and then trucked  to the company in Scarborough where they were then sawn into blocks by a diamond drag and polished into either pink blue or white. Sounded like a very promising business– so what happened. Now th rock formation is gleaming hill of white crumbly rock that OMYA is gradually stripping away for use as filler in things like paint, plastics, and toothpaste. The quarry is spectacular. What a pity to use such beautiful rock in such mundane ways. What happened to the dreams from the 60s?

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  02 Apr 1979, Mon,  REVISION,  Page 3

Isabel Fox–There are two mines – a white marble and a light blue marble mine. I believe they are presently owned by a Swiss company. My Guthrie ancestors landed on the blue marble quarry when they came to Canada. The late Lloyd Francis MP said it was the best blue marble in the world. I had a marble table made from the blue marble and the marble was shipped to Toronto for cutting and then returned to me – a treasure.

They were all taken at the Tatlock Quarry. I found them in my parents collection of pictures. I’m assuming here that my mom took these pictures. My parents were Donnie and Audrey MacDonald and my dad worked for Archie Guthrie at the time.

More Notations on Tatlock

Kings Warks and Cemeteries–Interesting Discoveries of Lanark County

The Mysterious Tatlock Mine

The Old Side Door of the Mississippi Hotel

Photo from –Vintage Carleton Place & Beckwith

  

The clipping says the Mississippi Hotel in 1974 but which door was this? Anyone have photographs of the building from this era showing more of the building? 

Vintage Carleton Place & Beckwith

Ted Hurdis-– That’s the main entrance. I thought I recognized it. My wife confirmed it for me and she said *Star Sadler had a little office to the right side

 John Armour– North-Western side. (Star had an office everywhere)…😉Delmar Lesway (“Window Shopper”) would know.

 

From the collection of the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum. Jennifer Fenwick Irwin posted it

Linda Seccaspina– Wow, what a dump

Mary Anne Harrison Linda it wasn’t any better on the inside either. 😜

Llew Lloyd– I’m guessing the whole place was renovated in 1969 or 70 . I believe you have a picture from one of the 1969 parades with the building in the background. You should be able to see whether or not the ” improved ” entrance was there .

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  24 Aug 1961, Thu,  Page 18

Tammy Marion  – This brings back a memory for me. In the summer of 1978 a guy/man asked me if I could watch his German Shepherd dog for 1 hour while he went in the Mississippi hotel. The front entrance of the hotel looked just as it does in this photo – and that is the door he went in. It was evening – near dusk. I said sure I would because I was ( and still am) a huge Shepherd lover and I didn’t want him to be alone outside.I asked the guy to make sure he was back out in 1 hour as I need to go home. He said ” I sure will”.

Three hours later he still never came back out. I couldn’t just leave the dog loose and alone and I couldn’t go inside to find this guy because I wasn’t of age and my best friend’s Mom worked there at the time and knew that. A friend came along and I asked her if she could watch the dog because I really need to get home. She did and I left. I don’t know whatever became of that dog or the guy or how much longer my friend stayed with the dog.

Bruce “Star” Sadler— 3 c1 Robert (Bob) Bruce (Star) Sadler  1947-2008               b                      ; d Carleton Place  (Gazette 11/18/08)

Brian Carter in front of the Mississippi Hotel – 1980’s– You can see the tar marks where they took down the additions still front and side.

