William + Jean Babcock & Their Five Children: A Collection of Stories and Anecdotes
William James Babcock was born on the 30th of August, 1926, at home 144 Wellington Street East, Aurora, Ontario. This continued to be my home until I left to teach in Thorold, Ontario, September, 1950.
I have many happy memories of my childhood. I remember building a tree-house in the old apple tree behind the chicken house and in front of the old three-holed privy. We never used the privy in my memory, but it stood as a reminder of the past. There were several good apple trees that Mom and Dad had planted, as well as gooseberry and black currant bushes. One summer they planted two double rows of raspberries which grew so well that they had raspberries to sell. There were always vegetables and potatoes in the garden and as I entered my teens, I replaced Ken as the main gardener (under Mother’s direction, of course). Charlie Cook and later Drummer Lloyd put loads of horse manure on the garden in the spring. I had to spread it and they came with a team of horses to plough and harrow the soil. Potatoes were a big crop; always Irish Cobblers and always grown from our own seed potatoes leftover from the previous year. They had to be hilled, hoed, and kept free of weeds, and sprayed with arsenate of lead to kill the bugs, and sprayed with copper sulphate to prevent blight. They had to be dug in the fall, have the heavy yellow clay rubbed off, and be dried in the sun and stored in bins in our cool cellar. Although I eventually became the sole harvester, I must relate a story oft repeated by Del and Ken.
Del, Ken and Jack were sent out to harvest the dried potatoes, when Jack picked up some ‘nubbins’ (small potatoes) and threw them at Ken and Del, hitting them. They told him to stop but he persisted, so they picked up some nubbins and pelted Jack. Since they were older and bigger they probably hurt ‘little’ Jack and drove him from the garden, which was exactly what he wanted. He went crying to Mother who wlecomed him into the house and sent the other two out to finish picking the potatoes.
I attended Aurora Public School and Aurora High School. In Grade One, a couple of bigger boys began to pick on me and I dreaded going to school. Jack showed me how to make a fist and encouraged me to fight back and “Hit them right on the nose.” The next day, they came after me with a big stick. I ran, was cornered, cried, and then I remembered “Make a fist, hit him on the nose.” Through the tears I swung blindly, struck my main tormentor on the nose and the blood flowed freely. That was my first and last fight.
The Aurora Boys Band was formed when I was 12 and taken by Dad to join. Mr. Moore, the bandmaster looked at my teeth, which were as crooked them as they are today, and pronounced that I should play the cornet. He tried to make me hold the mouthpiece in the centre of my mouth but my teeth cut into my lip.
After much frustration, I moved the mouthpiece to the right side of my mouth and experienced success. I enjoyed playing the cornet and the trumpet for almost 25 years in the Boys Band, dance bands, church bands, cadet trumpet bands, beside Bob Cringham at O.C.E. in the orchestra, and I formed a cadet bugle band at Thorold High School. Some medals still exist from competition at the Canadian National Exhibition and from Waterloo Music Festival. Jean and I even performed a duet at Kettleby United Church before we were married. As a child I had nephritis at 5 years of age and also had weak ankles and never learned to skate; but I was allowed to play goal on a sheet of natural ice on Moynahan’s farm. I used Eaton’s catalogues as shin pads and my leather mitts with no pads. I was not good at sprots in Public School, but in Grade 9 I discovered basketball and hung on at the gym until 6 o’clock almost every night. I made the Junior team and we won the district championship. I played on seven championship basketball teams at high school. Two years I played junior and senior upon completion of the junior games. Soccer was important at Aurora High and I played fullback. With Don McQuarrie and Bruce Hoyles from Del’s Hope Public School and Bill and Charlie Williams we won 5 soccer championships in five years. We had great student dances at A.H.S.; also plays, operettas, a glee club, and choirs. All in which I participated.
One day while watching a girls basketball game, I made eye contact with a tall, pretty brunette named Jean Archibald, from Kettleby, who was playing guard. She of course plays a very important part in this account.
In my first year in Grade XIII I was President of the Student Council, broke my right arm playing soccer, had a tri-mallealar fracture of my right ankle while skiing, was in charge of the cadet band, and responsible for the Cadet Dance which followed, and subsequently failed English Composition on the Department Examinations. I flipped a coin to decide whether to return to school or go to work. Heads-school, tails-work. It came up heads. The year progressed well, and the only significant occurrence was that Jean Archibald was in my class and we became acquainted.
One day in class, she confided to friend Freda Clarkson “See that Bill Babcock sitting up there? I’m going to marry him someday.” To which Freda replied in her own forthright way, “How in the hell are you going to work that? You haven’t even had a date with him.” We both graduated that year. I won top honours and the John Stuart Prize for general proficiency. I was advised to enroll in Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry at U. of T., which was a mistake costing me a year. Jean entered Toronto Teachers’ College. We met on a bus returning to Toronto one Sunday night and I asked for a date. Jean accepted, we went to a show, held hands, and kissed good night. When I sought a second date, Jean asked about another girl whom I was seeing. But I did not forget that first date with Jean and our next date was three years later, and we have been friends, companions and lovers ever since.
