Clinton News-Record, 1979-06-07, Page 3Mary Ross
celebrated 910th
birthday
Board bans...
• from page t
board's handling of the issue and a 15
minute question period after the board
meeting. The presentation of the brief
went smoothly but the question period
turned into an angry exchange between
parents and trustees.
The brief, presented by Burt
Greidanus, told the board the parents
stuck in
the middle
were concerned with the morals and
ethics in the school system. The
parents felt little had been done about
complaints made to the hoard and that
the new board policy used to approve
texthooks.shifted responsibility.
The parents felt some of the 22 novels
approved by the board contained
"explic ,t,„1.anguagc "
Did you hear the one about
That•intro line can only mean one
thing, a joke's about,tp be told.
There will, undoubtedly, be some
groans from the audience who an-
ticipate some long drawn out un-
believable tale. But when the story is
over, the listeners can usually crack
a smile.
Even if the joke is "sick" ',often
get a laugh out of the narrator.
Everyone tells a joke in a different
way. Some to the aggravation of the
listener, can never remember a
punch line. Others, who really enjoy
telling _a funny story, will drag the
tale thin while some nervous joke
tellers will go through the story so
quickly, often missing a few lines,
that they must he asked to say it
again or explain the joke.
Then there are some who like the
joke so much that when telling it the
words spill out between bouts of
laughter.
Laughter comes to people in all
sorts of ways. Some thoroughly
enjoy the old slapstick routines,
L
others like nothing Netter than to
hear a good dirty joke, some find
biting satire amusing, while others
enjoy the simple humorous oc-
.....curances that happen in everyday
life.
- No natter ho',ti' it's done, there's
nothing better than hearing the
sound of good clean laughter and
seeing a grin 'spread across peoples'
faces.
I often wonder who comes up with
some of the jokes that I hear. And I
praise and admire the great
comedians who have the genius
minds to we fife in an extrodinary
way and are able to relate this to
others.
Where would the world be without
such people as Buster Keaton, Red
Skelton, Lucille Ball, Lenny Bruce,
Richard Pryor, Phyllis Uiller, Steve
Martin, Rohert Klein, Woody Allen,
Stephen Leacock, ,loan Rivers,
Carole Burnett and countless
others.'
I'nm glad I don't have to know for I
love to laugh.
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CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, THURSDAY, JUNE 7 , 1979—PAGE 3
People in Profile:Mary is 910 years young
by Shelley McPhee
When people grow older their
memories often begin to fade.
Forgetfullness is not a serious af-
fliction, and is actually found in people
of all ages, but more prominently so in
older people.
But not Mary Ross.Qh, she may
forget a few things now and then, but
gshe's 90 years old.
"I just cannot believe that I'm 90,"
the sprightly lady explained to this
youthful reporter on Tuesday,. the day
after a gala birthday party.
The reason Ay Mrs. Ross forgets
her age is not because of poor memory,
but only because she doesn't feel like
she's lived through nine decades and
seen the world change so dramac-
tically.
"I've enjoyed every part of my life.
My family has been so good to me and
that helps an awful lot,"she explained.
Mrs. Ross is the mother of three
daughters, Mrs. Ethel (Graham) Kerr
of Seaforth, Mrs. Margaret (Lorne)
Brown of Clinton :ind Mrs. Kathleen
(Don) Rombough of Gananoque. She is
also the grandmother of one grandson
and two great grandsons. Her husband
William John Ross died 17 years ago.
Mrs. Ross was one of 10 children born
to John Dale and the former Mary
McMichael. Named Marionette, she
lived with her family in Tuckersmith
and Hullett Townships where her
father farmed.
Mrs. Ross attended SS No. 1 School in
Hullett, but at the age of 15 was forced
to give up her education in order to help
out at home.
She was able to take a dressmaking
course in Seaforth from Miss Brians, a
shop owner there, and used her skills to
make clothes for the family.
"I used to make a lot of butter," she
easily recalled. "I had several
customers and I was a good butter
maker if I say so myself."
Simply a lot of hard work is what
Mrs. Ross claims keeps her active and
healthy even at the age of 90.
She goes by no special diet, nor does
she pamper herself or get a prescribed
amount of sleep.
"I could always see work to be done
and I never thought that I was too old to
do it. I just dug in," Mrs. Ross ex-
plained.
She admitted,"I hope not to live to be
crippled. I don't want to lie about and
have people waiting on me."
Despite a bout of rheumatism during
the winter, Mrs. Ross still tries to keep
up a daily exercise routine to keep her
neck, arms and legs in shape.
Many hours are spend at her
Huronviewhome knitting and
crocheting. She also enjoys playing the
piano and bridge. Mrs. Ross is also
especially proud of the shuffleboard
tournament she won for the third time
at Huronview.
Mrs. Ross believes in keeping active
and not having time to think about her
age. Her list of interests and hobbies is
more extensive than that of a younger
person. She is a member of the Clinton
Horticultural Society, the Rebekahs,
the Ontario Street United Church and
UCW, the Clinton WI, the Over 50 Club
as well as a senior citizens club in
Gananoque.
"I don't mean to act smart, but I like
to do anything," she stressed.
She went on, "Looking it over and
knowing the people I know, I'd say that
I've lived a happy life."
Mrs. Ross enjoys life immensely and
is a modern thinking woman.
"I'm not for antiques I like modern
things."
"I don't agree with everything the
young people do today, but I'm not old
fashioned either."
She thoroughly enjoys the modern
conveniences of today and says that the
good old days weren't all that great.
Still, she has many fond memories of
years gone by.
