Tag Archives: Gladys

Gladys Marries Clark June 1951

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-MacQUARRIE - PHILLIPS WEDDING-A quiet marriage was solemnized on Monday evening at eight o'clock at the United Church parsonage, Summerside, by Rev. Mr. Baxter, when Mrs. Gladys MacNevin Phillips of Ellerslie became the wife of Mr. James Clark MacQuarrie of Summerside. They were attended by Mr. and Mrs. E.S. Burleigh of Ellerslie. Following the ceremony a reception for the immediate relatives was held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Wendell Phillips. Mr. and Mrs. MacQuarrie will reside in Tyne Valley. Prior to the marriage the bride-to-be was tendered a miscellaneous shower at the home of Mr. and Mrs. E.S. Burleigh, Ellerslie. - S

Was surprised to find my grandmother’s wedding announcement in the Guardian from this date in 1951. This was her second marriage, as my father’s father, Alvin, had died in 1936 at age 45, leaving Gladys with four sons under the age of 17 (and one only a year-and-a-half).

She had a rough time of it after Alvin’s death, trying to keep a small mixed farm going, with the help of neighbours and her eldest son, who was 23 when his father died. To make ends meet, she and her sister, Dot, cooked and lived at Shaw’s Hotel in Brackley Beach for a couple of summers. Gladys would also attend births and nurse the sick, which is how she came to know Clark MacQuarrie when she moved to Summerside to look after his first wife, Priscilla, who was ill for a couple of years before her death in 1950.

Clark and Gladys were hired as the first caretaker/janitor and cook at Stewart Memorial Hospital in Tyne Valley on June 2, 1951, so I supposed they had to get married as it was a position that came with room and board, and the chance of them being allowed to live together in such public positions without being married would have been nil. They lived in a small apartment in the hospital basement. Clark was 67 and Gladys was 57 when they were hired, for which they each got $100 a month, a great sum.

My mother’s grandmother, Eva, was one of the first patients at SMH in 1951, and at times the only patient as it cost $5 a day and was still user pay. My mother often told me how highly Eva regarded Gladys and how good her cooking was.

I don’t remember Gladys or Clark as they both died when I was very young. I didn’t even have a nickname for my grandmother until a few years ago when one of my cousins referred to her as Nan; I suppose I would have called her that as well.

My grandmother Gladys MacQuarrie and me, Ellerslie PEI, February 1968
My step-grandather Clark MacQuarrie and me, Ellerslie PEI, February 1968

April 1, 1920

I was a regular reader of UPEI’s Island Newspaper site’s “This Day In History” feature when I first became aware of it in 2014 (probably through Peter or CBC Radio, two of my main sources of cool PEI news!), but I let the habit slide after a couple of years. Each day the site highlights the issue of the The Guardian from 100 years before, and there is always something interesting, even if it’s just the ads.

I have been reading it everyday again for the past couple of weeks now that I have more time, and it has been more fun as I am now seeing people that I actually knew in the paper. The young adults of 1920 were in their sixties and seventies when I was a child.

The first person mentioned in the April 1, 1920 issue that I knew was my great-aunt Dorothy MacDougall.

Aunt Dot would have been 19 and had just been married the year before. She was a lot of fun as an older lady, and I imagine she was a pretty sparky young woman, too! Her older sister and probably her best friend, Gladys, was my grandmother. Dot’s grandson, Gary, was the editor of The Guardian for 20 years and retired in 2015 – he, as all of her grand and great-grandchild did, called her Ga.

On another page was a wedding announcement:

Angus was one of the contractors for the hospital we used to have in Tyne Valley, Stewart Memorial, that served our area from 1951 – 2013. The hospital fundraising foundation still exists and I have been its secretary since 2014. We are trying to acquire the old hospital building on behalf of the community with the intention of turning it into a community care facility; our board chair is Hilton MacLennan, Eva and Angus’ grandson.

Both Dot and Gladys worked at the hospital. They were also members of the hospital auxiliary, as am I, as was my mother, as was Eva, and Eva’s daughter-in-law, Ruth, and Ruth’s daughter, Aleah. Aleah was a nurse at the hospital and cared for my father, Harold, when he lived there in the long term care wing for the last four years of his life.

At this time of social distancing directives and upsetting news, I’m deriving an enormous amount of comfort from getting lost in the past, of connecting the Dots and Evas, as it were! I know the deep, complex connections I have all around me are precious and rare, even in this interconnected age. I am wrapping myself up tightly in this long, warm tapestry of family and friends on this rainy April evening, and thinking of Aunt Dot, with her beautiful red hair, boarding the train to go to Summerside.