The Goderich Signal-Star, 1979-11-22, Page 19sykes
1
The United Nations designated 1979
as International Year of the Child. A
global celebration in honor of the small
fry.
Now being a kid is a difficult job in a
grown up world vehere.,,rules are made
by the big kids. Little guys seldom
seem to get a break.
In retrospect I was an angelic child.
Shy, mild mannered, well behaved,
wise beyond my years and always held
up as an example fpr other children. I
guess, I haven't really changed much.
Trying to recapture some of the
moments of childhood is difficult and
only isolated incidents, both good and
bad, resurface.
In recollecting some of those
moments, for me bein' a kid was:
Feeding putty to my sister's dog 4d
having to clean up the evidence froorii
the front lawn the next morning.
Getting my arm caught in the old
wringer -washer with mom making a
frantic rescue.
Slicing the neighbour's electric
hedge clipper cord in half while trying
Inside This Section:
Goderich Rotarians announce plans for their
symphony concert series Page 2A
The Harbouraires are getting ready for another big
°singing season Page 3A
Entertainment Page 4A, 5A
Round'n' About with Martha Rathburn Page 7A
Weddings Page 8A
Farm News Page 9A
Jack Riddell writes Page 10A, 11A
Captain Comet Page 12A
to help the guy out with his yard work.
Trying to be a chic three-year old by
putting the better part of a tube of
Brylcream on my hair and brushing
my teeth .with the remains.
Crying when the cat died.
Finally talking the kid next door, who
was more at ease playing with a
chemistry set, into playing baseball
and breaking his glasses with a line
drive back to the mound. The little
sucker never moved.
Getting a Toni at age two to go to a
wedding in the family.
Staging frog races in the recreation
room with a friend only to have the
frogs escape during the night. Still
don't know if I found all of them.
Making silly cards for 'father's and
mother's day.
Ringing people's doorbells and then
hiding and thinking it was a great time,
Asking your parents for money so
you buy them an electric toe nail
trimmer or a hand -painted tie that
glowed in the dark for Christmas. Stuff
the really needed.
oderich
Breaking every window in the house
at least once playing hockey, baseball
or golf.
Spending an entire allowance on
hockey or baseball cards.
MakinFg pies in mayonnaise jar lids
when mom was busy with real pies.
Testing the wine before serving at 7
a.m. miss when the priest wasn't
there.
Tying smaller neighbourhood kids to
the verhanda pillars.
Hanging around when your older
sisters brought home dates. Afterall, a
brother should check these guys out.
Going fishing down at the river and
using bubble gum for bait.
Having to admire a little girl in your
class secretly for fear the other boys
might discover you actually liked a
girl.
Thinking you'd be a fireman or
cowboy when you grew up.
Hating the kissing and other mushy
parts of television shows.
Using some of mom's best material
to make a hockey net..
Refusing to eat anything that was
good for you or remotely resembled a
vegetable.
in
Pretending not hear mother calling
you for supper while out playing with
the guys.
Trying to explain to mom°that her
crystal bowl in the living room broke
all by itself.
Counting the weeks and days before
Christmas or your birthday.
Hating to have to kiss your aunt who
was visiting fro`nz fsr away.
Having a stomach ache that really
hurt when you didn't want to go to
school.`
Promising to cut the lawn if the
weather wasn't good for anything else.
Having to explain how your Sunday
white shirt .got black by the middle of
the afternoon.
Threatening to run away if • things
didn't go your way.
Bein' a kid ain't easy.
O
IGNAL
132 YEAR 47
STA
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22,1979
SECOND SECTION
Ken .and Charlotte settle on urn
BY JOANNE
BUCHANAN
Last year, Ken and
Charlotte Anderson of
Goderich ' faced , a
problem of what to get
their two married
daughters, 30 and 34, for
Christmas.
The -Fahey came up with
an idea!
They gave them tears
and laughter, years of
memories, a sense of
identity and hours 'of joy --
all wrapped up in two
huge photo albums. They
gave them a genealogy in
pictures.
Mr. and Mrs. Anderson
started pouring through.
their stacks of old
negatives last September
and found pictures which
best portrayed the
growing -up process of
each daughter, from their
births to their marriages.
They had these negatives
reprinted ata cost of over
$100 each. Then they
typed little stories to go
with each picture and
arranged them in the two
photo—albums, the kind. of
albums which can have
pages added to them.
Inside each album, Mr.
and Mrs. Anderson in-
serted a researched copy
of both their family trees.
Next carne three
generations of wedding
pictures --Mr. Anderson's
grandparents, his
parents and his own. -
"The „ Ken and
Charlotte Anderson
branch is then all done in
pictures with little stories
under them. We sat up
nights typing those
stories and we sure had a
lot of laughs remem-
bering them all," says
Mrs. Anderson.
