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Letters From Margaret:
"My Walkerville Roots"
Links in This Section
 I
was born in Walkerville, July 19, 1915. My father was a barber,
a friend of Bert Snowden who was mentioned in one of your earlier
papers. My dad's name was Harry Myers (wife Mable Dickson). I was
born above Petch's Drug Store (corner of Victoria - now Chilver
and Wyandotte).
When
I was born, my father was barbering above Black's Bakery which was
owned by Mr. & Mrs. Blackmore who had a daughter nicknamed Bubbles.
Then my dad moved around the corner and down a little ways from
Ed Keith's gas station. There was a pool hall behind my father's
shop and on Chilver next to it, a Chinese laundry (now called The
Complex, and new home of The Walkerville Times- editor).
When
we moved to a flat on the corner of Windermere and Cataraqui, my
father liked to go to Bert Graham's Pool Hall for card games on
Sunday afternoons. It was across from the Victoria Hotel. My big
brother Malcolm and I would be sent by my mother to tell dad to
come home for supper. She would say, "Malcolm, you go in - Margaret,
you wait outside!!" We were probably 7 and 6 years old.
Later
my father moved his shop to the Crown Inn Bldg., at that time owned
by the Walkerville Land and Building Company. He faced the railway
tracks and next door to him was the Telegraph Office. Later, the
W.L.& Bldg. Co. added a small storefront to it and we also sold
ice creams, tobacco and cigarettes.
In
1927, my family moved to what is now 666 Devonshire Rd., one of
the houses owned by W.L. & Bldg. Co. across from the Pentilly
Manor. At that time, a Colonel Robinson (either an M.P. or M.P.P.)
owned Pentilly Manor with his wife and six grown children: Cecil,
Sydney, Edward, Florence, Edith and Louisa. Whenever we got too
noisy, my mother would say, "Shish! The Robinsons will hear you!"
My
mother's dad, William Dickson, worked as a boy at the "Scotten Farm",
I think at what is now Moy and Hall Ave., [formerly Moy House] on
the Detroit River front in around 1878. William bought a spyglass
so he could read the names of the sailing ships up and down the
river.
Until
next time, All the best, Margaret
April
18, 2000
Dad
moved his store to the first store on the right of the central entrance
of the old Crown Inn on Devonshire (where the printing shop is now).
The store where "Nancy's" is was the C.N. Telegraph office, which
later moved beside Lanspeary's Drug Store on Wyandotte near Devonshire.
For
a while during the late 30's, Chase and Tina Breese's daughter Flora
and son Ralphie lived in the apartment above our store. Flora and
I grew up together. Her dad was the Manual Training teacher who
later built a beautiful boat on Dacotah Drive in behind King George
School.
If
Mrs. Breese was in a good mood, she'd call me "Flora's child" as
I was tiny and much smaller than Flora who was two years older.
If Mrs. Breese was in a bad mood, she'd say, "Here comes that Myers
brat!"
 Mrs.
Breese was Christine Graham and her sister, Elizabeth Graham, became
the famous "Elizabeth Arden", of the cosmetic company. Elizabeth
used to send boxes of clothes etc. to Mrs. Breese - lovely things.
I remember once Flora and I paraded around in a long peach cut velvet,
with lace negligee. Elizabeth had also sent a cigarette holder -
why I don't know, as Mrs. Breese didn't smoke. My parents did so
Flora, who was 14 at the time and I (12) got a cigarette and lit
up and paraded around puffing on the "cig" in the holder wearing
the peach negligee. (In my case, it dragged along the floor as I
was so tiny.)
Mrs.
Breese came home a little later and said, "Who's been smoking?!"
I quickly said, "Ralphie!" Ralphie was eighteen. By the way she
rolled her eyes I didn't think she bought it and I hoped she wouldn't
mention it to Ralphie, but I don't think she ever did.
The
best to you, Margaret Stokes
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