Geraldine (Jean) Robinson
Jean was all dressed up in her finery, donning jewellery and boasting a fresh hair do, when the writer arrived at her Manitoulin Lodge room. Daughter Judy kindly joined us. Mrs. Robinson was ready to share her passion for stories: “My own mother spent her last days in this very room here in the Lodge. It was that very bed across from mine,” Jean begins.
Jean was born Geraldine Harper to Thomas and Hilda (Bell) Harper on November 25, 1926. Dad called her Jean for short, but mum always called her Geraldine, as indicated on her birth certificate. She had an older brother Ken and younger brothers, Jim and Les. “My father had Scottish roots. He was a farmer all his life and he did other work when it was available, like fishing for the Purvis Family on Burnt Island. My mum was an excellent pastry cook for the Northern Aire Lodge.”
“Great-grandfather John Harper lived in England. His notable accomplishment, as retained by his offspring, was that he was married three times and all three wives were called Elizabeth Ann. His wives gave him 21 children. Grandfather Angus Bell, on my mother’s side, married Isabelle Bailey and they farmed all of their lives.”
“Some of my earliest memories were formulated while living on Burnt Island. We would visit Mrs. Ward and she made great cookies. My mother would insist to Ken that he was not to ask for cookies the moment we arrived at the door, but inevitably, Ken would cry, ‘Can I have a cookie?’ the second she opened her door.” Mrs. Ward was likely pleased with this heartfelt, spontaneous request.
“Ken and I would help dad with the nets. We would go to the shore and look for wooden floaters that had been released from the big commercial fishing nets. Dad had a chair with wheels on it that he would spin around in, as he fixed the nets. It was our job to go to the pile of floaters and bring them to him when he asked. They would be attached to the nets to keep the nets from sinking.”
“After we moved to the farm in Evansville, one of our chores was picking berries in season. We would take a picnic lunch and lots of empty baskets, but lunch would not be served until we had filled those baskets. One time we played a trick. We filled the baskets with leaves and added about two inches of berries on top. Luckily, they couldn’t catch us to spank us.”
Lunch was a busy time. “Mother often had to feed farm helpers. I remember sitting on a stool and washing dishes and being young enough to think that was very ‘cool.’ For a treat we would take a white cloth and wrap sugar tightly into its middle. Back then, you couldn’t get candy in the store. I remember getting some store-bought hard candy in my Christmas stocking one time, only to find it had been eaten by my younger brother.”
“We would take our home-made treat and climb up the ladder in the hay mow, go through the trap door and perch on the top of our barn roof. We enjoyed the view and sucked the sugar through the cloth. Mum always gave us the ‘devil’ if she found out we were up there.”
“Mother had this charming habit of ‘step-dancing’ in her overalls, each time she went into the barn. Later, when she was in her 90s, we took her back to the Northernaire Lodge where the Gilmore band happened to be playing. She didn’t recognize the kitchen where she had worked but she step-danced to the Jeff Gilmore music.”
“We can’t forget ‘Nettie’ our mean pony. She would run with you on her back, to the farthest part of the farm, then shake you off. She did the same thing when we took her to the Griffith’s Camp to visit the tourists. She would shake them off at some point and then return home, barebacked. We also had a pet goat that would come all the way up the stairs, then turn around and look back down. Mother soon put a stop to that.”
The trek to school was one and a quarter-miles. In the winter there were no plows, so Jean would walk, balancing on top of the rail fences. “If you fell, you might sink to your waist in snow, so it was good to go with a pal. We had little ankle rubber boots that by the time you got home, would have left a red ring just above the ankle. Our flannelette skirts and knee-length wool socks held up by garters would be wet. “I remember my mother telling me she was caught teasing a girl about her ‘string’ garters once and getting the strap.”
“In our school, the older boys were a little more adventurous. One lunchtime, when the teacher had left, they climbed up the entry door and into the attic through the trap door. They sat there and told us to hold out coats out whereupon they threw chalk into our open coats, claiming they had a chalk factory up there. Later, the teacher wondered why the trap door to the attic was open. The boys claimed that there must have been a big wind. It seems the teacher believed them or at least pretended she did.”
“One time, teacher was trying to get brother Jim to understand the word ‘mat.’ She asked him, ‘what does your mother put on the floor for you to wipe your feet?’ He responded, ‘an old bag’ and everyone laughed at this truth.” Mrs. Harper had indeed sewn together old sacks to make a door mat.
Ethel Marshall, the teacher, had a friend who would pick her up after school, in a democrat, a horse drawn buggy with hay in the back. “As her friend came into the building to fetch her, Leone and I jumped into the buggy and hid under the hay.” The teacher was boarding at their house, so this was a great way to get a ride back. They always jumped out before the horse came to a stop.