What makes each
album particularly in-
teresting.
n-
teresting is the. number of
different places in which
each of the Anderson
girls lived. Mr. Anderson
was in the \ r force and
the .family lived in
France for three years as
well as several different
provinces in Canada.
They also travelled to
many different European
countries by voikswagon
bus..
"My husband took a lot
of photographs so we had
the girls pictured in the
different backgrounds in
which they lived and
visited," explains Mrs.
Anderson.
The Andersons in-
cluded birthday pictures,
baby records and even a
lock of each girl's hair in
the albums.
"I don't—know -ho-w-
managed to save
everything but I did,"
say Mrs. Anderson:
She thinks it is im-
• portant for parents to tell
children about their
families.
"So'many people today
are trying to find, their
identity, their roots. They
feel more secure if they
know their, background,"
she says.
There are courses .in
genealogy in the United
"Fiddler" was big treat
BY JOANNE
BUCHANAN
Fiddler on the Roof, a
Broadway classic, .. is a
big undertaking for any
small town theatre group.
But Goderich Little
Theatre proved worthy of
the task when it ,staged
four highly entertining
performances of this
classic at G.D.C.I. last
week..
Fiddler provided a
,showcase for much,local
talent since it featured
music, acting, singing
and dancing.
This play was first
performed on Broadway
in 1964. Taken from a
book by Joseph Stein
based on Sholem
Aleichem's stories, it
featured lyrics by
Sheldon Harnick, and
music by Jerry Bock. It
was directed and
choreographed by
Jerome Robbins.
Eleanor Robinson, an
English teacher at
G.D.C.I. .and a long
standing G.L.T. member,
adapted the play to the
Goderich , stage. As
overall director, she did a
fine job of disciplining
and shaping a huge cast.
The pit band for' the
play was directed by
Hugh MacGregor, a
G.D.C.L. music; •,-teacher.
He lid a commendable
job - o, considering the
difficulty of the music -
complex harmonies and
constant change of ryth-
ms and keys.
Irla Stewart, besides
playing piano in the pit
band, had, the task of
choral director. There
were 14 solo and chorus
numbers in the play,
including such well-
known ones as Mat-
chmaker, If I Were A
Richman, Sabbath
Prayer and Sunrise,
Sunset. •
Warren Robinson, a
G.L.T. veteran, -played a
strong lead as Tevyke,
the Dairyman and Jewish
patriarch of a family of
five daughters.. His
humorous talks with God
were well done as was his
version of If I Were A
Richman.
Joyce Kuran presented
an excellent charac-
terization of Golde,
Tevyke's wife. In the
touching number entitled
Do You Love Me?, the
special relationship
between Tevyke and
Golde, strangers on their
wedding day, was
revealed. This humorous
but emotional. song was
handled very well by'
Kuran and Robinson.
Tevyke and Golde's
five daughters were
played, in order of age,
by Colleen Maguire'
(Tzeitel), Jane Hnatyk
(Hodel), Elizabeth
MacMillan (Chava)'; Jodi
Kuran (Shrintze), and
Mary Margaret .Murphy
(Bielke). The, emphasis
was on the three oldest
daughters and their
marriages.
Maguire played a good
Tzeitel, the daughter who
begs her. father not to
make her marry
Lazarwolf, the butcher
(Doug Bundy) so she can
marry Motel, the tailor
(Darrell Kloeze)., a poor
man but the one she
loves. -
Tevyke, a soft-hearted
man who loves his
daughters, gives Tzeitel
and Motel permission to
marry even .though he
has, ,,promised Tzeitel to
Lazarwolf. He is ` then
worried about how to tell
Golde what he has done.
This results in a scene
called The Dream, truly
one of the highlights of
the. play. Ann Coulter as
Grandma Tzemel was
excellent as a scary spirit
come -back -to -life in this
scene. -
Jane Hnatyk as Hodel,
the second oldest
daughter who moves to
Siberia to be closer to the
man she loves, a daring
young student named
Perchik (Del Ameida),
had one of the most
beautiful singing voices
Turn to page 7A •
States and Mrs. Anderson
thinks this is a good thing.
The albums which the
Andersons made for their
two married daughters
provided them with a
sense of belonging and
gave them . an idea of
what their relatives were
used to dress and look,"
recalls Mrs. Anderson,
She says the Christmas
albums brought the whole
family closer together.
"I know the albums are
well read. In fact, they
are so well -thumbed, they
are almost worh out,"
cave }bFrs. Andets,un., _ .
It told them for in-
stance that , their
mother's father was a
pool shark and 'revealed
the unique personalities
of other family members.
It showed physical
resemblances between
present gerie"rations and
past. It .even listed the
dates, ages and causes of
death' for some family
members.
"This may ound a
little morbid but people
should know more about
their medical history,
especially `hereditary
diseases," explains Mrs.
Anderson. -
The main idea behind
the Andersons' genealogy
in pictures was to tell
each daughter her
childhood story --where
she had lived and when --
how her life was shaped
as she was growing up.