I graduated from U. of T. with a B.A. and entered the College of Education. While at U. of T. I played Intercollegiate Soccer, winning my “T”, and I managed the Senior Basketball team and won my Manager’s “T” as well. Jean accompanied me on many of the team trips during our courtship. After graduating from O.C.E. I secured a position at Thorold High School teaching Physical Education, Mathematics.
Jean taught at Lakeshore Public School in Burlington for five years before our marriages on 11 August 1951. She was popular with her staff members, loved by her students and well-liked by her parents. Most noteworthy among the parents were Bernie and Bernice Hurst and their daughter Susan with whom Jean formed lifelong friendships. Jean sent money home to her parents and also helped Marion attend a sewing school in Toronto.
My first year salary was $2300.00. Having very limited funds I made Jean a hope chest and lined it with aromatic cedar. And in the shop at Thorold, I made a kitchen table and four chairs. We still have the chest and table. Jack Archibald allowed me to use his garage-workshop and issued helpful hints on finishing a set of dressers and a bedstead. Ten coats of shellac, rubbed down with fine steel wool between each, then a couple of coats of good furniture wax completed to finish. Those dressers still exist in the family and still have the original finish. I also made a corner cabinet and a sideboard for our dining room. Beatrice Williams in Kettleby has the corner cabinet.
One April Friday in 1950, we met in the bus station in Toronto and I had bought an engagement ring for Jean. I suggested dinner but she refused, preferring to go straight home. The ring seemed to be burning a hole in my pocket, so I asked her to accept it on the bus. She refused. I had to ask her father Jack for permission to marry Jean. He smiled broadly and said yes. She then accepted the ring. It was too big and had to be sized. Was I ever disappointed. We had a lengthy engagement of 16 months before our happy marriage at Kettleby United Church with Rev. Donald Ray officiating. The reception was held at the Archibald home. Marion has made Jean’s wedding dress and all the bridesmaids’ dresses, as well as Martha’s dress. Prior to the wedding Jean and I re-roofed the garage and painted it and painted the whole house.
We rented a little house in Thorold and were happy together. I loved to help in the kitchen and was taken aback one day when Jean stamped her foot and invited me to “Get out of my kitchen.” That did not last long and we have collaborated on many culinary successes at parties, at camp, entertaining, canning, freezing and even baking.
You can imagine our joy when Fred was born September 1952. What a pretty sight to see my beautiful wife and our beautiful son.
At Thorold I seemed to be popular among the students and had some good basketball teams, and won several district championships, and one Ontario Basketball Championship. We also had one boy, Jim Greer, who won both the 440 and the 880 at the Ontario High School Championships at Lake Couchiching. Jim accepted a scholarship to Yale, became Captain of the track team, and earned his Ph. D. in Geology.
In May 1953 I was accepted at Richmond Hill High School to teach Physical Education and Mathematics. I jumped in the air, clicked my heels, and announced to Jea that I would find a lot and build us a house. Jean began to laugh and asked “With what, buttons? We already owe $250.00 to the Credit Union.” Once Saturday in April, I left Thorold early in the morning to go to Richmond Hill to find a lot. After a fruitless search in the morning, I stopped at Clive Bettle’s Coffee Shop for a coffee and donut, introduced myself and told him I was the newly hired Phys. Ed. teacher for the High School, and was looking for a lot upon which to build. He made a phone call on his pay phone, and directed me to the Anderson ladies home on Richmond Street. Lillian Anderson peered through a crack of the partly opened door and told me to go to Mr. Pocknell, her solicitor, on Centre Street. I was cordially greeted by Mrs. Pocknell and invited to join them for afternoon tea. After a number of questions about me, Jean, our family, Mr. Pocknell said there were two lots for sale at $1760.00 each. I chose the corner lot and asked what the down payment would be. “Sixty dollars.” he replied, “That is my commission.” I had $62.50 in my wallet so I paid him $60.00 and had $2.50 left to get home to Thorold.
We found a book of plans in a bookstore in Thorold, found a “starter home” which could easily be adapted to our lot. Lloyd Watson in Aurora drew up a set of plans and made seven sets for $50.00. I surveyed the lot, marked out where the house was to go and had the basement excavated. With Harry Stevenson of Kettleby mixing, Paul Babcock wheeling the barrow, I built the forms, using a hammer, saw, axe and a two-foot level. Using a water level at the end of the day we found that we were only ¼ inch out at one corner. LUCK.
