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A Vice-Regal Back-Linkage to Selkirk
Oct. 18th, 2011 06:58 pmThis is subject to some revision.
I went to take pictures at a Writersfest event again last night. It's not something I do often, but there's usually a speaker that given day or night that hooks me in some way.
In this case, it was Adrienne Clarkson, past CBC reporter and host, past Governor-General of Canada, and still very much a writer, historian and activist today. Also, there was a personal link, although I doubt very much that she'd be aware of it unless she should happen to read this entry.
That personal link was my Kindergarten teacher.
Her name was Myrtle Barnett. Mme. Clarkson met her in the course of her duties as Governor-General back in 2000, presenting the Caring Canadian Awards. You can look it up at the Manitoba Historical Society's web page devoted to such awards to people who've lived there, although it doesn't yet go into much detail about the recipients. The Governor-General's site maintains some additional information, thankfully, but hasn't been able to update the current status.
But.
Mrs. Barnett was my Kindergarten teacher. She encouraged my...interest?...in illustration back then. Then, in Grade One, my Dad got transferred to Regina, and we moved just before Christmas. I don't remember how well we managed to stay in touch over the years despite that until our first trip to Ottawa in 1979. The family stopped off to say hello to her in Selkirk en route to Charlottetown. (And that was also the year we visited Parliament Hill to see Diefenbaker lying in state. More on that another time, if I haven't already discussed.) And we didn't stay much in touch until after my family and I moved to Ottawa permanently back in 1985.
Eventually, Mrs. Barnett and I resumed talking via paper-mail. Later on, e-mail was added to our kit and we kept trying to stay in touch that way. That kept going up until she had a stroke in late 2005. Eventually, I found out in January 2006 from one of her family that she'd died.
I wasn't able to get to the funeral. And I still want to visit her grave at some point, partly to grieve and partly to confirm the fact of the death itself.
Getting back on point: towards the end of the autograph session following the show itself, I was tempted to talk about Mrs. Barnett with Mme. Clarkson. But I knew full well that given all the experience in the latter's life, the chance would be small that she'd remember Mrs. Barnett on the spur of that moment.
So I left.
One more regret, but better that than an imposition on a stranger just to cope with one of my own pains.
I went to take pictures at a Writersfest event again last night. It's not something I do often, but there's usually a speaker that given day or night that hooks me in some way.
In this case, it was Adrienne Clarkson, past CBC reporter and host, past Governor-General of Canada, and still very much a writer, historian and activist today. Also, there was a personal link, although I doubt very much that she'd be aware of it unless she should happen to read this entry.
That personal link was my Kindergarten teacher.
Her name was Myrtle Barnett. Mme. Clarkson met her in the course of her duties as Governor-General back in 2000, presenting the Caring Canadian Awards. You can look it up at the Manitoba Historical Society's web page devoted to such awards to people who've lived there, although it doesn't yet go into much detail about the recipients. The Governor-General's site maintains some additional information, thankfully, but hasn't been able to update the current status.
But.
Mrs. Barnett was my Kindergarten teacher. She encouraged my...interest?...in illustration back then. Then, in Grade One, my Dad got transferred to Regina, and we moved just before Christmas. I don't remember how well we managed to stay in touch over the years despite that until our first trip to Ottawa in 1979. The family stopped off to say hello to her in Selkirk en route to Charlottetown. (And that was also the year we visited Parliament Hill to see Diefenbaker lying in state. More on that another time, if I haven't already discussed.) And we didn't stay much in touch until after my family and I moved to Ottawa permanently back in 1985.
Eventually, Mrs. Barnett and I resumed talking via paper-mail. Later on, e-mail was added to our kit and we kept trying to stay in touch that way. That kept going up until she had a stroke in late 2005. Eventually, I found out in January 2006 from one of her family that she'd died.
I wasn't able to get to the funeral. And I still want to visit her grave at some point, partly to grieve and partly to confirm the fact of the death itself.
Getting back on point: towards the end of the autograph session following the show itself, I was tempted to talk about Mrs. Barnett with Mme. Clarkson. But I knew full well that given all the experience in the latter's life, the chance would be small that she'd remember Mrs. Barnett on the spur of that moment.
So I left.
One more regret, but better that than an imposition on a stranger just to cope with one of my own pains.
