Aging better and enjoying the ride as the merry-go-round slows down with each week a new adventure of Chapleau Moments

Gosh, with all the really big stories floating around the twitterverse recently, I thought that I would pontificate on at least one of them.

But to mark the eighth anniversary of Chapleau Moments I will leave them alone, and share some thoughts based on a column written by Virginia Bell for Huffington Post on "aging better", particularly as it relates to doing the column all these years.

Bell claims it gets better as you get older "You get better. Life gets better. The merry-go-round slows down and you can finally enjoy the ride..."

I really am not the one to judge if the columns have improved at all over the years, but on a very personal basis, I have really been enjoying the ride --- I have learned so much about Chapleau, its life, its times and, most wonderfully, its people since 1885 or so. And folks, in eight years, I am the first to admit I have only scratched the surface.

As far as life goes, I agree with Bell wholeheartedly as  my merry-go-round slows down and I enjoy the ride. For example, each week is a new adventure as I research a column. and so often say to myself, "I never knew that..."

But before I continue with my metaphor mashing, I need to thank some of those people without whom I would never have been able keep the column going. And I know naming names is always risky, as my memory sometimes fades, but I will mention at least a few.

Mario Lafreniere, the publisher of the Chapleau Express has been totally supportive since Day One, and I appreciate the opportunity he gave me to do the column. And I would never have been able to co-author 'The Chapleau Boys Go To War" with my cousin Michael McMullen if I had not been writing it.

I also appreciate Michael's assistance with other columns, as well as filling in for me along with Ian Macdonald earlier this year with columns while I was away in Orlando --- and both Michael and Ian have been part of it all for the entire eight years. Both are Chapleau boys who continue to have a keen interest in the community.

Mike and Ian have produced some real insights into Chapleau's history, and I hope they will continue to do so.

Harry 'Butch' Pellow my lifelong friend died on December 13, 2016, and I often go back and read some of his contributions. Despite living in Toronto most of his life, Butch never forgot his roots, and shared his memories. I miss him greatly. Butch's brother Dr Bill Pellow has also been a great help.

Butch

Doug Greig, researcher extraordinaire, is also gone now, but all of us interested in Chapleau's history, owe him a deep debt of gratitude for his work in compiling  the community's history.

My cousin Anne (Zufelt) McGoldrick, has been so helpful too. There is little she does not know about Chapleau people, and if she doesn't, she finds it very quickly. Thanks Anne.

When I first started the column, I relied heavily on the collections of my mother, Muriel (Hunt) Morris, and my aunt, Marion (Morris) Kennedy.

The Richard Brownlee Papers have also been a great source of information, and I am so thankful to Margaret Rose (Payette) and Bobby Fortin for kindly loaning them to me.

Over the past eight years, I have heard from so many people, and I thank all of you so much.

 My two trips home for the 90th anniversary reunion of Chapleau High School in 2012 and to launch "The Chapleau Boys Go To War" in 2015 were awesome experiences as I wandered about town, and chatted with so many folks. I must mention my back lane tour in 2015 with my lifelong friend Ken Schroeder --- wonderful memories from our growing up years, and Ken has a great memory.


I have spent almost all my life doing and teaching communications, media and so on starting with a play when I was in Grade 4 at Chapleau Public School.

I recall that after retiring from College of the Rockies faculty  in 2000, the phone didn't ring as much; I was no longer the centre of attention as the sage on the the stage in front of the classroom, which I had, at least in my own mind, been for more than 30 years. It was downright depressing and I recall chatting over coffee with Dr Berry Calder, the college president about it.

Berry laughed and gave  me the solution. "Come up here and and get a cup of coffee from my pot which you have been doing for years, wander the halls and chat." I did and soon I drifted away from the college, gradually making the adjustment. I hardly ever visit now.

MJM a Michael Pelzer photo

Back to Virginia Bell who offers good advice on aging better: "The projects we pursue and the life we lead need to reflect ...and be aligned with who we are now and not who we once were. If we're able to make that transition then getting older can be a rich and fulfilling experience."

Writing Chapleau Moments reflects part of me "aging better"  as my merry go round  has slowed and each week I am able to share a bit of the life, times and people of Chapleau. Yes, Virginia, getting older is a rich and fulfilling experience!.

P.S. I have provided photos of some of the Chapleau gang at a party in 2014 at the home of Butch and Brigitte Pellow in Toronto.

My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Photo Info

Butch, Dr Bill, Ian, MJM

Mike McMullen and MJM in serious chat about book

Butch

All these guys played hockey in Chapleau.Back Jim Machan, Vince Crichton, Ian Macdonald, Geoffrey Hong, Mike McMullen. Front. MJM (briefly), Frank Broomhead, Bill Hong, Butch, Jim Hong, Bill Hong, Yen Hong, Aldee Martel, Ken Schroeder

All the girls were In CHS Cadet Corps. Neil Ritchie was commanding officer. Back Donna Lane, Betty Anne O'Brien, Doreen Cormier, Anne Keays, Naomi Mizuguchi, Gemma Ouellet, Shirley Cormier, Dorothy Honda. Front Neil. Diane Dowsley, Butch, Alison McMillan, Joy Evans, Jean Hong

'Just waiting for Charlie' at the Chapleau CPR station and a swimming pool meeting many years later with family members in Cranbrook

Train No. 8 was arriving at Chapleau and the station platform was crowded with citizens, according to Margaret Costello, in the Sudbury Star.

