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the tribune thursday jan u 1974 19 locust h some memories of those good ne ighbo rs by madeline harrison locust hill these days everyone is asking whats happening in locust hiu changes have been coming thickj and fast so quickly in fact that i cannot keep track of them in the next couple weeks i hope to be able to chronicle them for yoa to bringyou up to before i was born oh yes the first names have changed the generations have come and gone but the old families have remained until now this week we will go back oh about 10 to 20 years the old neighbours are still herethe old houses are unchanged the family names are a litany that date on whats happening everyone in the now what has happened community sings the and what may happen in the future at this point no one knows- just exactly what the plans for locust hiu are letters from the s government are in druclation as to what their intentions are we have been fortunate to see one and hopefully in the next few weeks we will get our hot little hands on a copystudy it and be able to give a hint of what the future holds in store the present though is what we are concerned with here locust hill for me at least is as much a state of mind as it is a place on the map most people when speaking of locust hill mean the store and homes that line number 7 highway between the railroad crossing and the crick when i speak and think of locust hill i include those who have gone to church and sunday school at the church on the hill those who attended ss no 21 public school and those who attended neither but who contributed to our life as friends and neighbours that takes in i a lot of territory locust hill therefore means agoing up around the corner east of locust hill almost to green river locust hill goes west almost to markham it goes north to the first side road north of number 7 it extends south almost as far as lapps cider mill some time ago the f powers that be determined to number all of l the eastwest concession roads i was brought up by having these roads designated thus the road that runs past cedar grove public school the box grove road the road that goes over the iron bri dge and the road that runs into whitcvale even at this late date i am still trying to figure out where the 18th avenue the 19th avenue and the 16th avenue is henceforth i shall refer to them as the roads that run and if it confuses you think about how i feel e the best part of locust hill is the neighbours most of the neighbours surrounding us today were here long days weeks years are numbered by events that took place remember the garden parties remember the year it snowed so hard and it stayed so long that the only way to get the milk through to the station was by team and sleigh grandma told the time by the passing of the sleighs each team had its own musical bells telling who was passing where they were going and what they were going to do mr mrs ed wilson lived on the place just past the corner on the west side of the highway ed used to come down and borrow the odd implement to do the work on his place and then return the favour by helping at haying or harvest time good neighbours ed wilson is gone now mrs wilson sold the place a couple of years ago- and is now living in a nice apartment in markham the last we heard she is well and enjoying life john and mary graham had the place just a little south of the wilsons they farmed but best of all john always had a horse or two thats the reason they r had this neighbourhood brat visiting them all the time couldnt get rid of her john and mary still live on the farm although they sold most of it they kept a small lot for themselves and are living in a new house and are still good neighbours and friends next door to them was leo and tim hagerman they had a snack bar and gas pumps they were kinda popular with the kids always a coke in the cooler and a candy bar behind the counter what a place to spend your allowance tim and leo are now living in markham in a nice little cottage down by the greenhouses at the south end of the village the gas pumps are gone now the little house and the snack bar is boarded up- the lonely place is sitting there waiting its fate remembering summers long past childrens voices heard in the sighing wind information please year bill take 6000 mile sidetrip via sussex england seven weeks and six thousand miles but it finally made it a bill from charles richards and sons limited of stouffville for george wilson stouffville r r 1 the account it seems went astray and ended up at the plough and harrow inn litungton polegate sussex england mrs wilson shown here holds the envelope she intends to retain as a keepsake jim thomas the timbers farm has long since been broken up into ten acre lots where once mr mrs frank timbers raised their family there are greenhouses dog kennels and some land sitting waiting for its new owners to come and spend a day in the country where are the timbers now does anyone hear from mrs timbers or joan wherever you are we still remember you in locust hill on down the road apiece is the hagermans youve heard enough about them except for gordon and fran they built themselves a real nice little bungalow some years ago how long ago i dont like to even guess at gordon was the stationmaster until he retired i can still remember going next door and having the time of my life aunt fran at i the piano uncle gordon at the xylophone and my cousin and i doing our best to sing along with them we had some real jumping good times in that house music was my love then and the two of them helped instill that love that stays