Jennifer Fenwick Irwin asked where the sign was– I don’t think we will ever know.. Here are the folks that made it

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  24 Aug 1961, Thu,  Page 18

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  24 Aug 1961, Thu,  Page 18

David McIntosh –Front Desk Man at the Mississippi Hotel

Romancing the Mississippi Hotel

Murders and Mysteries of the Mississippi Hotel

Thieves at the Mississippi Hotel–When Crime Began to Soar

All About Lorraine Lemay –Mississippi Hotel

Architecture Stories: The Hotel that Stompin’ Tom Connors Saved

The Napoleon of Carleton Place

Grandma’s Butterscotch Pie

Mississippi Hotel Beer — Brading’s Beer

In the Mississippi Hotel Mood with Mrs. Glen Miller

The Mystery Murals of The Queen’s and Mississippi Hotel

Burnin’ Old Memories –The Mississippi Hotel Fire

Romancing the Mississippi Hotel in 1961

Where Was Linda? A Necromancer Photo Blog -Victorian Seance at the Mississippi Hotel

Spooky Night at the Seccaspina Hotel

When Low Income was Really Low Income– Tragedy in Lanark County– the 60s

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  13 May 1965, Thu,  Page 21

No one likes sad or controversial times of the past but they did occur and we should not forget them ever. This is a reminder of things we should not allow to happen again.

The inflationary pressure of the post-war years subsided during the 1950s. Perhaps the pent-up demand of the war years had been satisfied by the end of the 1940s. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by only about 6 points between 1950 and 1960.
Consequently, of the decades studied, the 1950s saw the largest gains in real wages. The overall average annual wage increased by 43% to $16,000 in 1960. The average annual wage of men rose by 44%, from $12,800 in 1950 to nearly $18,500 in 1960, and that of women by 36% from $7,400 to $10,000.

Saving our planet, lifting people out of poverty, advancing economic growth… these are one and the same fight. We must connect the dots between climate change, water scarcity, energy shortages, global health, food security and women’s empowerment. Solutions to one problem must be solutions for all. As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest.

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  13 May 1965, Thu,  Page 21

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  13 May 1965, Thu,  Page 21

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  13 May 1965, Thu,  Page 21

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  13 May 1965, Thu,  Page 21

 

Tragedy of the 60s — Cole Family Fire

 

This week we had Emily Hollington, Director of Social Services; Housing etc for Lanark County at our council meeting give us the details of a job that looks impossible at times.

 

This was a question for Emily I had on housing..

Emily,

I received this note from Sheila McCallum and the senior residents of Elizabeth Court here in Carleton Place and would like to share this edited note from them as I feel it is important. This is what Sheila wrote:

Last night a discussion was held regarding the swearing in of new Council and promises made by most of them during their campaign regarding housing for low income seniors. I don’t recall, but I am sure these same promises were made by the previous mayor and council for the last 8 years.

The dire need is another Elizabeth Court residence that is strictly for seniors and incorporates both market and rent geared to income units.  There is such a waiting list here that applications are no longer being made available to prospective tenants.

We, the residents of Elizabeth Court are so fortunate to live in an affordable, well maintained, secure home. We all  have many acquaintances yearning for that same peace of mind and wondering what can be done. Thank you for taking the time to read this epistle and giving consideration to the contents.

Sheila McCallum Elizabeth Court

So, I asked-

Each one of us newly elected to council spoke about the urgency of senior and low income housing.  The reality is and I have been learning a lot since I joined council is that: Where you live in Lanark County determines wait time for housing. When it comes to wait times, Carleton Place has the longest waits at 7 years on average in 2017 with one bedrooms being the longest wait.  However in Mississippi Mills, the wait is less and a lot of their clients are coming from Carleton Place as there is nothing available around here for them.

As great as the need is here  few want to do low income housing as there is no profit in it  and there is little support for landlords to get into the business. In some cities there is a mandate that developers have to provide a certain low percentage of low income housing and of course if you talk to them about it here they are not interested in it. If you are young and homeless there are options- if you are over 50 like myself it is a big issue.
I know we can’t pull rabbits out of our hats- but surely something can be done. I see the County’s next step is a 20 unit apt building in Carleton Place– but it’s not enough and surely not geared specifically to seniors. My question is– If we can’t do it alone can we not join up with other communities like Mississippi Mills and see if we can do something together– or should we just stop promising future housing?

