Submitted by Christie Amyot, Volunteer/Director,
Golden Dawn Senior Citizen Home
Our Mission: Golden Dawn is a hub
of support and empowerment
for adults seeking care
and those who care for them.
This brief story is one in a series of articles featuring past and present residents of the Golden Dawn Senior Citizen Home in Lion’s Head, ON.
Summarizing almost a century of life for any one person is intimidating, but given the rich and storied lives of our Golden Dawn residents and their amazing contributions as pioneers of the Bruce, please consider that every effort has been taken to research and honour our interviewees in sharing a brief snippet of their personal life story.
Gloria Cook McNair Baillargeon
When one interviews an almost-centenarian, it is difficult not to ask the obvious question, “what is the secret to a long life?” Well, dear reader, after interviewing Gloria Cook McNair Baillargeon, a current resident at the Golden Dawn, a number of theories to her secret have come to light …
When Gloria Cook met Harvey McNair in September 1940, she was still attending school in her hometown of Sudbury, Ontario. What 16-year old Gloria knew straight away was that 22-year old Harvey was “good looking and had good manners”. What she didn’t know was that 83 years later, when asked about Harvey, she would still hold enough love in her eyes and heart that she could light up an entire room. When asked, Gloria agreed point blank that she believed in soulmates then, and still holds that belief today. Theory number one is that love conquers all. Maybe that theory is not so secret, but Gloria managed to keep the spark, and that is a rare gift.
Gloria’s first visit to the Bruce Peninsula happened the following year. In June of 1941, Harvey brought her to Dyers Bay to meet his parents, Jim and Carrie McNair. Gloria and Harvey dated over a year and were married on September 26, 1941. Plans to move to Dyers Bay from Sudbury were made shortly after the birth of their first child, Carol, on March 3, 1942. Harvey’s father had passed, and his mother needed help with the 100 acre farm at Miller Lake on Dyers Bay Road. She, Harvey, and young Carol were to move into the old farmhouse nearby.
Gloria’s positive attitude and natural curiosity helped her to overcome any hesitation, as did the support of her mother, who “may have worried, yet not said very much… she wasn’t one to discourage us from doing anything; she wasn’t like that”. This defining moment – a move to Harvey’s family farm – highlights a few of Gloria’s traits that would help carry her through a new life of adventure and challenge.
“When I first came to Dyers Bay, the mail came up the East Road… we walked down to Harvey’s Aunt Esma’s (Rouse) to get the mail. It came up from Lion’s Head 3x/week by horse and buggy, then up the Shouldice Lake Road and on to Tobermory. Mom was very good at writing; during the war she sent me her sugar coupons and I sent her my tea coupons. That was so I could do more preserving. I was only seventeen so I didn’t know what I was doing. But you know, when you are seventeen, you are not afraid to do anything, or start anything… I really was not afraid, and Harvey’s mother was great. I never was sorry that I went to the farm. Harvey and I enjoyed each other, and what we had, and our children. You don’t think about the hard work when you are young, you just do it.”
This leads to more ‘Gloria hints’ to the secret of longevity. Love, laughter, hard work, resilience, and variety define Gloria’s adult life. From learning to cook on a wood stove, feeding 6-8 men in the logging camps, trying to keep a warm and clean home, to filling gas lanterns, Gloria took on all of the hardships and tasks of a pioneer, and in the harshest of climates – with no water or hydro. “The outhouse was just around to the left. That was one of the bad things; the outhouse was not something that came up in our talks about moving to the farm.” “I had a new baby so there was a lot of laundry. You had to carry the water in, heat it on the stove, and then put it in the tub with the washboard.”
The night before Gloria and Harvey’s son, Allan was born, on June 1, 1943, “Gramma had made some ice cream. We had ice in the icehouse that Harvey and his brother Charlie had put up in the winter. They had cut big blocks of it at Shouldice Lake, and brought it home with the horses and sleigh. Each layer of ice was covered in sawdust they had taken from the sawmills where Harvey worked. Gramma had cream from the cows and she made the ice cream with the men doing the turning of the cranks, to keep it moving around the ice.”
In 1947, Gloria had a second son, Bill. Her second daughter JoAnne was born on November 5, 1948. By 1952, the McNairs built a new house on the farm and had horses, cows, ducks, turkeys and chickens. Initially she was “terrified of all of it – the equipment, the horses…”, but eventually she drove all of the farm equipment and tended to the horses. At this time, they owned 300 acres, but by the 1980s, the McNair farm grew to 500 acres.
During this chapter of her life, Gloria’s experiences on and off the Peninsula grew. She belonged to a Birthday club, was a Lioness, was an excellent cook and baker, sewed and played the accordion, and loved to dance, play cards, and enjoy a cold beer with her friends, family and neighbours. Gloria sat on council for Lindsay Township for four years, and in the early 80s was a member of the local Parks Committee, acting as an outspoken negotiator for local residents during the establishment of the Fathom Five and Bruce Peninsula National Canadian Park Lands. Gloria’s passionate actions on behalf of local residents ultimately helped to direct the Niagara Escarpment Commission (NEC) and Ministry of the Environment in developing the beautiful and sustainable National parkland that we enjoy on the Bruce today.
The first love of Gloria’s life, her soulmate Harvey, eventually passed from a heart attack on August 5, 1983. In her memoirs, Gloria’s incredibly positive attitude shines through: “it seemed like a terrible shock, but when I met Roy, my second husband a few years later, I found out that his wife had died of stomach cancer, and that he had taken care of her for months, so there was no comparison”. Gloria met her second husband, Roy Baillargeon, who was “sitting there, selling tickets for the Rotary Club at the Chi-Cheemaun festival” and they were married on October 18, 1986.
After her marriage to Roy, Gloria travelled to Bahamas, and Europe, went on cruises and lived in Florida during the winters. After Roy, who had been one of the Canadians who liberated Holland during World War II, passed away in 2015, Gloria’s incredible sense of humour – another possible secret to longevity – surfaced in a conversation with her doctor: “…I said to the doctor that I felt like just lying there and never getting up again. He said I looked too good to be a corpse. I told him that was my goal, to be a good-looking corpse. He said that I must plan on an open casket and I said I did.”
When her eyesight continued to deteriorate, Gloria moved to the Golden Dawn in November of 2015 of her own accord, and “is glad she did”. At the Dawn, she happily continues to build friendships, enjoy visits with family, and advocates on behalf of residents, noting that the “staff do the extra things”. She continues to enjoy girls weekends, the two-step, picnics, and shooters to the moon on Christmas Eve.
About Golden Dawn
Golden Dawn Senior Citizen Home is a non-profit, registered charity – the only long-term care home and senior apartments complex in Northern Bruce. Located in the village of Lion’s Head, Ontario, it is also the largest year-round employer in Northern Bruce.
Be a part of our History!
As we embark upon this critical redevelopment, please consider supporting the Golden Dawn in continuing to provide care and support for our residents, families and caregivers, staff and volunteers in the present while we make plans for the future
-Charitable gifts
-Monthly giving
-Estate planning/bequests
-Fundraising
-Volunteering
For more information, please contact: Christie Amyot, Volunteer/Director, 519-636-8505, christieamyot1@gmail.com or follow the redevelopment prompts on our website: www.goldendawn.ca
Source: Baillargeon, G.; Dunham, H.; Hewton, C, “I Just Want to Dance – Life and Times with Gloria Cook McNair Baillargeon”: The Memory Catchers, 2016.