"I remember that first car I saw. It
was on a Sunday afternoon after
church. We were eatng dinner at a
lady's house lav»rl on the highway
between Seaforth. and Clinton. We
looked out the window and saw an
awful dust. We all ran out and watched
the car go by," she remembered with
the same look of excitement that
must have been on her face that day,
three-quarters of a century ago.
Still reminiscing she said, "I can
remember the day my mother said that
eggs went up to eight cents a dozen. She
was so pleased. She thought she'd
made her fortune."
Getting back to the present she
gleamed, "Yesterday I was just as
happy as I could be."
On her birthday last Monday, June 4,
at least 60 friends and relatives came
out to a beautiful lawn party held at
Lorne Brown's home on Raglan Street
in honor of the birthday girl.
Cards, flowers and gifts came by the
armload and the conversation and
refreshments flowed freely. It was a
great day for Mrs. Ross and she hated
to see it end. By 1 am when the rest of
the family was in bed, she was still
awake and about.
"She can go a lot harder than we
can," her daughter Kathleen happily
admitted.
It's easy to see that with a con-
stitution as hardy as hers is, Mrs. Ross
will b" around to have another good
time at many birthdays yet.
Man asks Tuckersmith for tax relief on townhouses
by Wilma Oke
Al Guest of Kitchener
attended' the council
meeting to discuss with
council 10 townhouse
buildings containing four,
six or eight units for a
total of 58 units at
Vanastra. They have
been empty since the
previous owner was
financially not able to
continue operating the
units and they were
closed by the Huron
County Health Unit, with
the tenants asked to
leave,
Mr. Guest said his firm
had purchased the'
townhouses in May` 1.972,
along with other property
in Vanastra, the former
Canadian Forces Base,
and ran them until 1974
and., sold to a London
man. Mr. Guest said the
mortgage payments were
kept up for four years but
now the firm has them
back on thein hands with
unpaid taxes amounting
to $84,700, interest of
$21,660 and unpaid water four years. He added,
rates of $14,000 on all "We hope council will
units. make a decision to meet
Mr. Guest said"he had a us someplace on those
prospective buyer for the arrears."
property, a construction Councillor Frank
firm from Kitchener, Falconer told Mr. Guest
which was interested in that he was wasting his
renovating the buildings time asking council to cut
and then selling them the tax arrears. When
individually. Mr. Guest got up to leave
Mr. Guest said his firm Reeve Ervin Sillery in -
was interested in spen- vited him to continue
ding $135,000 to put the speaking.
building into an area to Councillor William.
get severances for each Brown asked how the
building, bringingthe taxes could be in arrears
road, a cul-de-sac up to for four years. He was
ministry of tran- told that the previous
s or do
p .ta n standards, _oawner. and townsfiip,had ..
putfing In sto'rrrr sewers, •ffacre ail agreement to
curbs and gutters. He give him more time to
said because other -areas pay the back taxes but in
in the township do not the end he was unable to
have curbs and gutters, make up the taxes.
he would prefer the open Mr. Guest said, "We
ditch concept at are not the guys in tax
Vanastra. No decision arrears. We have a lot of
was reached on this. • vandalism around the
Next - Mr. Guest spoke buildings and we must
of the "horrendous taxes get workmen in there to
built up on the fix them up and then get
townhouses over the past tenants. We feel we can
Summer has arrived
at Gerrard's...shop now
while selection is at its best.
With great looking fashions
in all our
'44 departments.
sell the buildings and we
are trying to close the
deal by June 15."
Askedrwhy there were
no tenants in the units
which are liveable now,
there are 12 of these,
Guest replied. "We feel
we can sell it better if no
tenants are there. We
don't want any part of
renting. We hope to have
the units cleaned up in six
months with owners,
preferably live -in -
owners, in the units."
He said, "When
severance is approved we
shall sell each building.
Too
m Y a b dr
nh
n
dings in
xoo
close make it like`a ghetto
alrnhst." He said he
rea.fized....._the ._buildings
Were shabby and gave a
poor appearance to the
whole place,, hence he
was anxious for new
owners to fix up the
buildings.
When Mr. Guest asked
for some relief from the -
tax arrears,' Councillor
Falconer said, "You are
trying to take the money
from the taxpayers of
Tuckersmith. I can't see
how you can come to us
and ask us to do this. The
Board of Education and
the County of Huron will
not pay us back for the
money we paid them. You
knew when you came in
the door you could not
expect us to do this."
Councillor William
Brown said, "There are
others there
start a chain reaction."
Mr. Guest replied, "If
we cannot sell the
building, it's got to be
dragging down this
community. The new
buyers want to be in thee
and get the buildings
fixed up and rented by
November."
Reeve Ervin Sillery
noted, "We have very
strict guidelines to follow
as the boys have pointed
(Vanastra) in a bind as out. We'll discuss it and
well. Where do you draw get back to you."
the lute?" • Council agreed no tax
Mr. Guest asked, "If cuts could be made and
we pay the taxes, can you will now go ahead and
waive e th
e.._ interest _and
deal i ., µ
a
,..... �, a w t kr ti�e.s .,
water. We 'are" trying"to overdue for four years.
protect our investment of
$223,000:• We -have a way - TucirerS ith" is con:-
they
on=they can be fixed up." sidering building a third
Deputy -reeve Robert well in Egmondville, to
Bell said, "We have a lot supply new Dome owners.
of taxpayers..." At present the system is
Councillor Falconer handling its limit of
added, "I don't care what customers with the two
the rest of council does wells. Allan with.
but I warn you there will road superintendent who
be trouble ahead." manages the Egmond-
Councillor. ,Brown vil.le water system,
agreed. "We would only
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•
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