HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen-Auburn, 2004-07-29, Page 23PAGE 2. AUBURN - 150 YEARS OF HISTORY.
Grandson of legendary doctor opens 150th
When John MacKay officially
opens the Auburn 150th anniversary
homecoming celebration July 31, he
will recall for many older residents
one of the legends of the
community. a doctor who helped
bring more than 2,000 area residents
into the world.
MacKay is grandson of Dr. B.C.
(Bert) Weir who was held in such
was the high esteem that on his 40th
anniversary of entering practice, an
crowd estimated, at 2,000 in
newspaper reports, gathered outside
his home one July night in 1945.
"I'm quite thrilled," MacKay says
of being asked to come home to
officially open the homecorning.
He knew his grandfather well, as
his parents lived with his
grandfather while his father taught
at U.S.S. No. 5 in Hullett Twp. He
spent his early childhood in Auburn
until his family moved to Sault Ste.
Marie in 1963 and even then he
came back to Auburn in summers,
working at Craig's Sawmill and
staying with his grandfather.
"What I remember most are the
long-lasting friendships that
continue to this day," he says.
Recently he got together with some
of those friends to recall those days
they shared growing up.
"It was wonderful to grow up in
the 1950s and early 1960s," he
remembers and Auburn was a
special place to do it. "We knew
every single person in town. Every
door was open to us. There was
complete trust."
"It was a great community. I hope
it still is."
Auburn showed its community
spirit to his grandfather back in
1946, the crowd spreading beyond
his own lawn onto the lawn of the
Anglican Church next door. A
speaker's platform, decorated with
flowers and lights, was set up for the
This salute to
Auburn's 150th
Anniversary
Homecoming
Is produced by
The Citizen
Your community-owned
newspaper
Phone 523-4792 FAX 523-9140
E-mail norhuron@scsinternet.com
www.northhuron.on.ca
people who wanted to praise the
contribution he had made to his
community.
Among the highlights was a
march past of 300 of the children he
had brought into the world, a
demonstration that visibly moved
him. It was just a small part of what
Dr. Weir estimated later that evening
would have been 2,000 babies he
helped into the world including 18
sets of twins. He assisted at the birth
of all members of one family of 12
children.
Dr. Weir recalled his first patient
in Auburn, William Campbell who
at more than 90 years of age,
attended the celebration. The doctor
recalled that he had been so pleased
to be treating his first patient (for
lumbago) that he used 75 cents
worth of adhesive tape, even though
his charge was only 25 cents.
The community raised a cash
donat!on of $1,300 to give to the
doctor as a token of their thanks.
Dr. Weir was born in Komoka but
spent his early years in Delaware
and showed an early interest in
medicine, setting up an office in his
own room with a sign on the door
"Dr. B.C. Weir". His family doctor
took him in as a "partner", taking the
young boy on trips to visit patients,
allowing him to help taking a
patient's pulse or reading a
thermometer.
At 13 the family moved to
Strathroy where he attended high
school, one of his classmates being
Arthur (later Sir Arthur) Currie, who
became commander of Canadian
forces in the First World War.
He attended "model school" and
taught near Kerwood before he went
to the University of Toronto,
graduating in medicine in 1903. In
1905 he moved to Auburn.
Dr. Weir recalled that when he
came to the village the cement
sidewalks were just in the process of
being laid. There was a two-room
school at that time and more
businesses, he said. He noted the
disappearance of the cooper shop,
Front cover photos:
•Top: Auburn blacksmith shop-
photo owned by Ivan
Wightman, Brucefleld.
*Middle: Will Beadle
*Bottom: Aerial view of
Auburn's main street
the hotel, the implement shop and
the Auburn brass band. "He said
community spirit had sadly declined ,
over his years and blamed it on the
automobile which, he said, took
people away from the community
and made them take less interest in
their immediate surroundings.
John MacKay has memories of
other homecoming celebrations in
Auburn in the past. In 1954 he rode
a tricycle in the parade at the 100th
celebration, though he 'was only
about four at the time. He was also
back for the 1979 celebration.
a 77%
Best Wishes 4)
to the
Village of Auburn
on your
15O th Anniversary
Neighbour helping neighbour
This picture of a typical barnraising, quite common over a half century ago, was taken in the
spring of 1950 at the farm of Ken McDougall, RR1, Auburn. Present owners are Siebolt and
Annie Siertsema. Back row, from left: Sid McClinchey, Robert Turner, unknown, Gordon
Plunkett, Ted East, Percy Walden, Everett Taylor, Reg Schultz. Seated at top: Harold Gross,
Clifford Adams, Emmerson Rodgef, Harry Sturdy, Dave Lockhart, Ab McCullough. Front: Fred
Toll, Wilfred Sanderson, Harry -Youngblut, Ted Quinn, Bill Patterson, Lawrence Plaetzer,
Maurice Bean, William MacCrostie, Ernie Parker (partially hidden), Aubrey Toll, Ken
McDougall, Alex Mousseau, Roy Easom (behind) and Tome Adams. Seated in front: Jim
Howatt. (Photo courtesy of Bernice Gross)
Ball Heritage Farms
est. 1848
would like to congratulate Auburn
on their
150th
Year
from the
Auburn
Post Office