editorial
6 - Southpoint Sun
Memories of... Kingsville, Leamington Memories of... and Wheatley Photos Kingsville, from Kingsville-GosfieldLeamington Heritage Society 1790-2000 A Stroll Through Time and Wheatley
Cedar Beach Drug Store, Wednesday, April 28, 2021 owned by Red Morris, Photo courtesy of the Kingsville Archives offered drugs, toiletries, china and souvenirs for sale as well as providing a luncheon Back row: menu. Speed Mrs E. boat rides Flickinger, were available Mark Ribble Josie (Mrs Ted from the Cedar Miner), catching the disc and became pret-Beach Drug Jack Miner. ty good at throwing it, despite myStore for 50 cents a ride Front row: left-handedness. for summer Julia Parker One of the families, whose cabin wasvisitors renting (Mrs Hugh behind our house, brought out theira cabin or for Scott), Jarts game one July afternoon and thecottagers not Marion Queen young people lined up alongside theowning a boat. (Mrs Mac The boats could be taken through the placid canal or out into the rougher waters of Lake Erie. This older crowd, who were outside playing photograph of an unidentified family, standing outside the Cedar Beach Drug Store, was taken in Simmers). ‘coits’ — a game similar to horseshoes, the late 1940s or early 1950s. Date of photo is
Jackie Paper came no more With warming temperatures on the horizon, I often think about summers at Point Pelee when I was a kid. I lived inside the park from 1961 to 1974. Many friends in those days, were summer-only friends. Their parents rented a parcel of land on our property just south of the boardwalk and had their summer cabins there. The families would show up near the end of June every year, and stay until Labour Day weekend, when they’d head back to Windsor or Detroit — to their homes. Those friends formed the basis of my social development back then, apart from the friends I made during the school year. My only break from those Windsor and Detroit childhood chums, was when I went to my weekly baseball games and practices. Those city slickers introduced me to the Frisbee and Jarts, two often maligned outdoor games. Jarts — or lawn darts — were eventually banned after some kid got impaled by one in the U.S.A. When the Olsen family — who had the cabin closest to the road — arrived one summer with this flying disc and threw it back and forth, I was mesmerized. By the time they reached Point Pelee that year, Johnny Olsen and his family had become quite adept at flinging the disc they were calling Frisbee. My mother — being the over-protective type — said she heard people were getting hit in the head with the plastic disc, so to be careful when playing with it. The Olsens laughed at that notion, and let me throw the Frisbee around with them. Surprisingly, I wasn’t killed
RIB’S RAMBLINGS
where you throw a piece of round rubber hose onto a horseshoe stake. ‘Coits’ was the adult game, while Jarts became the game of the teenagers and pre-teen group, of which I was a part. I don’t remember ever coming close to getting hit with a lawn dart, but do remember getting beaned with a coit once or twice. My parents often played cards with the adults at night, under the light of a coal-oil or kerosene lantern. As a 12-year-old, I remember not fully understanding when those childhood friends stopped coming to our property for the summer. As a kid, you expect that sort of thing will go on forever. When I think of those days it reminds me of the line from Puff the Magic Dragon, where it says, “And then one day it happened. Jackie Paper came no more.” My Jackie Papers — Steve Maillioux, Jimmy Reid, Mark Howell, and even Johnny Olsen, came no more after the summer of 1973. I often think of them. I know that Steve passed away years ago, but the other three will remain a mystery for the rest of my days.
unknown.
A Look at Leamington’s Past courtesy of C. Scott Holland A Look at Leamington’s Past courtesy of C. Scott Holland April 1973: Buckingham Real Estate edged Gulliver Insurance 2-1 to win the Midget hockey trophy. At left is captain Ken Dick who scored both goals with coach Randy Critchlow.
Rick Sudds, president of the Leamington Senior Men’s Hockey League (left) presents a cheque for $800 to Leamington Firefighter’s Association president Royce Van Every (centre) with treasurer Warren Dunford (right) of Windsor’s Metropolitan Hospital Burn Unit. The money was raised via the league’s annual tourney in January.
Clippings from the Wheatley Journal, May 1989
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Clippings from the Wheatley Journal April 1991 - Seven ladies of the Rebekah Lodge #319 held a tree planting ceremony at the village municipal office last Wednesday, April 24, to mark Living Legacy Week. Left to right: Wheatley Clerk Tim Jackson, Ina Saunders Submarine cycling - Ditches rose foot after foot following the Thursday evening and rainfall Audrey Knox place If and these young lads wasted no time inventing a new game, “submarine cycling”. the Mountain Ash. nothing else, it’s a quick way to wash a ten-speed bicycle!
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