As a young teen, Jean recalls Bob Robinson pulling her and her friend Leone by their legs, over the slushy ice. “We were wearing heavy wool coats made by our mothers and by the time he let go of us, our garments were soaked and weighed a ton. However, I do recall Bob was very handsome.”
Jean’s first job, babysitting for $10 a month, was upscaled at 16 when she went off-Island by train to Nobel, near Parry Sound. “My cousin Doris Armstrong and I got work there. I looked after a house for the owner of the CIL plant. I didn’t have to cook, shake mats or scoop up the dog poop,” she adds with emphasis. “I waited in the kitchen and looked through a glass window, then served the food when they finished each course.” Doris had similar responsibilities in another place.
While there, Jean dated a fellow named Ted Thompson who was in the army. Then she listened to a fortune teller who told her that she would take a long trip and get a ring. “Soon after, Bob Robinson told me he had a ring for me and wanted me to come back to Manitoulin. I told Ted, nicely, to forget about me because I had a guy back home. I bought a signet ring for Bob before I left.”
It seems ‘Rip Roaring Robinson,’ so named because of his love for fast motorcycles, did indeed have a ring for his sweetheart. They were married on a sunny June 12, 1946. The United Church Manse in Mindemoya was the site of the wedding and a reception was held in the Orange Hall in Evansville. They got a set of dishes as a gift. Audrey Harper’s sister, Rhea Matheson stood up for Geraldine and Ken stood up for Bob. “Recently I located Rhea in a nursing home and I sent her a Christmas card and letter. I was thrilled when she called me here and we were able to catch up on old times.”
The young couple lived with mom and dad until Bob got a new job at a nearby dairy farm in Evansville. Their first child, Judy, was born during a snow storm. “We drove over to Jack Hester’s house where the doctor and the midwife Mae Bailey would be, but they were away, and the house was cold.” Judy was born in the cold house and dad had to get help. When help arrived, little Judy was blue with cold. Luckily, she was placed in a warming oven and her colour soon came back.
background.
It took nine hours to walk home behind the snow plow. “We walked over the telephone lines, lower at that time, with dad shovelling ahead of the plow.” Judy and her mother spent the next six months at her grandparents, so her mother had help. Judy was six-months-old when the young family moved to their own dairy farm near Gore Bay. Dad drove the mail truck to several communities including Meldrum Bay, where they moved next.
When Judy was still three, the family moved back to dad’s old homestead so they could help look after Bob’s parents who also lived on the farm. Today that house is a cottage on Silver Lake. Judy remembers having four grandmas (including two great-grandmas): “One up the hill, one down the hill, Grammy Robinson and Grama Jingle Bells.”
After moving to the farm where Jean was a new-born, a small house was relocated to a spot under the pear tree on the same farm. One day, little Judy decided to run up over the hill. Her parents were frantic to find her and were almost ready to check the well. “We finally found her a half-mile away at Cliff Bailey’s place, perched on a stool, in her underwear eating ice cream, which was running down her chest. We were very happy to see her, but she got a spanking too.” Jim, Jack, Janice and Jeff were added to the family over the years.
“Oil cloth decorated our table and wood heated the house. Keeping warm was a concern. Often a dozen eggs wound up at the foot of the bed, so they wouldn’t freeze. The eggs were usually joined by the cold-sensitive alarm clock so the family would wake on time.”
Later, the Robinsons and all their possessions relocated to Cockburn Island using a landing barge. For five years, Bob worked for the Ontario Paper Company. He also became the mayor of the Island community as well as Postmaster and Truant Officer. “Mum ran the Paper Company boarding house which sheltered RCMP officers, Ontario Paper Company employees and up to 20 tree planters, among others,” daughter Judy offers. “Cooking for that many men required ‘all-hands-on-deck’ and good timing”.
Judy helped with general housework and baking. “I could bake a chocolate cake by the time I was 10. Frequently, I would walk into the kitchen and see mum mixing an egg in a bowl. ‘What are you making?’ I would ask. Mum would respond, ‘I don’t know, but it will take an egg’.”
Bob would go to Meldrum Bay to pick up a half cow or a pig. After all the others were fed, there would be scant left over for the family. Jean would lie in bed wondering whether to make an apple, raisin or lemon pie, or perhaps apple fritters. “I baked six at a time as well as several loaves of bread. Baker’s bread (store-bought) would arrive twice a week with the barge. One of the men, Chester Burns, had the habit of licking the end crusts of four loaves, so nobody would take them. Then he would then cut them off and eat them in his room.”
