Now & Then

Donna Phillips

Donna welcomed this writer into her 150 year-old log home, perched on a hill on the southeast side of Lake Mindemoya. The foot-thick logs are hand-hewn. A visitor must dodge the roof line at the top of the stairs to avoid hitting their head. The top level boasts 14-inch wide floor boards that line the cozy bedrooms, harbouring traditional quilt-covered beds. The windows and doors are deeply recessed, completing the feeling of having emerged from a ‘time machine.’ Donna has lived here much of her life, time spent helping others, including two husbands. In due course, she formalized her experiences and trained as a health care aide.

“My maternal grandfather, Joseph Coe of the Slash, built many boats that were used on Lake Manitou to ferry goods and people to various ports. Joseph’s sons, my uncles George and Armen Coe, worked on the mail boat that ran along the North Shore. “I remember the Norgoma arriving in the fall to stock winter supplies for the Island. Another boat, the Jacqueline, took us to the main shore to pick blueberries. She is buried in eight feet of water near the bridge in Little Current. I am surprised she hasn’t been restored for historical purposes.”

“My Grandmother Helene (Pugh) Coe used to play the organ along with my mother, my sister and Aunt Lucy. Mother was their soloist. Mother was talented enough to go to Belding, Michigan. She could have been a professional singer but came back to marry my dad.”

Paternal Great-grandfather Benjamin Leeson was born in 1877. He lived near South Bay with his wife Elizabeth (Hanley) in the ‘white house’ he built. Paternal grandparents James and Wilhelmina Leeson lived in Manitowaning. “James was a fiddler even after he was blind. Many in our family had eye problems, tunnel vision and retinitis pigmentosa.” James would sit on the porch and play under the eaves. His sister, my great aunt Elizabeth, kept a diary and lived in Squirreltown.

Donna Louisa Jane was born to Westen ‘Wright’ and Ellen (Coe) Leeson on September 15, 1931. She was named after her niece Donna, dad’s sister, Louisa and mum’s aunt Jane. Siblings are Wes, Rozella, Moyra, (deceased) and Carole (deceased). Wright was a ‘jack of all trades and a master of none,’ according to Donna. “Dad cut pulpwood all winter. He could size up a tree and declare with certain accuracy the number of boards to be cut. In the summer, we helped him take care of the big garden. Dad would hitch the horse to the wagon and load it with extra vegetables to be sold door-to-door in South Bay.”

“An early memory was running away from school the day the dentist came. There were rumours he had slapped some kids.” Perhaps he had been bitten first? Nevertheless, the young lass wasn’t going to enter that van and ran home as quickly as she could. Mother intervened and brought her back to the dentist, explaining her fears. The examination went well and did much to raise the acceptance level of future dentist visits.

Fishing with her grandfather at Leeson’s Creek was memorable as well. “All we had was a pole, a string and a fish hook we found. We caught sunfish and bull heads. Grandfather would let me hold the pole and I caught some fish myself. Sometimes we hunted partridges. He held the gun and I walked quietly behind him.”

At log-shipping time, a long tent and table would be set up in South Bay to feed the workers; pails of pork and beans and corn syrup were put out and food was taken on the run. Anishinaabe folk came to peel the logs and stack them on the beach for the boats. The logs would be chained on the outside of the boom and pushed to the boats. 

When the cousins came for a visit, the girls would all sleep in one bed and the boys in another, laying crosswise on the mattress, legs and feet dangling over the edge. “We had fun but not much sleep.” On Sundays, the Leeson family might take the row boat and head for the beach for a shore picnic. “We loved to walk the shoreline of South Bay with dad and look for stuff, like old wooden floats from fishing nets, light bulbs or fishing tackle.”

The barn was a favourite haunt. It had two layers, the hay mow and the sheep pen below. We would hold ‘haw’ concerts there practicing our songs for the Christmas concert, or reading poems. Occasionally one of us would get pushed off the upper ‘mow stage’ into the sheep pen below. The School Christmas concert was orchestrated by the teacher, much as soldiers doing a drill, with a lot of emphasis put on discipline. ‘Practice makes perfect.’ Everything had to be well-rehearsed before parents arrived in their sleighs.”

Donna remembers heating up blocks of wood in the oven, before they jumped on the horse-drawn sleigh to go from Hilly Grove to Manitowaning in the winter. “The wood kept our feet warm. Straw and blankets kept the rest of us warm.”

At Christmas, the sleigh would head for the grandparent’s home for family festivities. The tree, all lit up in a bay window, awaited their arrival. As it was near the stove, it didn’t stay there, long. Gifts were often a pen or a pencil, sometimes a handkerchief and rarely, a celluloid doll. “We were happy with these gifts and just being with family. Dinner was usually a goose or a turkey and lots of vegetables. We always had some nuts too. Grandmother played the organ and grandfather the fiddle. By the time we returned home, the moon and an amazing array of stars would shine above. I used to imagine there was a man on the moon sawing wood.”

