Floyd and Mary Hall
Floyd and Mary’s lovely home, on Hall’s Hill, sits protectively inside the curl of the Manitou River, flowing right behind the house, close to the bridge on Government Road. The windows capture a fetching view of the river and the many birds and the deer that visit. At the base of the driveway sits their former cottage, which is now Floyd’s camp for the annual deer hunt. A two-car garage, with the same attractive vinyl siding exterior as their home, completes the scene. During their teaching years, both Floyd and Mary taught in Sault Ste. Marie. Floyd, a Haweater, always thought he and Mary might return to Manitoulin for their retirement. Today, both remain active in various social groups on the Island. Muffins and tea were shared today as the stories flowed.
“John and Mary (Kay) Lanktree are my maternal grandparents,” Floyd offers as an introduction. “They originally came to the Grimesthorpe area after they were married, and subsequently moved to Hughson Bay and built a home. Their last move was to the Carnarvon area where Floyd’s mother was born. John was a farmer, who also cut wood and trapped for furs: foxes, beavers and coyotes. Paternal grandparents are John E. and Mary Ann (Leask) Hall. Mary Ann’s family hailed from Aberdeen, Scotland. John E. worked as a camp cook in Chapleau lumber camps. Mary Ann’s mother died when she was quite young, so she was raised by her extended family. She became a self-taught taxidermist. Her first husband died of pneumonia. She met John E., and had three sons, one of whom was Oswald, my father. He followed in grandfather’s footsteps and became both a councillor and a reeve for Tehkummah Township for many years. Both men were active in the Orange Lodge with Grandfather John attaining a lofty position for Canada.”
Floyd John was born to Oswald and Nora Hall on January 17, 1946. He has an older sister, Julia, who married Benson Wayne Sanders. Floyd’s younger brother Don and his partner Elaine Bond live on the family farm where all three siblings were born. “My first memories were the big picnics and the Sunday outings with family. Once or twice a year, we met our aunts and uncles for a Sunday picnic at Meldrum Bay or Martin Lake where we could fish from a raft dad and uncle had built. I loved to fish.”
“Hurricane Hazel was a big storm in the ‘50s. Dad had taken a rare day off to ride his tractor to Michael’s Bay and fish with my uncles. The heavy rain soon persuaded them to return home. The local bridge was already lifted by the high water, so dad put the front wheels of the tractor onto the edge of the bridge to hold it down so they could drive across and get home.”
“Early farming with horses changed in 1952, when dad bought our first tractor and hydro arrived. As a young lad, I remember milking cows and raking the hay with our horses. The cream cheque we got regularly paid for everyday expenses. Growing up on a farm gives you a unique perspective on animals. Only dogs were pets. Nevertheless, I always had a soft spot for all four-legged creatures, and yet I could dispatch an animal in pain. We raised ducks and pigs every summer for food. We stopped raising lambs because there was no one to shear them and wolves often killed them. We also had chickens and a crotchety banty rooster, but I could deal with him.”
“Maple syrup was made each spring. We tapped 50-60 trees, the old-fashioned way, by drilling holes with a hand drill and collecting sap in buckets that had to be emptied or checked daily. The sap was boiled in an old cast iron pot, over a wood fire. I was about 10 years old when dad made a square metal pot that would heat more evenly and more quickly due to the greater surface area. The syrup was started in the bush and finished in the kitchen.”
The public school was S.S. #3 Tehkummah on the Second Concession Road. Floyd was five when he started. “I liked school, and I did well. I remember walking and touching the telephone wires, with winter’s high snow bank. Dad or a neighbour often gave us a sleigh ride. High school was in Mindemoya. Sixty students were divided into two Grade 9 classes in the basement of the community hall. The teachers taught both classes. The new high school, where the public school is now, officially opened the following year. After Grade 13, I returned to get extra credits. I needed eight credits to graduate, but I earned 11. That was just one ribbon short for a ‘school letter’ but I assured them I would not return for the letter.”
“Early summer jobs were helping local farmers doing weed control in their oat fields. I also sold dew worms for $2 a package. Subsequently, I found work in the Sault at the steel plant, bunking with my cousin Keith Hunter. I was also considering attending teacher’s college. In October 1965 I got a call from Carl Brown, the education board chairperson in Tehkummah. He knew I was interested in teaching. He said, ‘We need a teacher for Grades 1 and 2, are you interested? I’m in a board meeting and I need to know now.’ I decided that teaching was a good career choice, so I told him ‘Yes, I’m interested’.”
