Hal and Janice Love live in a fabulous location that includes a charming spacious home, a boathouse and loft, a three-bay garage and several smaller structures that store the four by four, and other valuable items. The original much-used and beloved cottage that was at the heart of their Manitoulin lives for so long still rests here. Decades of family connections are evident; the natural wood interior with its distinct aroma is enhanced by a décor reminiscent of the 1970s. As we leave the cottage, the approach to the main home, close to the shore of Lake Manitou, is finely landscaped and well treed. The comfortable interior is also well-laid out, and boasts a screened porch, lakeside. This is where Hal begins to share his story.
“Thomas and Agnes Love arrived at Dundas, Ontario in the mid 1800s. They came from Scotland, I believe. They had 11 children, including three boys, Thomas Jr., Robert and James. After Thomas Sr. died, Agnes married Henry Vincer and had four more children, William, Henry, Agnes and Sarah. In 1872, the three Love brothers moved to Manitoulin and worked in the sawmill at Michael’s Bay. Apparently, they arrived at Little Current, rested for the night and the next day, walked to Manitowaning and then Michael’s Bay. There were no roads in Carnarvon Township at the time. Soon after, they bought land on Lake Mindemoya. The actual deed is dated 1884. The brothers laid out three farms side by side, each with their own portion of water frontage. The water was important for both thirsty cattle and for transportation.”
“When the Steamship Asia sank in a storm in 1882, Robert drowned with it near Wiarton, in Lake Huron. Robert was travelling south to pick up his parents in Dundas. It was a terrible tragedy for many families. The Vincer family also moved to Manitoulin and William Vincer took over Robert’s portion of the farms. James, born in 1852, my great-grandfather, also met an untimely end in his Mindemoya barn when he was caught by a wheel of the rack-lifter. The rope broke and flung him through the barn wall, to his death.” The barn and rack-lifter are still preserved in the barn today.
“We grew up in the original farmhouse and Grandfather John, son of James, built a big two-storey house on the farm. He and his wife Gertie, who was so kind to us, lived across the laneway. John loved horses. He would adopt older horses that had outlived their usefulness. He felt sorry for them I guess, but nevertheless, was a bit rough with them, despite the pathos. However, he was a hard worker and active in the church. Grandmother had a big orchard. She used to dry apples on racks in the open oven. We would enjoy some of these tasty, dried apples in the winter.”
Hal was born on February 17, 1949 to Ross and Mary Love. “I was a ‘blue’ baby, and they kept me in the hospital for two weeks.” Hal was raised on the Love family farm on Ketchankookem Trail, with six brothers and two sisters. He was the middle son. “My siblings are Wilma, Charlie, Jack, Marilyn, Mike, Edward, Tony and Mark. Grade 1 to 8 were held in the Old School in Mindemoya. Recesses were for playing baseball or hockey.”
“Early memories include a little gun I could shoot ping pong balls with. We visited Uncle Allan Little, then the mayor of Little Current, after Christmas that year. His kids, Rob and Doug, had the same guns, and we had a lot of fun shooting at each other as we ducked and hid. My mother, an excellent cook, would bake up to 35 pies using whole bags of sugar and flour. Bread was made daily. Six loaves would last two to three days. At Christmas or New Year’s dinners, we often had 20 to 25 people for two sittings.”
“I was about 10 when I learned to ride on my grandfather’s big balloon tire bicycle, starting on a small hill for a rolling start. Grandfather would ride the bike with clips on his pants, so they wouldn’t get caught in the chain. Our three-holer bathroom was outside. One opening was set lower for the kids. I was 15 when we got our first inside version.”
“The 4-H Club was a strong interest in the early years. I was part of a group of Manitoulin farm boys that started a Junior Farmers club which existed for many years. We attended local judging competitions run by the agricultural representative and 4-H leaders like Warren Legge and Dick Bowerman.”
“At 15, I won the judging competition held in Green Bay. The prize was a trip to New York and the United Nations. Dale Van Horn and I worked hard to put together our reasons for placing the various classes of animals: pigs, sheep, beef, and dairy cattle, from first to fourth, depending on their breed quality. Dale came in second. You had to be 16 to go on the New York trip. He got to go. I was disappointed but happy for him.”
“High school was held where the public school is now. There were four girls I always tried to beat throughout my school years, Valerie Cox, Ruth Brown, Vicky Farquhar and Janice McQuay,” Hal shares, smiling.
“I also remember a sad time when in public school a student fell off a horse and died. The empty desk would remind us. In high school Mr. Bondi was our science teacher and Ms. Gladys Wagg taught physical education, math and taught us how to curl.”
“For Grade 13, Little Current students joined us, and we had a class of 12. I ‘skipped’ the high school curling team and had a lot of fun doing that.” Hal met Janice when she asked him to go to a Sadie Hawkins dance in Grade 10. “Saying ‘yes’ to her was the best move I ever made!”
