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a4 tribune july 1 1987 editors mail guests dear editor please pardon the scrawl im writing this note while driving along hwy 47 and will post it at the closest mailbox we are travelling coasttocoast with side trips to various cities towns and villages one of these stops included stouffville or is it stoveville sunday noon our tim ing was pefect it was your straw berry festival not since leaving our real home have webeen made to feel so wel come we were treated to strawber ries cake and whipped cream we enjoyed a lively dance program on stage and we sat in on a portion of an outdoor community worship ser vice my husband and i appreciated all this so much we hated to leave apart from the food the enter tainment and the religious ferver the friendliness of the people we met has left an indelible im pression you can be sure that if our return trip takes us anywhere close to your fair town well drop by for a longer stay ted and sheila perkins pcnticton british columbia together dear editor my thanks to the organizers of strawberry festival 87 in stouff ville and to all others connected with it i liked the idea of the programs being centred in the park this tended to keep everyone together and made for a real community t affair my personal thanks to mcneil pharmaceutical this firm is in- deed a corporate citizen without i equal in our town lorraine patton aspen crescent stouffville the dnbune jennifer hutt distribution manager 1 established 1888 james thomas bruce annan patricia pappas editor publisher advertising manager community editor chns shanahan sports editor alan shackleton display advertising dept lome hillier retail advertising lome hillier manager charles canning real estateclassified advertising joan marshman real estate manager dorothy young classified manager debra weiler distribution lea kitler doreen deacon business office manager chns bertram national sales representative metroland corporate sales 4931300 the stoulfvihe tribune published every wednesday and saturday at 54 mam st stoultville ont is one ol the metroland printing publishing distributing group of suburban newspapers which includes the acton free press ajax pickering news advertiser aurora banner brampton guardian burlington post etobicoke advertiser guardian georgetown independent markham economist sun milton champion mississauga news newmarket era oakville beaver oshawa whitby this week richmond hill thornhill vaughan liberal scarborough mi for topic newsmagazine willow- dale mirror metroland printing publishing distributing is a division of harlequin enterprises ltd single copies 50c subscriptions s2100 per year in canada 55 00 elsewhere member of canadian com munity newspaper association ontario weekly newspaper association ontario press council and sub urban newspapers of america second class mail registration number 0896 6402100 6492292 roaming around goodbye to mom editorials faith in humanity has been restored our faith has been restored faith in politics faith in parliament faith in people the death penalty has been turned down sanity has emerged victorious so has commonsense a poll of mps supposedly predicted otherwise which only goes to prove its never safe to assume anything the electorate supposedly wanted otherwise which only goes to prove its never safe to presume anything the polls were wrong so were the peo- pie parliament and all of canada slept with a clearer conscience last night naturally the losers in this emotional issue are upsel even angry there are rumblings some parliamentarians in tend to keep the issue alive keep on stir ring the pot forget it the reinstate ment of capital punishment is dead longlive sensitivity and understanding the vote was 148 to 127 a margin of 21 quite a spread seeing the prognostica- tors were calling it close obviously some mps changed their minds at the eleventh hour if prime minister brian mulroney had a hand in this and we think he did then his star in our opinion poll has risen immeasurably but what of our own mp on which side of the fence did sinclair stevens sit at this point in time were not sure but we intend to find out after a 1 am session tuesday we didnt want to wake him at six originally he had said yes bring back the noose if replies to question naires meant anything he was standing on safe ground the riding was firmly on his side or he on theirs we shall see regardless parliament has spoken on the side of commonsense except for the mumblings and grumblings of a few sore losers the issue will be laid to rest hopefully forever moms gone no her passing wasnt totally unex pected shed been in declining health since christmas regardless i was com pletely unprepared the last seve days have been the worst week of my life the same im sure can be said for my father my brothers and my sister the stark reality of moms death still hasnt sunk in for in our minds she was the type of person that could and should live forever such was my human weakness however a telephone call from scar borough centenary hospital on the even ing of june 22 quickly brought me back to reality but too late mom had already said her goodbyes by the time 1 reached her bed while extremely prejudiced in this re gard it must be said that to know her was to love her and this we did with all our hearts but did we always show it this is where the guilt complex creeps in words now arc such a waste even tears seem trivial mom was the most caring person any son or daughter could ever know she continually gave and gave never ex pecting anything in return even thanks would you believe i once bought