The headline read: "They weren't going anywhere, just waiting for Charlie."

"Charlie" was W.D. Collings, who was being welcomed as he made his last run in 1962 -- after 49 years and seven months service with the Canadian Pacific Railway.

"Foremost in the gathering were Mrs. Collings and sons and daughters, railway officials  and a host of friends, all eager to extend their congratulations and good wishes to this popular citizen and Chapleau councillor."

I was browsing through the Chapleau and the CPR section on the Chapleau Public Library, and came across the article about Mr. Collings --- and there is an outstanding collection of newspaper stories about CPR employees. Again Doug Greig deserves credit for his efforts to put this section together.

However, I selected Mr. Collings to show once again how small the world it really is as I renewed my personal connection with the Collings family at the swimming pool in Cranbrook. Stay with me. 

After the station welcome,  a family dinner was held in Renison Hall at St. John's Anglican Church, a place Mrs. Collings knew well as president of the Senior WA during those years when it catered in a major way to banquets, including the weekly meeting of the Chapleau Rotary Club. Mrs. Collings was also president of the Ladies Auxiliary to Branch No. 5 of the Royal Canadian Legion in 1948-49.

After the dinner, an open house was held at their home at 15 Pine Street.

Maggie noted that "About everyone in town knows 'Charlie' Collings, and about everybody dropped in during the evening to wish him many happy years of free time and a good life."

Born In Chelmsford, his family moved to Biscotasing, and in 1911, he arrived in Chapleau. Maggie relates that in 1912 he entered the service of the CPR as a railboy, and by 1915 he had joined the operating department as a a trainman, and since 1941, a conductor.

Mr. Collings took a leave during World War I and saw service in the Seventh Railroad Battalion for three years. 

In 1921 he married Anna Eggert of Pembroke, and they made their home in Chapleau. Their children were Charles, Violet, Freda, Harvey and James.

He became commonly known as 'Charlie' up and down the CPR line.

Mr. Collings told Maggie that he was looking forward to having more time at his disposal to devote to his office as councillor. He was deeply interested in municipal affairs and any measure that would improve the community.

Also fond of outdoor pursuits and travel, "within the next few weeks when the roads are once again in good shape, he and Mrs. Collings will be off on a well earned holiday," Maggie wrote.

Now back to the small world and Chapleau!

As many readers will know, for over five years now, I go swimming every day at the Cranbrook Aquatic Centre, or at the pool wherever I may be. A few months ago, as I was entering the pool area, one of the lifeguards said, "You are from Chapleau."

I was amazed -- in over 27 years here, nobody had identified me so directly with Chapleau.

I stopped to chat with the lifeguard, Cody Collings, who turned out to be a great grandson of Mr. and Mrs. W.D. 'Charlie' Collings. His grandfather was Charles, and his father Allen Collings, who had worked for the CPR at Chapleau. I had not known Cody's surname until that night.

In fact, his father Allen has just recently retired from the CPR. They have been living in Cranbrook for some years now, and I have seen Allen periodically, but I did not know his children.

A short time later, Cody told me his father was coming swimming that night, and we had a great reunion chatting about old times and the small world that it really is. 

Thanks to Doug Greig and Anne (Zufelt) McGoldrick for research assistance.  My email is mj.morris@live.ca

Fifty years later Michael writes Chapleau Moments in the Chapleau Express

The wheel, as they say, always comes full circle, and in my life, about 50 years after I started my career in journalism writing a Chapleau High School column for Mid-North News with Joy (Evans) Heft, this Saturday, July 18, marks the launch of a new assignment -- writing Chapleau Moments for a successor to the News, The Chapleau Express. I also had a weekly television program way back then on CHAP-TV, Chapleau on the community channel founded by A.J. Grout, president of Smith and Chapple Ltd. Regular guests were Bill McLeod, Phyllis Chrusoskie and many others whose names escape me now.

When Mario Lafreniere the publisher of The Chapleau Express emailed me with an invitation to write articles on the events and people who have shaped the life and history of Chapleau, I only hesitated for a moment before agreeing to give it a try. Although I have lived away from Chapleau for 20 years now, like so many of those who have moved away readily admit, it remains our home town.

In the past six months or so I have been reconnecting with so many of you on Facebook -- mostly former students from my years at Chapleau High School, although a few more of us 'oldtimers' are now joining the social networking site. It's been great to catch up on all your lives and Chapleau Moments will provide another way to share the stories that have shaped life in Chapleau throughout its history.

I extend my sincere thanks to Mario for providing me with this opportunity.

So, I hope that all of you in Chapleau will take time to read Chapleau Moments in the Chapleau Express, starting this Saturday, July 18.

Please feel free to send me story ideas, suggestions and comments to mj.morris@live.ca or on Facebook.