“It was the right choice, and I didn’t need special training to start. I spent one day watching a teacher with her class and the following day, she watched me for the day. The only issue was that my younger brother Don was in Grade 2. ‘Mr. Hall’ didn’t suit him so Don called me ‘teacher.’ The Superintendent visited in early January. He had inspected my class when I was in Grade 1. He was a tall, gruff man. I was very nervous. My worries were unfounded because he chatted with me afterwards, and he was nice.” A year later, Floyd attended teacher’s college in North Bay. “I tried to use my year of experience but found the rules had changed and I was lucky they didn’t ask me to leave when I shared some of my intuitive ideas.”
Floyd met Mary in September of 1966, when a classmate introduced them at teacher’s college. They had much in common and a new friendship began. Mary shares her story; “my paternal great-grandfather, Edward O’Connor, was born in New York State en route to Canada, their new home. He and his family walked into Upper Canada in 1819. Edward’s son Charles married Rose (Bogue) of Catholic Irish heritage in June 1895. Her family had settled in the same area of Powassan, near North Bay. Charles and Rose had 14 children. Grandfather, initially, like his father Edward, was a logger and a raftsman on the Ottawa River. The ‘Log Driver’s Waltz,’ a song about the raftsmen dancing on the logs, clearly applies to them.”
“My grandparents spent eight years farming in the Powassan area before relocating to Alderdale, a French Catholic community. The children, including my father, Tom, a middle child, all attended French school. Dad left after Grade 8 in 1925. He had an older brother, Dan, who had been a medic in World War One. Dan came home just in time for the Spanish Flu epidemic. He helped care for his sick family, putting much emphasis on hygiene and hand washing.”
“When dad completed elementary school, he worked at odd jobs in his home area, but was drawn to the many automobiles beginning to be used. He was a natural driver. He began driving for the local doctor on emergency calls, particularly at night. In winter, the roads were not passable, so a vehicle was fashioned with a motor and skis, to travel on the roads or across fields if quicker. This led to dad’s life-long career of selling cars, and teaching customers to drive if needed. He was established in this business by 1929.”
“During the war years, dad became an inspector for the Compensation Board, inspecting working conditions in lumber camps. He often travelled on foot or snowshoes. Later, during the war, he worked for CNR as a brakeman. To qualify for this job, he had to be able to walk on top of a moving train, without falling off. My mother Alice had been a hairdresser since the tender age of 13. She had her own shop when she met dad but had to give up her business as the space she occupied was considered non-essential during the war. After the war, Dad resumed work in the automobile industry in North Bay, retiring in his 70s in 1983. He loved what he did. He claimed he ‘never worked a day in his life’.”
Mary was born to Tom and Alice (Lariviere) O’Connor on March 25, 1948. She had a younger brother, Tom, who became an LCBO manager in North Bay. “One of my first memories was gazing, mesmerized, at our Christmas tree, at age two. Joanne, a French girl next door, became my friend. She learned English and I learned French. We lived on a main street in North Bay, near a gas station that had a caged bear and a chip stand as attractions. One time my five-year-old brother decided to share a chip with the young bear, but the eager bear bit his finger too. The wound healed, and the bear was not hurt.”
“I went to a private Catholic boarding school as a day student. The emphasis was on music, ballet and the three Rs. High school was a private all girls’ school. In Grade 13, I took some classes at the all boys’ school. Students had to pass the province-wide ‘departmentals’ in those years. I liked school and made many long-lasting friendships.”
Floyd and Mary began dating in September of 1966. After Christmas, Mary visited Manitoulin, joining Lloyd and Joy Hopkin, a family originally from the Island. “I was impressed. I met Floyd there. As we neared his home, it was pitch black and we were moving through high tunnels of snow. I couldn’t see the houses,” Mary recalls. “I wondered what I was getting myself into. When we drove into Floyd’s yard, I could see his mother at the sink. I realized that she looked like Floyd and relaxed. I was at the right place.”
“In North Bay, one of Tim Horton’s first outlets in Canada was offering the best hamburgers in the area. Donuts came later, but this franchise started with char-broiled hamburgers. It was our favourite spot.” The couple graduated from teacher’s college in May of 1967 and got engaged. “We both got jobs teaching in Sault Ste. Marie starting in September. We wanted to work in a ‘new-to-us’ city and had made verbal commitments, which were gold at the time and committed to the move.” Mary signed up with the separate school board. She would teach juniors at Corpus Christi School. Floyd signed up with the public school board. “We were 19 and 21 and not well-travelled, so moving far away was a first for both of us. ‘We can do it,’ became our motto.”