However, . when they
really dug into. their
project and began doing
some research, the
Andersons found out a
few things they didn't
know themselves, like the
fact that both their
families originally came
to Canada from Ireland.
One of the Andersons'
daughters lives in
Trenton and the other in
Germany. They were
both home for Christmas
last year and spent hours
laughing with their
parents and husbands
over the pictures and
stories in the albums.
°`The biggest joy was
knowing the girls had
enjoyed what we had
made for them and
watching them laugh.
Their husbands got a big
kick out of it too when
they saw the way the girls
Worn out album covers
can easily be replaced
and pages added, so that
a genealogy in pictures is
something that will last,
for years and years.
ue
"One of my daughters
has a son and she is
continuing the album by
adding pictures of him.
Some ,day she will hand it
down•to him," says Mrs. e
Anderson.
She says both her
daughters say the albums
are the best Christmas
gifts they have ever
received and,she admits
that they will be difficult
to top this year. However,
she wanted to pass the
idea along to other people
who might want to
produce something
similar for their own
children this Christmas.
1"It would only take a
few nights a week if
people started now.
Everybody has pic-
tures,'' says Mrs.
Anderson who claims
that it doesn't take any
special talent to put an
album together from
these pictures.
If people don't have
negatives, pictures can
be reprinted from pic-
tures, she'says.
Mr. and Mrs. Anderson
are now wo . ing on a
third album for their
daughter Jane who is still
in high school.
"For Jane's album we
are just using the original
pictures. We don't have to
go to the' expense of
having reprints made.
We just have to buy the
album. We're including .
her report cards, school
pictures, baby records,
Sunday School awards,
Turn to page IIA •
Charlotte Anderson of Goderich admits that it will be difficult for her and
her husband Ken to top the gift they gave their two married daughters for
Christmas last year. They gave them a genalogy in pictures and both girls
said it was the best gift.they'd ever received. Here, Mrs. Anderson looks
through one. of her numerous family photo albums. (Photo by Joanne
Buchanan)
Somewhere along the way I must
have gotten my priorities mixed up.
Everytime I pick up a newspaper,,
watch television news or catch radio
news I'm left with the distinct im-
pression that what concerns me is not
all that important.
- Granted life goes on despite the fact
that the world seems to be coming
apart around us. I probably wouldn't
have noticed if the things that give me
problems in my day to day activity
were even close to problems affecting
others.
The thing thet's got everybody
buzzing these days is the seizure of
the American embassy in Iran and
the 60, now about '40, hostages: The
people In that compound must be
fearing for their lives if reports
coming from the Mideast are correct.
They're sitting there looking down the
barrels of guns wondering if they're
going to live another 10 years or
another' 10 minutes.
MY
Me:. I sat here this morning trying
desperately to come up with yet
another novel idea for this column
and the worst that I feel can happen is
that 1 bomb out once it's written.
Last night I watched a young man
executed on television news. He,
along with eight other Chinese men
had been Charged and convicted with
rape. The Chinese government is
apparently concerned about in-
creased crime rates and wants to act
quickly and seberely with offendors to
'curb crime. All eight men were
convicted but 'for some reason only
one, perhaps the worst of the eight,
was sentenced to death.' He was taken
to a field, forced to kneel in front of
several soldiers, and shot.
Me. Last night I sat over coffee with'
a friend and we told each other how
terrible cops were in Ontario. W
agreed that there's no way we should
- n
be charged hefty sums of money and
lose merit points on our driver's
license just for exceeding the speed
limit a touch.
In the Orient the Vietnamese.are
still having a tough time getting
acceptance in the world. Thousands of
men, women and children are sitting
in dirty, run down camps with no
place to go. They're waiting for some
country, perhaps their own, 'to offer
them a place to live and a chance to
start a new life.
Me. I'm trying to work out a
schedule with my wife to ensure she
gets the Christmas shopping done.
We're concerned about the high cost
of shopping and want to get it done
early to avoid stock in stores getting
picked over too much.
In Thailand hundreds of children in
refugee camps are suffering the ill
effects of malnutrition as they await
handouts of oatrheal and rice, han-
1
douts that may not arrive when
scheduled. The children are slowly
starving.
Me. I had a rousing discussion the
other night with a few people that tip
the scales on the heavy side. They're
considering cutting chocolate bars,
potato chips and desserts to trim the
40 or 50 pounds they've packed on
since they were married.
Don't misunderstand my point. This
country has many serious problems
that make life misery for many
people. But at least relatively few of
us are starving and violence, while it
rears its ugly head on occasion, is not
a way of life in Canada.
I guess the bottom line is if all I
have to worry about is when the in-
terest rate is going to come down
again I'm happy. It beats wondering
where my next meal is coming from
or when the office is going to be
bombed.
jefr sddon