The Lucknow Sentinel, 2014-07-16, Page 1The
$1.50
HST included
PM40064683R07656
Lucknow Sentine
www.lucknowsentinel.com
i
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
1
Valerie Gillies/Lucknow Sentinel
Catherine Andrews of Lucknow reached her 100th birthday on July 14, 2014.
Looking Back
Over the
Years
Valerie Gillies
Editor/Lucknow Sentinel
Lucknow resident, Cath-
erine Andrew, was born
July 14, 1914 in Lochalsh,
west of Lucknow. She cur-
rently resides with her son,
Donald in their home on
Ross Street.
Catherine was raised
with 2 sisters and a brother.
She spoke of the differences
in expectations for chil-
dren's futures in those early
years, as compared to
modern society. At that
time, boys were considered
the ones who would get an
education, then go out into
the world and either farm
or start a career to provide
for their families. Girls were
not encouraged to seek
education and by the time
they turned 14 were
expected to go out and find
work, mainly as household
helpers, to bring income
into the home or to get
married.
Catherine's father valued
education and made sure
that all of his girls had the
opportunity of achieving
one. All three became
teachers. The father gave a
loan to his eldest daughter
to get her teaching certifi-
cate. Rather than pay the
money back to her father,
she was to earn it and then
loan the funds to Catherine
to pay for her education
who in turn worked to
sponsor her younger sister.
Catherine attended
school in Lochalsh, com-
pleted her grade 13 in Luc -
know, then to Normal
School, the term at that
time for Teacher's College,
in Stratford. It cost approxi-
mately $300 in boarding
fees to obtain her diploma.
It was pointed out that a
teacher could expect to
earn approximately $600
per year, making it essen-
tially a half year's worth of
pay to become a teacher.
When Catherine com-
pleted her education in the
1930's, as now, there were
more teachers than there
were positions to fill. Una-
ble to find work she began
to get calls as a house-
keeper. She decided if that
was the type of job she
would be doing, she would
rather do so in a city and
moved to Toronto where
she found work right away.
After 4 months she
returned home to look for a
school. Fortunately, her
home school in Lochalsh
became vacant and she
taught grades 1 through 9.
Alex Andrew and Cathe-
rine met when they were
students at highschool in
Lucknow and were married
on August 20, 1941. At that
time it was not usual for
both people in a couple to
earn an income and Cathe-
rine quit teaching to look
after her home and raise
her family. It was not that
she did not want to teach.
At that time families who
had two incomes became
known as wealthier and did
not fit into the social fiber
of the small rural commu-
nity. That is just the way it
was. The men worked to
support the family while
the women ran the com-
munity. Catherine relates
that in the 1950's, "It took a
lot of volunteer and unpaid
work to run a community."
Alex and Catherine
raised 4 boys: Robert Fin-
lay, Thomas George, Don-
ald Alexander and Allan
Roderick. There are now 10
grandchildren, 8 of whom
are still surviving, and 12
great grandchildren.
When asked what the
major differences were
being a woman in Cathe-
rine's early years compared
to now she relates that it
took a lot of hard work to
run a household before
appliances made for more
free time. She believes that
women later worked more
to earn to purchase luxuries
and because they had ambi-
tion. They chose to work.
Now families need 2
incomes to manage a home.
CONTINUED > PAGE 2
Limited time only!El
BANNER SALE
Contact Jillian for more inforamtion: 519.528.2822 or jillian.underwood@sunmedia.ca