Thomas RATTRAY and Agnes BURNETT - part 2

from Lorne Kyle

 “My mother’s parents lived with us when I was a boy.  Radio was in its infancy at the time. I started with a crystal set and graduated to a four tube Westinghouse.  My grandmother never got over the wonderment of radio. (Undoubtedly she would have loved to have heard the old Scottish tune, Wee House among the Heather, as that was one of their favorite songs, according to Martha Shaw, a granddaughter)

My grandfather was hard of hearing so he didn’t bother with the radio.  He was fond of reading (his favorite book was the Bible) and playing checkers. Grandpa had a favorite move which he called the Napoleon.   He would give up one and take three.  This usually broke up the game. I only beat him once.  After that he kept after me to play when there were other things to do.  Both grandparents died in our home in Boloeil (a larger town by St Lambert) at age 81.  They died within a year of each other.  (Thomas died first) I am happy that I had the opportunity to do their temple work while on my mission.”

 Note from Lorna Kyle Boot:

 Now I know why my father was such an avid checkers player.  He always was up for a game. He taught me how to play when I was quite young and he always won.  He would never just let me win to make me feel good, like many parents might do. He was tough.  He taught me little insights into how he played to make me better, like thinking several moves ahead…getting a king as quickly as you can, draw the back row out of their place….protect your back row so the opponent can’t get a king …..and often he would sacrifice a man knowing that I would fall for the bait.  Then he would swoop in with a grin on his face and take two or more of mine.  I thought he was sooo smart to think up those moves.  I never knew until now that the move had a name and that it did not originate in his oh so clever mind!

Then one day I beat him!  I had wanted to beat him all my life and the day finally came. I thought I would feel triumphant. I did for a second and then felt a twinge of sadness that surprised me.  I had won, but  …my father was beaten…and that was a sad thing.  I knew it wasn’t because of any sharpening of my mind but the dulling of his … and I did not like that.

We played other times after that, but I never felt the same zeal to win again.  Sometimes he won, sometimes I won. Every time I won I felt it took a little of the wind out of his sails.  When I knew I could win every time, we stopped playing.

Dad and Karin playing checkers on Christmas Day  behind me. 

Dad would talk a lot about what great cooks his mother and grandmother were. (Poor mom, she was not a very good cook. Her mother died when she was only 14 and had not learned the art of cooking.)  Dad enjoyed nothing more than a good home cooked meal. He said the only thing that Mom cooked better than his mother was apple pie.  Dad loved mom’s apple pie and she rewarded him with it often…mostly on Sundays after a nice roast beef dinner.  Dad liked to eat it a la mode, with a scoop of French vanilla ice cream or with a slice of good quality cheddar cheese.

         

To continue… In their flat at 205 Oxford Ave, was a long cold pantry that housed the shortbread and other baked goodies at Christmas time. Baking was always Grandma Rattray’s gift to her children. Martha carried on this tradition in later years.  Lorne’s cousin Marion has fond memories of her visits there as a young girl, at Christmas time.  Her mother Jessie was Martha’s sister. Uncle Tom, their brother, lived in a flat upstairs with his family.

From Martha Shaw

“You (Lorne) always got skates, a hockey stick and some other hockey accessory. I thought that very dull from a girl’s point of view – would much preferred you to have a train. You did have lots of tinker toys. I loved those. You and Clarence were demons. So was Lillian Rattray (Uncle Tom’s daughter). You were always teasing me unmercifully because I was a Yankee. Being enough older, you had the edge – with a picture of a bulldog and a Canadian flag to hang wherever I slept.

I remember your flat at 205 Oxford in Montreal. The living room was double with a bay window in the front half. There was wallpaper with bright roses and raspberry lace curtains. The red leather davenport (couch) was in the rear half of the room. That was the guest bed which we so often occupied. Grandma and Grandpa Rattray had a room off the dining room. Your parents’ was between that and the living room. One night your dad (Henry) went to the bathroom down the hall and on return, either because he was only half awake or a little over stimulated after a hockey game, went into Grandma’s bed and nearly scared the life out of them!”