with me even today across the road is the armstrong place i have never entered a friendlier or warmer home mr mrs bob armstrong always had the welcome mat out and you were welcome to come and sit any time the kitchen was always warm the center of the home as is nearly always the case with a farm house mrs armstrong would be sitting rocking and mr armstrong w alwa in life v term registration educational mortgage insurance pensions equities plans annuities ronald a p moran clu 2945959 licensed with- london life insurance company the big chair ready for a chat william armstrong arid connie mckinnon still live in the old house we understand that the place has been sold but hopefully they will save the house from demolition john and anne armstrong live in the new house halfway built when john and anne were married it seems like only yesterday that i first met anne at a shower at the torrances old place now her girls are almost ready to step out on their own where have our yesterdays gone why must time fly by so quickly across the road from down the lane it was the armstrongs were two places you all remember the dew drop itin beside it was the white house owned variously by john rossiter gordon and fran hagerman mrs mooney and until recently by tony and michael grifa and family these two places have seen a lot of changes the dew drop inn burned a couple of times and finally when tony moved in it was demolished completely the two properties were then joined and the grifas started a thriving auto body shop they too sold and from the last reports we heard the grifa family were in italy enjoying a vacation with tonys parents by pat marshall jan 16 information please celebrated its first anniversary of service it has grown constantly since the first month in 1973 when 85 calls were answered in december the 10 telephone volunteers answered 390 calls they covered the areas of recreational business government and social agencies whose services were available in stouffville unionville and markham information about the community was carefully researched through the fall of 1972 it came into use last january when the office opened in space provided by the markham public library board in the markham centennial library the markham chamber of commerce provided secretarial chairs for the telephone operators and another donor gave a desk and file- the office furni shings have recently been completed by the ucw of st andrews united church these ladies saved dominion store cash register tapes and purchased a typewriter letterhead and a descriptive brochure were prepared with the assistance of malcolm whetter and pat wheller an official opening was held march 12 when mayor gordon ratdiff of whitchurch stouffville and bob adams regional councillor for markham- cut a ribbon finances are always of concern in a volunteer organization and these have been met in three ways the local initative project of the federal government provided the salaries for a co ordinator and a secretary who were needed to organize the office and routines during the initial months all of the information was typed and indexed so that answers would be readily available for most questions this grant gave us a tremendous boost towards providing an accurate information service in addition this grant provided two workers for other areas in the community secondly there are a number of people and organizations in the community who have made donations the markham kiwanis and the united church require special mention thanks also go to the stouffville lions markham unionville lions st andrews united church couples club grace church anglican church women the village club of unionville stouffville bikeathon and markham economist printing we also raised funds by publishing a community services 1 directory- thirtyfour volunteers contacted every business operating in markham stouffville and unionville soliciting ads many responded and a bright orange book was distributed to over 9000 residences in the area if you were missed- please give ua a call all of this would not have run so smoothly without dorothy nicolson and lois morrison who have supervised the office during this year in january 1974 gwen patton was appointed as the new coordinator what does the future hold we are again participating in an lip project with partici pation house and the teen centre we are now working towards expanding our services to thornhill at the suggestion of the markham town council this will compliment the service offered by helpmate in richmond hill we also hope more people will be aware of this free service and use it to learn more about what is available to them if you want to know something and dont know who to ask why not try us information please 2944300 r lehmans shoe store 9 mainst w stouffville 6403753 westcl0x smoke signal a shrill blast will warn you in the very first stages of a fire when there is almost no visible smoke or heat present not affected by cigarette smoke easy to install magnetic broom a handy lightweight broom for quick and efficient cleanups re is almost no 89 tin we wilt endeavour to keep a quantity ol each advertised item in stock to meet all reasonable customer demands in the event that the supply of ow or more items becomes exhausted we will require five days to obtain the items at no extra charge from our warehouse if any items are unavailable we reserve the right to substitute terns of equal or better quality at the same price cards dominion hardware stouffville ontario 6403622 r0sehill dominion hardware 6 brock street west uxbridge ontario 8523101 green circle dominion hardware po box 46 unionville ontario 2971811