“Wintertime was also prefect for sledding parties by lantern light. It was more fun but more dangerous too, with all the rocks and trees. The hill was steep and we are lucky we got to the bottom of the hill alive.” Frozen lakes and rivers were ideal for skating too. “We didn’t have skates so we slid on shoes and boots.”

Donna enjoyed primary school and didn’t mind the walk but high school, 16 miles from home, meant boarding in Manitowaning. For Grade 9, Donna lodged with the Hunter family. Grade 10 was in the Sault where she could stay with Uncle George and Aunt Pearl Coe.

After completing Grade 10, Donna came home to work at McDermid’s store in Providence Bay for $25 a month. “The hours were long, sometimes from eight in the morning to eleven at night, especially on a Saturday. We worked until everything was done.”

“Providence Bay was an interesting place. Toots McDermid and other young ladies I had met lived there. Lots of older people lived there too and I boarded with one of them. When we had time off, we loved to hold races on the beach. Sometimes we would take the row boat out for a paddle but the river could change course and push us further out. Then we jumped out of the boat and pushed or pulled it back. We caught a lot of smelt in that river.”

Donna was getting ready to head to Owen Sound for her next job, when she was offered work at Harold Burt’s locker in Mindemoya, where the pet store is today. Harold took in meat for storage and he needed some help. Donna soon met her future husband, Lloyd Hallett. His friend was going with sister Moyra. Lloyd tried to join the war effort in 1945 with his friend Bill Graham, but Lloyd was diabetic and he was not inducted. He stayed in Toronto and contributed by working in the munitions plant.

Lloyd was 28 and Donna, 20 and they hit it off. “I told him my cousin was diabetic too.” They dated and considered marriage but Lloyd’s mother didn’t want him to marry anyone. She was afraid he would not live long because of the diabetes and that it would be a big problem for him. He was on insulin and had been hospitalized many times with complications. She also thought it was unwise of him to have children. Lloyd’s little five-year-old brother had died of diabetes at ten and other members of the family had diabetes too.

“I didn’t agree with her position. I felt he deserved some happiness in life too.” The couple married at four in the afternoon on December 24, 1950 in the Missionary House in Little Current. “We picked that date to reduce the likely number of guests because we had so little money to spend.” Sister Moyra stood up for Donna and Bob Nevills stood up for Lloyd. Afterwards the newlyweds returned home. There was no money for a honeymoon.

Donna moved in with her in-laws, the Halletts, and worked to help them for the next seven years. “They had a farm and I pitched hay for the cattle and ran the tractor to disk the land.” The couple had three children, Glen, Marlene and Janis. Donna’s mother-in-law helped with the children. Sometimes the babies were placed in the buggy at the edge of the field. After they had moved to their own home, four foster children were added, Roy Panamick, Lora Jean, Marion and Jimmy Corbiere.

Lloyd was a carpenter and stone mason. He did a lot of work for his friend Ken Elford’s dad. In July of 1960 the Hallett family moved into the log home that still shelters Donna today. The farm soon had cattle and horses. “I helped deliver calves in the spring. There was an old barn on the property and some sheds. I remember the day our bull got into the wrong stable. I put a stick through his nose ring and began to lead him back. He outmanoeuvered me and the stick fell. I tried to run but my boots were stuck in the mud so I jumped out of them and raced to the house. Thankfully the bull went back to the right barn and a crisis was averted. I have never trusted bulls.”

Occasionally on Sundays they would pick up Donna’s parents and take them for a car ride. “My mother had always loved the wild flowers in South Bay. A week before dad died we took him back to the farm and the lake. We talked about mother’s passing and Wright added, “It won’t be long before they say that about me.”

By January of 1961, Lloyd’s diabetes had claimed his leg. The flesh in his foot had broken down. Donna discovered the extent of his injuries when Lloyd fell outside and his foot started to bleed. She got him back into the house and then got the neighbours. He was taken to Toronto for the amputation.

Donna travelled by train to visit him and was quite upset at what she found. Lloyd was very sick and weighed about 60 lbs. The nurse said to her, “Please don’t touch him, we can’t risk any infection. He had ‘gas-gangrene’ damage to his leg, similar to what some soldiers suffered during the First World War.” They had to operate quickly to save his life and the next 48 hours were the most critical. Lloyd spent six weeks in isolation.

By September Lloyd had to be hospitalized with another infection. He got back home again on December 23 to join his family for Christmas. He had received a wooden leg from someone that no longer needed it, and he fitted his knee into it. He managed quite well for a number of years. He could even lay blocks with his peg leg.