“We were married on December 23, 1967, the Centennial year, joined by 150 guests. Our wedding was a few days earlier than planned, to allow more time off after the wedding. I had one attendant and Floyd had a best man with two ushers. We stayed two nights in North Bay,” Mary adds. “On Christmas Day we drove to the Island and slept the rest of the day.” After visiting Floyd’s family, the couple took off for the Sault. In Espanola, Floyd lost his wedding ring in the snow. “It was dispatched while I was clearing the snow off the windshield,” Floyd admits. “We stopped for a meal and searched again, but we never found it. We had to buy a new ring.” The honeymoon came in July of 1968. “We drove to the east coast, tenting many nights, and we spent a half day at the Expo 67 site. The food was really good.”
“In May 1972, we bought a house close to my school. I taught the six weeks before and after Marnie was born because all maternity leaves had been rescinded. In 1975, Allison arrived, and I resigned. When the kids started school, I took university courses. Both girls were diligent students, and both joined the school band in their public and high school years. Later, the new French immersion school pulled enough students out of our school to close it. I joined the local parents to lobby for sidewalks to get to the new school.”
“I had started my teaching career at Greenwood Public School, in what was to be the new annex,” Floyd adds. “The new annex turned out to be one of two older buildings beside the main school, a 20’ x 30’ portable. I was the newest teacher. In 1969, I taught in the main building. It was rewarding to see the children and grandchildren of my students attend in the later years. To get to the school you had to go through a four-way intersection, with a graveyard on three of the corners. Two years before I left, to my dismay, they put a graveyard into the fourth corner.”
“I was the only teacher who had spent their whole board career in one school. I could have moved for a promotion, but I didn’t want to be a principal and I had established good community relationships with the families.” Mary taught for 22 years and Floyd for 32 when he took his pension in 1998. In December 2002, they sold their home and left for Manitoulin.
“When we got to the Island, we moved into our little camp here. It was January and there was no running water, so we got water from the river. The next day, there was a snowstorm, and our only toilet was outside. We have come a long way since then.”
Were you named after anyone? “Floyd John Hall, after both my grandfathers.” “Mary Alice after my mother and Mary, my father’s sister.” A connection with your family that you can share? “The Dionne Quintuplets are connected to my mother’s aunt. The oldest son of the Dionnes, Ernie, was a good friend of my parents too. Mme. Douilda Legros was the midwife for three of the babies. She was mother’s aunt.”
Responsibilities? For Floyd, it was helping to clean stables and milking 12 cows. For Mary, it was piano lessons and practice.
Most important event in your life? “Our marriage and the birth of our two daughters.”
Favourite pets? Floyd had Tippy, a farm dog. “He would take the cows to and from the field daily. Occasionally Tippy persuaded the cows to arrive home too early. He would be obliged to lead them back to the field. In the Sault, we had a poodle named Buffy.”
Favourite season? “All four are special but summer meant no walking to school.”
Collections? “Many books.” Special holiday trips? “We took the girls to Ottawa and Niagara Falls. Later, we made a few visits to Florida with our best friends Percy and Evelyn Dinsmore. Percy and I fish and hunt together. Evelyn and Mary were close; Evelyn died a year ago.”
Favourite sport? “We have a few curling trophies. I also love to hunt and fish, for the meat and for the camaraderie.”
Strengths? Mary: “Being sentimental and determined. We sold our first house of 22 years without putting up signs. I suggested the realtor sell the house using other methods, like MLS listings. It sold quickly.” A strength for both: “resilience.”
Activities? Mellow Movers, a senior’s exercise group run by Debbie Graham and also a social dance group.”
First impressions when you both met? Mary: “He’s from the country, and someone I would like to know.”
What did you enjoy most as a parent? “Seeing our children grow and enjoying their accomplishments. They are strong women and they have ably made important decisions.”
What are you most afraid of? “Losing our independence.”
“The girls spent much of their summers here, from the beginning. Both live on Manitoulin now. Marnie is the ED of Manitoulin Family Resources. She has two daughters, Laura and Aislinn Brown, both in Ottawa schools. Allison is a social worker for the doctors’ clinic in Little Current. Neither of us was ever big on regrets. We always tried to make the best decision based on the information we had at the time. We both volunteer a lot, at the museum, the library and on social days, but there are fewer volunteers now. In the Tehkummah Seniors’ Club, about four years ago, there were more members over 100, than under 65.”
“We have an excellent quality of life here, but change is perceptible on Manitoulin, now too. Nevertheless, life is still slower but there is something here for everyone. We also hope that some of the violence seen elsewhere will not happen here and that our lives will be less ruled by electronics going forward. We don’t want machines to run our lives. We treasure our keepsakes from the past. They help to make us realize what is really important in life. We can see our past and see our future more clearly. You can’t really know yourself without knowing where you came from. Here on the Island, nature is all around us. There is a different sense of time and place unique only to Manitoulin. It helps to put life into a healthier perspective. There is lots of privacy, and yet you can depend on your neighbour if needed. We love it here and we really wouldn’t choose to live anyplace else.”
