Granny's Birthday

My Grandmother and me 1981

     Today is my grandmother's one hundred twelfth birthday - my mother's mother – born Doris Elizabeth White, in 1903. One of my grandmother's nicknames was Dolly, and I often call her Dolly in stories I tell about her. The Elizabeth which is my middle name comes from Dolly's middle name.

     Dolly was born in West Bromwich, England - she had 5 older siblings and a year or two later, a younger sister. Their parents,  Hannah and William White lived on an estate with a 99-year lease. The stories Dolly told of those times sound absolutely idyllic - they were in a park with a creek winding through; there were farm animals and farm chores for all the kids to do every day; and Dolly and her brothers and sisters had a lot of fun together. In 1914, when Dolly was 11, the 99-year lease was up, and it was expected that William would sign on for another 99 years – but he was worried – concerned about events going on in the world, and he was worried that war was coming and that England would be one of the battlefields. William wanted to get his family to safety.

      So the family got on a boat – the Empress of Ireland. And as World War I loomed, the Whites crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and then the ship took a course down the St. Lawrence River. The story they often told was that Granny's sister, Flo, had been kind of sickly on the farm in England while all the rest of the children were usually healthy and hard working. But on the ship, while crossing the Atlantic, everyone in the family was seasick the entire voyage – except Flo and the patriarch, William!

      The family disembarked on the Canadian side of Lake Ontario – where they were going to make their new home. Later they heard that the Empress of Ireland sank in Lake Ontario a day or so after the family had gotten off!

      Dolly often talked about the new home at the top of a hill in Grimsby, Ontario. There was always a lot of activity at the house – with all the siblings. She said she had never been bored a day in her life!

      There are two stories I remember Dolly mentioning about her growing up in Grimsby – the first was about Dolly running down the hill on a hot summer day and buying a glass of buttermilk at the bottom of the hill, and that buttermilk was so cold and so delicious and quenched her thirst wonderfully!

      The second story was the time, I think it was at the local fair, Dolly saw they were selling peanut butter! Peanut butter was a new phenomenon – Dolly wanted to try it – she liked peanuts and she liked butter – so it would have to be a tasty combination, wouldn't it? But she said it was just awful – thinking back on it, Dolly realized that there was probably no sugar in it – it tasted nothing like the peanut butter we know today!

      My grandmother lived all but four years of the entire 20^th century – from a time before peanut butter to the days when her great-grandchildren were using computers at school. If only I had captured more of her stories!

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