Thank you

Linda Seccaspina

Basically her answer was there are some things we can do to help, such as tax breaks and lowered development fees, but there is not much funding as cuts, freezes and omissions in the provincial budget have made local social services and low income folks nervous and it’s getting worse — so we just do the best we can. Is this the answer I want to hear? Is this the answer you want to hear? Of course it isn’t but this serious item is on our agenda-trust me. All of us care and will do what we can.

Why is Almonte ahead?

Rose Mary Sarsfield added:  Mississippi Mills probably started sooner to solve the senior issues problem. Jeff Mill’s father and ACDC  (Almonte Community Development Corporation) and the Hub and were solving the issues of housing for low income and seniors in the 1970s. But the growing community brings in more needs. So many people who come to live here from elsewhere want to have their aging parents nearby. Fortunately Orchard View has taken some of that strain.

Marjorie Gaw–Before the building of Town And Country there was just a board of Community minded volunteers, who had skills and knowledge and a vision…There had been a fire in what was then referred to as Irish Town and a whole family perished, I think they had nine children…there were no town services in that area. People had to get their drinking water from the old water tower… This tragedy led these community minded people to work together to develop what became Town and Country Apartments …They called themselves Almonte Community Builders (I think) they managed to connect with Algonquin College and through that they developed the skills require to access Government Funding… Now this is just a skeleton of how it was done…but those people were brilliant and determined, and successful Marie Seaman,Stan Mills, Herb Pragnell, John Levi, Senior, are names that come to mind…Karen Slater became the first employee. The symbol on the Mills logo represents “out of the ashes” and refers to the fire. As a fairly early employee of the Mills, we were all extremely proud of the history. Someone who has the history can fill in the blanks but this is just what I can remember. I apologize for the names I have missed. This Board of Directors did much more than establish Town and Country Apartments…which you will find in the history books if you are interested in them. This accounting is strictly from my memory as a past employee of ACDC/ The Mills. But this will probably answer you question as to why Almonte got into public housing early.

 

 

Information where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in The Townships Sun and Screamin’ Mamas (USA)

Come and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read. Also check out The Tales of Carleton Place.

Missing Food- A Real-Life Scary Tale

Tragedy of the 60s — Cole Family Fire

Relief of the Destitute Poor in Ireland — Names Names Names

Big Boom to Shatter Carleton Place Calm –1964

 

 

Of course I have a few minor beefs about Howard McNeely’s reign. But then again I have a few beefs about everyone LOL. BUT– the Carleton Place Industrial Commission should have never been abandoned in the town of Carleton Place.

I thank the men and women of that era and— when you see Wally Cook walking around (the last council member alive from the 60s council) thank him for what they did for Carleton Place.

I believe the last sentence is: “In the background is the town’s busy main street” and  “looking over one of Carleton Place’s main attractions– the Mississippi River”.

 

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  21 Aug 1964, Fri,  Page 3

 

In memory of 

Milton Ernest Gordon PHILLIPS

Information where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in The Townships Sun and Screamin’ Mamas (USA)

Come and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read. Also check out The Tales of Carleton Place.

 

The Utopia of a Main Street–I Have a Dream

Commercial Centre Planned for Findlay Site

Back to the Future— Carleton Place—- Project Tim Horton’s

Is Carleton Place Really Meeting People on the Mississippi?

Crikeys! The Elves Have Been Busy in Carleton Place

Food for Thought–One for Smiths Falls?

The Old Charcoal BBQ Pits in Carleton Place

 

Misty Glen Mountain Snow Bunny Hop

Source: Brian Eddington (2004): Out Of Bounds: The Glen Mountain Ski Story. Price-Patterson Ltd.

 

A Snow Bunny was once considered a young woman that went to the mountains to wear cute ski clothes, drink hot chocolate, and supposedly hit on the hot ski patrol boys.  I was never any good at anything that involved the outdoors and when I saw pictures of Glen Mountain today, my old Snow Bunny dreams all came back to me. I  kept thinking back to a time when visions of faux fur boots and wearing a Mod Snow Bunny white fur hat with “big pom pom balls” was la piece de resistance.