Janice Watson is the daughter of Andy and Dot Watson who owned the general store in Sandfield. They continued to date while both were preparing for careers, Janice for nursing in Sault Ste. Marie and Hal at Laurentian for a BSc in 1968. “During my second year at Laurentian, the university went on strike, so I started working in Creighton Mine at INCO. The job paid well, and I learned to appreciate the work miners do. I boarded in Sudbury along with Duncan McDermid, father of Ernie. In our spare time we did home renovations and built a house in Naughton, learning a lot about construction.”
“Janice and I were wed during my stint at INCO. Our wedding, on February 19,1972, at the United Church in Mindemoya was followed by a huge reception at the community centre. About 300 guests attended. Back then, the whole community received invitations. Also, mom and dad and Janice’s parents were all active and well-known in their communities. There was no honeymoon because both of us were working. We did spend one night at the Huron Sands.”
“I left INCO when they were considering a job change for me. Underground mining was hard work and good pay, but not the job I wanted to have for life. I quit in the middle of a shift. Janice was surprised to see me home. We had a recent addition to the family, a baby girl, Mary Lynn. I talked to George Reid who worked for London Life on Manitoulin, took an intensive training course, and worked for London Life for the next two years. This too turned out not to be a good career fit.”
“My friend Mike McDonald from Providence Bay and I had bought some rental units in Sudbury, old homes in need of renovation. I learned a lot more about building. The real estate broker we worked with suggested that I should take the real estate salesperson course and get into appraisal work since there was a growing demand for appraisers. I took a three-week real estate course in Barrie and later a number of courses through the Appraisal Institute of Canada. In 1975, I started my professional appraisal career. I am still active almost 50 years later.”
“Today most mortgages need an appraisal, so I helped with the financing and appraisals working for Jim Egan of Egan Real Estate in Sudbury. As a broker, he could sell our rental units. Later, when Mike McDonald became ill, we sold the four-plex, the duplex and two single family dwellings. By then I was doing four or five appraisals a day, working long hours, sometimes until nine at night.”
“I bought into Laine Real Estate and Appraisals and eventually sold these shares when I opened my own company, Appraisals North, in 1991. Two other appraisers who had worked for me joined as well.” Hal also ventured into investments, including Furniture World and an Electrical and Lighting store. Both were later sold. “I have always worked on many provincial and federal government properties. The institutions included the post office, the Canada Revenue Agency tax centre on Notre Dame, all OPP stations and all Ministry of Natural Resources facilities throughout Northern Ontario. When the government went to accrual accounting, all the assets and buildings had to be evaluated.”
“This work was simplified when I hired a quantitative surveyor, Sergio Cacciotti, who is part of a rare breed. He spent many days on the road with me.” Some of the projects were City Centre Mall and the prisons in Haileybury, Smith Falls and the old Montieth Prison. Fly in communities, like Bear Skin Lake and Webique First Nations were also included. In 1989, my first First Nation land claim was assessed. Frank Bell, another appraiser who also collaborated with Miller Maki in Sudbury, worked on the land claims too. By then larger unit appraisal costs went from $1,500 to $3,000 and a house from $75 to $150. Large projects like appraising roads, lakes and unsold surrendered lands could earn fees of as much as $40,000. I like the big assignments.”
“My son-in-law Mike Lamont has been working with me for the last 12 years and now does most of the research and report writing. Much of our most recent work has involved First Nation issues like Treaty Land Entitlement, including flooding claims and numerous other issues that have arisen from treaties across the country. We are usually hired by the First Nations and Canada jointly and have earned the reputation of being fair and impartial. This has led to more requests to manage these sensitive files. We have worked from Saskatchewan to New Brunswick. The work is remarkably interesting, and many jobs require researching pre-Confederation land values. I think the earliest involved the Trent Severn Waterway, which went back to 1835.”
“Janice was a nursing manager in the cardiology department in Sudbury’s Memorial Hospital. She always checked the patient list to see if she recognized any Manitoulin names. She made a point to visit them. Over the 37 years she worked there, many people have told us how important and comforting it was to have a connection to home. I’m sure it helped with their healing. When Janice retired, we moved to our new home in Sandfield, on Lake Manitou, built in 2007.”
“We have two girls, Mary Lynn ‘Min,’ who is a pharmacist in Brockville, and Johanna, who teaches nursing at Cambrian College in Sudbury. Min has two girls, Sydney, 21, who just finished her third year in pre-med at Western University and Charlotte, 19, who will be attending college in visual arts in Ottawa this fall. Her husband Matt designs and builds homes in that area. Johanna and Mike have a son, Avett, who is 10 and daughter Edie, who is eight. Both children are hockey players and great athletes. Edie plays for the Sudbury Junior Lady Wolves.”
“We have done some travelling with the girls. The last trip was to Florida seven years ago. We rented a house with a pool and had a lot of fun. We have explored Europe, starting with Germany where I had a beer with my lunch and an upset tummy. We saw England and enjoyed a Mediterranean Cruise. We saw most of the major cities around the Baltic Sea and visited the very engaging St. Petersburg Hermitage Museum.”