When son Glen graduated from nursing in 1974, Lloyd had to have his second leg amputated. They had a bedroom set up downstairs for him so he wouldn’t need to get upstairs. The washroom was close by and he was quite comfortable with Donna’s help. Lloyd was 53 when he died of diabetic complications in 1977 on the seventh day of the seventh month. He had just held his first grandchild but he was blind and so couldn’t see him. It was a sad time for the family.

It was three years later, in 1980, when Donna met Andy Phillips, who had been a welder for INCO. In due course they were wed and lived in Sudbury. Sadly, Andy became ill with cancer. Donna cared for him in his last years. Andy died in 1983.

In 1982-85, Donna worked in Home Care in Sudbury, helping others with their health issues for four years. In 1985 she was one of the first five people who decided to become a Health Care Aide and take classes. “We were the primary group to take this particular course and we assisted people all over Sudbury, washing dishes, cleaning kitchens and bathrooms, doing laundry and vacuuming. All patient care, including wound dressings and bathing, was done by the nurse at that time.” Donna trained at Pioneer Manor and Extendicare in Sudbury.

“It was also my job to help teach patients how to exercise and do some of their daily tasks, after they had recovered from their urgent health issues. Some folk didn’t know how to shop or take care of some aspects of daily living. Some had no sheets for their beds. Others wanted you to clean the silverware. One man with Alzheimer’s started to rip his porch apart, likely in an attempt to fix what really didn’t need fixing. Another lady lived deep in the bush with a dozen cats. Her house was hard to find. Overall, despite the barriers, I found I was indeed helping people. The job was never routine.”

Donna spent a year in Sebringville in southwestern Ontario at their nursing home before she moved back to Sudbury and rented a house. A Human Growth and Behaviour course from Conestoga College was added to Donna’s scholastic achievements in 1986 and, finally, a Palliative Care program, in 1995, taken at the Sudbury Regional Palliative Care Association. When her education was completed, Donna moved back to Manitoulin.

The first winter was spent in Midland with sister Rozella because the septic bed was not ready at her Manitoulin home. Donna worked in a local retirement home and returned to Manitoulin in the spring to do Home Care here. She also became a school trustee and decided to board dogs. “I took in about 60 dogs over time.” In 1990, Donna took a well-deserved break and visited the Northwest Territories with Faye, Raymond and Chester Spry. She enjoyed that trip very much.

“Stan and Marg Williamson used to bring kids from their local missionary church in M’Chigeeng to camp in the back of the property for a week. The kids would help with the gardening and enjoy campfires and other activities. They always had a good time and so did we.”

Donna and Lloyd’s children did well. Janis is an infection control nurse covering Stratford General and other hospitals. She was trained for ‘International Infection Control’ and could work anywhere in the world. She is also a very good soloist. Marlene Boyle, of Boyle Marine, lives on the Island. Her daughter participates in the March of Dimes. Her son Brian works at the marina with his dad. Glen continues to work in the mental health field where he has accomplished much. His daughter Rebecca and her husband are both paramedics in Sudbury. Roy Panamick lives and works in Chapleau, Lora Jean caters in M’Chigeeng, Marion was a hairdresser and Jim helps street people in Toronto.

“Most important to me has been watching my children, grandchildren and great grandchildren grow-up and be healthy. Today, I have six grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren. Lucky for me, the girls in the family have all let me pick out their wedding dresses. I stayed involved. One Christmas I bought CAA memberships for my grandchildren.” The Hallett household was always a gathering spot. Good meals and the fun activities are recalled by all.

“Glen has a sugar shack in his maple bush. We used to take the jumper (sleigh) to reach it. One winter when I was younger, I helped put a new roof on the shack. They used the bucket of the tractor to help me reach the roof. Maple syrup time is great for getting together with family.”

“I have had an exciting life, perhaps not as happy as it could have been but life is about ‘good’ and ‘bad’. My perseverance has also gotten me through life’s challenges; adjusting to the debilitation that Lloyd faced, to helping family, neighbours and home care patients to the best of my ability. I even got to use a tractor and lift hay bales.”

“I keep busy with quilting.” A beautiful colourful quilt, in progress, was displayed in an upstairs bedroom. “I enjoy visits too and being greeted in town. In the ‘80s and ‘90s I made a lot of friends. I am part of the seniors’ groups in Mindemoya and Providence Bay and part of the local historical society. I still have 50 pieces of Blue Willow dishes, the Millstream pattern, and I attend the United Church in town with a friend. What would I still like to do? I would still love to plant another tree but I guess I won’t see it grow for long.”

“Manitoulin is special for me. This is where my roots are and where I belong. I still enjoy seeing my grandchildren come across the field. Anytime I left the Island, I always looked forward to coming home. I don’t know how many days I have left, so I am really looking closely at my world and surely appreciating it. There is nothing I would change if I could go back in time. This is my perfect home.”