Jim Greer and Derek Mackesy came up from Thorold to help me lay the blocks for the basement. Derek mixed the mortar, Jim placed the blocks ready for me to lay and I laid all the block. None of us had done this sort of work before, but those walls turned out plumb and level and square. We parged the exterior, tarred it, laid drainage tile and had it backfilled. Jack Archibald suggested Burnel Graham Lumber Co. in Schomberg as source of materials and they agreed to supply all materials on credit. I then asked Arnold Miller of Aurora, a former teacher of mine at Aurora High School, to help me build the house. He agreed to help and we laid the sill on July 1, 1953. The house was ready to move into on September 1, 1953, but we had to delay our move for two weeks because Fred was ill and Dr. Audrey Devins would not allow him to be moved from Kettleby. Sister Marion made all the drapes for the house and after the plaster had dried and cured, we painted and papered. We were happy in our little home. Mike and Irene Miller moved next door, and with Don and Phyllis Andrews, Joy, Ernest, Jack, and Patrick Madden across the road, the Coxfords, the Grahams, the Turners, the O’Briens, the Andersons and so on. We had a wonderful neighbourhood in which to live.
As well as teaching school, I kept busy each summer on a variety of projects; roofing and painting houses. While I was working on a cottage for a lady at Hardwood Lake, I woke up at 3 a.m. and aroused all the boys with me to go home. They probably thought I was demented; but when I arrived home Jean presented me with our daughter, Marion Jean, who had been born at 3 a.m. 28 August 1956. The predicted date of arrival had been September. Now we had a millionaire’s family, a boy and a girl. Somewhat to our surprise, Jean became pregnant soon after Marion’s birth and William Scott was born 20 August 1957.
Together with Al Bathurst, a fellow teacher, I founded Richmond Hill Day Camp in the summer of 1957 with an enrollment of 60 campers, and six counsellors. Al decided not to continue his association with the camp in 1958 and Jean and I continued to operate it. This year we also bought a piece of Crown Land on Hardwood Lake near Dorset on which to build a cottage. The lot was accessible only by water, so I built a 14 foot plywood rowboat in our basement during the winter. It barely squeezed out the side door. With a new Johnston 7 ½ hp. outboard motor we were all set. I drew a set of plans, the site was cleared, a dock built, and with Jack and Ken also using their boats, all the necessary materials were ferried across to the site. Fred and I, assisted by Selby O’Brien, Howard Whillans on occasion, and several students, built the cottage. We furnished it with used furniture and Mother’s oak dining room table. We have some wonderful memories of our times at the cottage, swimming off the rock, and paddling about in our new canoe. We had no electricity, an outdoor privy, thunder mugs under the beds, wood stove to cook and to heat, a Coleman stove as well, an icebox, coal oil lamps for light, and were we ever happy. Every visit to the cottage seemed to be an adventure.
We assumed ownership of Richmond Hill Day Camp in the winter of 1959 and changed its name to Richildaca Camps Limited. Jack and Martha Archibald allowed us to use their property to operate camp on, and in 1961 we built the main lodge from cedar logs cut off the property, as well as a swimming pool and change rooms, and Richildaca was firmly established.
When Hugh Archibald Babcock arrived 21 March 1962 and Jean was faced with the task of once more taking bottles, diapers and so on back and forth to the cottage, and having to pack for three other children, we decided with heavy hearts to sell the cottage and use that money to provide more badly needed room at 193 Richmond Street. We found a builder named David Merrick who agreed to use my idea of raising the existing roof in order to turn our house into two stories. The idea worked giving us three additional bedrooms, a bathroom, a study area, and a huge walk-in closet. He also installed a recreation room in one half of our basement, complete with washroom and lighted bar.
When Bruce arrived 30 January 1964, Fred needed a bedroom of his own, so he and I created one at the west end of the recreation room and panelled it in beautiful pine.
Jean and I have watched our family grow, mature, and prosper. We encouraged each to pursue his or her own choice of careers, and have supported them to the best of our ability. We were always proud of the children as they became older, and as each became an adult, and are confident that each will have his or her own happy memories of our family life together.
Besides having a family of five, Jean and I have always found time to be involved in the immediate community, in the church, and in the broader community of camping and Outdoor Education. Jean was one of the authors of the first set of Day Camp Standards published by the Ontario Government, and accepted and implemented by the Ontario Camping Association. We both were involved in writing the Day Camp Manual for the Ontario Government and assisted in each of three revisions of that same manual. I served as chairman of the Outdoor Education Committee of the Ontario Teachers’ Federation which wrote, compiled, and edited three Outdoor Education Manuals, published in both English and French. I also co-authored the first Canoe Tripping Standards booklet for the Ontario Camping Association and the Council of Outdoor Educators of Ontario. We also received credit for our contributions to a National Standards booklet in Outdoor Education published by the Canadian Camping Association. Frequent contributions to the Canadian Journal of Physical and Health Education and to the Ontario and Canadian Camping Journals were also made. All of our articles received wide distribution and use in the fields of camping and outdoor education.
