Begin forwarded message:
From: David Shearman <shearman@sympatico.ca>
Subject: What A Delight!
Date: August 28, 2013 7:27:28 AM EDT
To: <info@ScotchColony.ca>
Reply-To: <shearman@sympatico.ca>
What an absolute delight to stumble on the Scotch Colony web site! I wish I
had found it earlier. You may remember me as part of the ministry team that
served the Andover-Kincardine Pastoral Charge from 1979 to 1984. It was,
back in those days, the second largest pastoral charge in all of the United
Church of Canada.
You have done a marvellous job of documenting the history, telling the
story, and keeping the memory alive. I remember many a Sunday, preaching
from the Melville pulpit, with the spirit of Dr. Gordon Pringle looming over
my shoulder, through the window to the left of the pulpit. I recall a much
younger Garth Farquhar firing the wood stoves in the Upper Kintore church on
Sunday and nearly roasting us all out and his father shaking his head making
a rather gentle, dry remark about him still having to learn a couple of
things about fires. I remember Darlene’s wedding in the Melville church and
introducing her at the end of service by her sister’s name and her mother
looking at me from behind the organ, absolutely shocked. The stories go on
and on. If possible I would like to buy a Scotch Colony T shirt, if any are
left.
Thank you for the wonderful memories and stories. About the only thing you
could add to the web page would be the recipe for Ruby’s oatcakes!
Regards,
David
Rev. David Shearman
Owen Sound, Ontario
My brief time there was about one glorious summer, and the old manse on the hill. (I burned about four cords of wood in the first two weeks..it was cold.) I also put slide locks on the door only finding out at the end of the summer that all the windows opened with one finger. It was about a great welcome which has stayed with me all my years. Mavis and Earl Smith met me first as I drove by their house. Millie and Garnett Girvan gave me a gun and one bullet to keep the bears at bay. (There we no bears, so it must have worked.)
The Mortons piped and played. One was even a puppet on my knee at the old Burns’ hall pantomine. The Hargroves had the potato seed farm in Bon Accord. (Andy was a card!). Herb and Catherine Warman, sweet indeed. Herb delivered the mail, and left a bottle of sweet cream by the manse door one morning, months later, when I figured out what it was, it has become MIracle Whip (a miracle!) The Phillips next door took me in for tea most late evenings to watch the news. Up the road, it was Rebecca and Sonny Barclay who handled the church. Joe and Dorothy Farquhar had bees and boys. Geoge and Pearl Barclay “pulled my leg” as they shared their table with me and trheir daughters. Laura and Nimrod Demerchant were so warm and welcoming. Melvin Barclay knew his agriculture, chapter and verse. (He stayed in touch by card every Christmas. His mother, Ethel, recited that “Old Jug” poem to much laughter. And James Barclay, Esq. remains one of the finest people I’ve ever known. Though many now lie at peace in the well-tended pioneer cemeteries of their forebears, their influence shines like the sun. I am so greatful for them all and for those who lift that great community today. Shine on.
Thank you for publishing my note