her an electric kettle seventeen dollars it cost but she took it back and returned me the money so i could pay an overdue account at business college christmas birthdays and anniversar ies were never forgotten between times five and ten dollar bills were often found hidden in unlikely places just a little something for the chil dren shed say later mom was brilliant a mind so sharp it boggled mine the greater the chal lenge the grealer she was challenged she ailowed nothing to stand in the way j of solving a problem by jim thomas my calls for assistance extended far beyond the pythagorean theorem but never once did she let me down if only i could say the same while pride in her family ran deep there was so much more i couid have done more visits more thanks more little things that would have meant so much its too late now the eulogizings over personal regrets remain also the memories yes we had good times wonderful times mom never forgot her roots she loved the little town of beaverton near where she was born and grew up nothing gave her greater joy than a trip back in time to the days of her youth she could recall the name of each and every property owner in a running community commen tary that extended over several miles visits always included a stopover al the old stone church where her parents grandparents brother and sisterinlaw are buried to her the adjoining cemet ery was hallowed ground many a silent prayer was whispered over grave sites there and what stories she could tell of her growing up years the friends she had and the people she knew we would sil spellbound weighing on every word life it seems was more exciting then at least she made it sound exciting while mom grew up in the horse and- buggy days she kept in touch with the times through the media of newspapers and television she knew more about the exploits of pierre trudcau the double- talk of brian mulroney and the war cries of ronald reagan than ill ever know her declarations often put me to shame she talked of the tv newscasters like theyd become close friends nor was she ever backward about saying which ones she liked and which ones she en- growing even with the canada day edi tion addition of strawberry fes tival week still to go the event can already be described as a tremendous success jim hcidema this years chair man with the help of past- chairman jim kidd and many other willing workers selected the best of previous years experiences and put them all together for one com plete program the festival no longer has to be sold to whitchurchstouffville its selling itself as seen by the largcr- thanevcr audiences at most events but theres another reason crowds are growing because stouffville is growing theres more participation because there are more people to participate just another benefit of urban buildup keep the festival going and keep stouffville growing the two go handinhand dured she loved threes company the honeymooners and lawrence welk the arthur godfrey hour was an old favorite on radio mom knew hard work most pre and postdepression farmers wives did but she never complained would you believe fifteen hungry mouths to feed at a threshing even more at a silofilling and not even an electric stove or a refrigerator would you believe gathering fence rails for firewood and melting snow for wash water but she never complained on top of these and other duties she maintained one of the prettiest flower gardens and one of the finest vegetable gardens in the neighborhood she also took pride in her flock of chickens and they returned her care and attention by providing muchneeded egg money for those little extras a mother of four so often requires mom loved music and nothing gave her greater joy than a family singsong around the living room piano her favorite hymn was unto the hills mom excelled in public speaking she could rise to any occasion even at a mo ments notice and often did she had an unwavering faith in god and tried her best to impart this stead fast conviction on her family she seldom missed a service at st andrews presbyterian church and only last july participated in a sodturning ceremony for the new sanctuary yes 198g was quite a year for mom she left no stone unturned no deed un done if only i could say the same but i cant the time i seldom had o spend has all been spent theres no time left live life today as if today were all a writer once said mom did every day and a family of four is the richer for it rare orchids grow wild in area woodlot orchids may be common to hawaii and florida but in this area local horticulturalists may find this difficult to believe but its true the photo above is proof while the exact location cant be revealed for the plants own pro tection the sites not far from stouffville thirteen blooms have been counted so far jim thomas editors mail thanks dear editor if space is available i wish to express inty appreciation for satur days activities related to the 1987 strawberry festival i was especially interested in the people parade and the many per sons involved my personal congra tulations to mr winters for putting it all together and to mr hcidema for taking on the festival chair manship both were big responsibilities thursdays pageant was a mar vellous affair ah the girls looked so beautiful and displayed a talent that was all their own lome boadway as our 1987 citizen of the year received the recognition he so richly deserves the same can be said for bay and joanne steel the towns sports personalities of the year the acco lades arc long overdue to everyone involved my thanks sincerely margaret beard thickctwood blvd stouffville