“We travelled to Australia when our daughter and her husband were there for a course and made a side trip to Hong Kong. Nine years ago, we spent 28 days in South Africa with a tour that included Darrel and Marlene Dewar and Glen and Tooti Lewis. We saw the Indian Ocean and the Cape of Good Hope. We visited the prison where Mandela had been confined, and his home. We saw where Desmond Tutu lived. Five days were spent at a game reserve where we went on safaris to see lions and elephants.”
“I play guitar and sing, mainly country. I have played for years with the Dewar boys, Harold, Darrel and Lyle and with the Islanders, Peter Tilston, Gord Greenough, the late Norm Hore, and sometimes George Williamson. We play at the nursing homes and at various community and private functions. Playing music is something I really enjoy.”
“Our parents are both deceased. Oldest sibling Wilma died a few years ago. Charlie lives in Mindemoya. Jack has died but his wife Carol still lives on their farm beside the home place. It was originally part of the lands purchased for 20 cents an acre back in 1884 by the three Love brothers. Marilyn lives in Mississauga and has a cottage by Red Lodge. Mike is deceased. Edward lives on Lake Mindemoya on the Vincer farm. Tony has died and Mark lives in Ross and Mary Love’s retirement home, on the corner of the home farm.”
“We have a hunt camp five minutes from our house. The camp is open for use by all our families. Jan’s brothers, Larry and Bob Watson’s children and grandchildren and ours, enjoy get togethers there. The girls have had quite a few ladies’ weekends at the camp both alone, or with their children who love to roam the bush and walk the creek looking for treasures to bring back for show and tell.”
Most important event? “Getting married in February of 1972. This was after all the cows were milked.”
Favourite pets? “A Scotch Collie called Vicky. We had big work horses, and I rode one to the lake on Sundays. One lake trip got me a boot in the arse. I tried to avoid standing behind her after that. Sundays we still had to milk the cows.”
Favourite season? “Spring and summer when it’s warmer and yet I like to see the seasons change. In the winter trips to Florida, Jamaica and Mexico were popular including our first journey to the Barbados in 1974 with Chester and Sharon Spry. a favourite pastime is spending a week with the boys in hunting season.”
Favourite collections? “Baseball and hockey cards.”
Favourite television shows? “Earlier ‘Bonanza,’ later ‘Wheel of Fortune,’ ‘Jeopardy,’ and the news.” “
Awards and trophies? A trip to Nova Scotia was awarded by Jr. Farmers. Later, awards for curling bonspiels and a one-year stint as president of the Ontario Appraisal Institute of Canada.”
Strengths? “Organization, appraisals and making wooden tables, benches and other items.”
Recipe for happiness? “Yell when you need to; it helps let off steam.”
Something you still want to do? “Travel more, I would like to see the British Isles, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.”
What did you enjoy most as a parent? “Seeing the girls succeed. Mary Lynn as a pharmacist and Johanna as a professor who teaches nursing at Cambrian.” Associations you were involved in? “The Appraisal Institute, I’m a life member of the Sudbury Real Estate Board, I was a Boy Scout leader in Sudbury, and I was on the St. Peter’s United Church Council from 1968 for a number of years.”
What are you most afraid of? “Heights.”
People who inspired you? “My mum and dad who shared their work ethic.”
Looking back, is there anything you would do differently? “Work less and play more.”
How did you kindle your interest in music? “Ross Ward showed me a few chords and taught me to play ‘Wildwood Flower’ in residence at university. His son Justin is a professional musician and we saw him play in Florida. I usually join the Islanders band and play opening night at the Providence Bay Fair each year. In Newfoundland, I sang a song called ‘Aunt Martha’s Sheep’ when asked to play at Sullivan’s Song House. I must know about a thousand country songs.”
More recently, Hal has contributed his time and energy to the Friends of the Mindemoya Old School group, a worthy cause. On a different note, “I was diagnosed with adrenal cortical carcinoma last fall and had my left adrenal gland and kidney removed in December 2022. I have completed radiation treatments and now am on a regime of daily pills. I am getting somewhat back to normal.”
“Today, we own the home farm in Mindemoya and Mark owns the adjacent Vincer farm, which we purchased a few years after our two brothers Jack and Mike died. We didn’t want to see it sold out of the family as this land is still our pride and joy. Hopefully, our children will enjoy it after we are gone.”
Manitoulin? “Nothing surpasses the complete package you get here: good people, good scenery, clean water. You could drink the lake water that cools us when we get too hot and go for a swim. Our unique bridge is recognized around the world. I like our bridge and don’t mind waiting my turn to cross. We have our farm, hunt camp and home compound all of which we will leave to our children. We are keeping a cheerful outlook and looking forward to many more years in our little piece of paradise here on Manitoulin.”