Jean also ran the Ontario Paper store, the community steam bath, and the post office. Little Judy would often carry water to the baths. In the post office, when the bell rang above the post office door, Jean would run. If she happened to be baking pies, she would have flour-coated hands, so she would use her arms to give stamps to the customers and ask them to leave the money on the counter. One evening, little Jim decided to visit the store and check out the Lucky Elephant Popcorn. In the morning Jean found 12 open boxes with all the prizes missing.
Dances were held at the old hall. Ernie Schroeder and Jean were dancing in the old hall and in one boisterous move, managed to knock off the stove pipes. That caused a bit of commotion but was soon fixed. Fundraising was popular. Ladies would make up box lunches with four sandwiches and an orange to be auctioned off to the gentlemen. “I remember Elmer McKeg was sweet on our teacher, Wilma. He bought her box lunch for $40, so she would join him while he ate it. She did.
When the school was in danger of closing due to the small number of students, the Paper Mill brought in some Dutch families with children. That kept the school open and made going there more fun. High School for Judy was in Gore Bay and Blind River when dad worked in the Sault and the Robinson family lived in Iron Bridge and later Massey. Jean recalls proudly that she won $1000 twice at the local Massey Fair.
“I remember the boys decided to use the washing machine to cool their beer, much to mum’s regret,” Judy explained. “On washing day, she found it full of beer.” After Judy left home for hairdressing school, the family often went camping with the tent trailer. Bob had bought her a guitar and she would lay it on her knees and chord on it as she would on a piano. They would play music and dance. Apparently, the grass never grew in the spot where the Robinsons had camped that summer.
“Chester, one of our boarders, was a bit of a prankster. One time he piled all the ladies up together on the floor. It was annoying but hilarious. He also professed to have hair cutting skills and offered to cut Bob’s hair. He made such a mess of it that three ladies had to come to Bob’s aid, Jean relates. “Son Jim was a bit mischievous too. We had to hide the dill pickles from him or he would eat them all. Finally, we found a spot he didn’t know about, the deep pocket of his dad’s coat.”
Sadly, Bob passed away on August 10, 1989. Jean continued as the assistant librarian in Massey accumulating 20 years. She also liked to make quilts, knit, can pickles and make jam. She volunteered for the Cancer and Horticultural Societies. Her last permanent home prior to moving back to the Island was in Espanola.
Occasionally, Jean entertained her great-grandson Zack with her old-time stores. He would climb into bed with her and say, ‘Nannie, tell me about the old days.’ He laughed as his great-grandmother described her early antics on the farm, including how they used to warm their feet in fresh steaming manure. “We only had one pair of shoes and that was for school, so we were barefoot much of the time and we didn’t mind the smell.”
Jean and her later-in-life friend Larry Jamieson toured all the American States, except Hawaii. “We lived in Arizona for one winter and took side trips to Las Vegas. Larry died nine years ago.” Jean now lives at the Gore Bay Lodge, near Judy’s home. Judy was a hairdresser and later worked 21 years in the dietary and laundry departments for the Lodge, doing mainly cooking.
Jim worked for Tip Top Tailors in Sudbury and now drives the handicap bus. Janis runs the One Stop Day Care Centre in Massey. Jack and Jeff worked for Carlisle Construction and live in Massey now. “Stepson Gary Morrison lived in Brussels. He was part of our family too. His mother Phyllis was my first cousin.”
There are eight grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. “Getting married and having the children were some of my fondest memories,” Jean offers. “As for my early family, my brother Ken became a mechanic in Ramsey and Espanola. Jim worked at INCO in Sudbury and Les worked on big machinery in Alaska, the Yukon and British Columbia.”
“What scares me? Not much, apart from snakes and toads that jump,” Jean muses. “The kids would open a book on the snake page and watch my reaction. My favourite shows? ‘I Love Lucy’ and ‘Big Brother.’ Charlie Pride singing ‘Crystal Chandeliers’ was special.” “Mum is an expert on all the movie stars and the Royal Family.” Judy includes, and Jean confirms, “I was born the same year as the queen, 1926.” Jean will now be getting ‘In Touch’ to update her knowledge of the stars.
“Regrets? Not really. I might have stayed a little longer in one place if I could do it all again.” These days, Jean is happy living in the Lodge in Gore Bay where her mother lived at the end of her life. She has a strong social network and loves the ‘food bingo.’ “I remember babysitting the dad of one worker here.”
“This is God’s Country. I feel at home on Manitoulin, having been born and raised here. Lots of changes over the years, lots of improvements but there still is no ‘hustle and bustle’ because we are all on ‘Island time.’ My secret for happiness? Singing together and sticking together through thick and thin,” Jean concludes. “I know so many people on Manitoulin and I am related to many. There are five generations alive in our family. I am home. I am at peace.”