I had visited *Glen Mountain a few times in my teenage years, yet today I’m still not sure why I even considered going there. However, I do remember going on a Cowansville High School field trip, and another outing with my friend Debbie Roffey’s family. I had no idea what to expect from Glen Mountain, I really didn’t. There are photographs in the Brome County Historical Society archives that show a few trees and fields of grazing cattle at the foot of the mountain– but none of these photos were the reality of what that mountain really was.

I was, nor have even been a skier, and that beginner slope was downright scary (unless I was on a toboggan) and I really tried to learn to snowplow on the bunny hill. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t even do that, so I spent most of my time in the chalet looking at that big 1,000 ft. vertical drop staring back at me through the front door windows.

 

 

I remember seriously debating about taking a journey on one of the two T-Bars that went up  to mid-station and the other from mid to the top. Every hour I stood in line, and when the time came for me to go up I  muttered something about needing something from the ski shop and went back to the chalet.

Word in the valley was that a blizzard of action and an avalanche of fun  would be available to anyone who aspired to be a Glen Mountain snow bunny. Seventeen Magazine insisted that the best way to hunt “a keeper” was on skis–although at age 14 I would have been content with a first kiss while some young chap tied up the bindings on my skis.

They say that skis are the ultimate transportation to freedom. I beg to differ, and that was another issue that drove me crazy.  Debbie had these spiffy Rossignol skis while mine were a pair my Dad picked up at the Canadian Tire store in Cowansville. I immediately blamed my lack of expertise on those skis, but even when the  mountain lights came on at the end of the day I still hadn’t made it up to the top–or the middle. Each time I glanced out the door of the chalet I visioned myself coming down that hill at a 100 miles an hour screaming “where are the brakes?” Nothing like healthful outdoor exercise at 10 below when your nose is running and your face is full of fear.

 

 

Source: Brian Eddington (2004): Out Of Bounds: The Glen Mountain Ski Story. Price-Patterson Ltd.

 

When I got home from those ski trips my friends asked if I had a good time.  But, when it comes to skiing, there is a difference in what you think it’s going to be like, and what it’s really like, and what you are going to tell your friends. I never did go back to Glen Mountain after the ski trip with the Roffeys. Instead I used those Canadian Tire Skis on the slight downhill of Miltimore Road in Bromont.

Each time I would go down the snow covered dirt road I would scream at neighbour Linda Avery that Nancy Green had nothing on me. I also concocted a story about breaking my leg skiing to anyone that asked me to go on a ski trip with them. For decades I have lied through my teeth and stuck to the story and today I am finally going to come clean.

It was a lie-yes I admit it was a lie, to keep safety first for *Linda and trust me I  will have no regrets about this tomorrow. Bottom line is that Facebook and Twitter never existed then so the world never found out– until today.  Now it just doesn’t matter as most people can’t decipher whether what I post is for real– or just a cry for help.

Dedicated to my BFF Susie Lindau in Colorado– the Queen of skiing.

*Mont Glen, which first opened in 1960 and boasts a 350-metre vertical drop—higher than every hill in the Laurentians except Tremblant—had hard times through the 1990s because it lacks snow-making equipment and is heavily dependent on the snow gods to deliver fluffy white flakes all season long.

But repeated seasons of poor snowfall and competition from neighbouring resorts caused the business to deteriorate in the 1990s. It finally closed in 2004. Lifts did run again for a few weekend a few years ago and the current owner of the property had hopes to transform it into a Private Ski Club, but that plan fell through in 2010 due to insurance cost.

*Linda Knight Seccaspina never did ski again.

Related reading:

Monday Mad Addict’s Attic : Glen Mountain – In the Heart of the Beautiful Eastern Townships

 

Come and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read.

Information where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in Hometown News