Somehow I found time to commute to Hamilton in 1962-63 to gain a Bachelor’s degree in Physical Education from McMaster University. This was followed by an extramural Bachelor of Education from the University of Toronto. I attended the Principals’ course for two summers and was invited to speak on four occasions in subsequent years. I also had the pleasure of teaching evenings at the Faculty of Education in the Outdoor Education course when Jack Passmore went to Europe on sabbatical.
Richildaca Camp flourished for 30 years. Fred, Marion, Scott, Hugh and Bruce all enjoyed its benefits and contributed to its life and development. A huge project like Richildaca Camp could not have been possible without the several contributions and support of each of the children, and certainly not without the wonderful support and assistance of Jean. We had a lot of good times as a family at camp and I am sure we call carry our own special memories of those good times. The family Christmas parties, the weddings, Grey Cup weekends, visits from family friends, and so on.
My teaching career seemed to progress well, in spite of other involvements. After 16 years as Head of the Physical Education Department at Richmond Hill High School, where we had many Championship teams and produced many excellent athletes, I moved to Thornlea Secondary School as a founding member of the staff and Director of Student Services. Charlie Sheath then asked me to join him at Don Head Secondary School; again as a founding member and Director of Student Services.
On Saturday, June 21, 1974, Bruce, Hugh and I were preparing to go to camp. I felt a severe pain in my chest and down my left arm. I was having a heart attack. I foolishly drove myself to York Central Hospital and was admitted to the Cardiac Care Unit. The appropriate treatment was administered, but I experienced a more severe attack the following morning around 4 a.m. The pain was far worse than the first time and resulted in severe damage to the heart muscle. An alert nurse appeared to administer the appropriate medication and I believe saved my life. It is difficult to explain, but during this second attack, I saw a brilliant white light at the end of a dark tunnel, only briefly, but I shall never forget the experience. Since that time several persons have mentioned similar experiences while under life threatening situations. Whatever the significance, it defies a completely logical explanation. After 21 days in Cardiac Care I was released and had serious restrictions placed on my activities by Dr. Wynne. He suggested that I take a year off from school and that I curtail my involvement in Camp. Jean did a marvelous job of assuming full responsibility for the Camp with the help of Brian Atkinson and George Shore. We took our first vacation in January 1975 to Bermuda and had a wonderful time.
We decided to build a home at Camp in the spring of 1976 and began construction that fall. We moved into our new home 24 May 1977. We chose a Halliday Home, and with the help of Bruce, Hugh, Marion, Brian Seath, Ian Archibald, Al Burkholder and appropriate tradesmen, managed to have the entire living area completely finished for Jean to move into. We thoroughly enjoyed living at Camp.
I retired from teaching in 1983 and was treated to a retirement party at the Aurora Hotel. Over 300 family, friends, former students, and colleagues attended. It was a grand celebration.
On the long November 11 weekend 1977, Bruce and I travelled to Mountain, met Barry and Doug there and in a driving wet snow, helped Fred frame his new house. He had the sub-floor down when we arrived; the walls went up; the second floor joists; then the rafters; then Barry, and Fred were applying the roof sheathing when we had to leave for home. I also installed the windows and hung the outside door before leaving.
Bruce became a permanent employee of King Township in the fall of 1987 and I helped engineer his purchase of Charlie Veinot’s house and lot at the end of the camp lane. We removed the old house after retrieving some fine antiques, utensils, dishes, and tools. Bruce settled on the design of the house and Brian Seath drew the plans. With me as contractor and great help from Al Burkholder we built his delightful home in Kettleby. He moved into the house in May 1989.
Marion became Director of Richildaca in 1982 and continued in that role until 1985 when she wisely decided to devote her full energies to her teaching career.
We leased the camp to a young couple Danny and Caron Mirrett in the Spring of 1986. They continued the lease for three years and then bought the camp and our house in August 1989. We moved to 169 Walton Drive in Aurora on 31 August 1989.
After retirement, Jean and I were asked to be members of a group under Community and Social Services to write a manual on Camping for Seniors. We did our research, wrote up our findings in a binder and submitted it to the Committee in the Fall of 1989. In 1992, I bought a copy of Camping for Seniors from the Ontario Government Bookstore. Jean and I were pleased to see that most of the material published came from our submission. We were pleased to see that most of the material published came from our submission. We were displeased that no credit is given to anyone nor to any body for the publication.
I was founding member of the Residential Placement Advisory Committee for York-Simcoe under the auspices of the Ministry of Social Services. I served as a Citizen Representative, a member of the Administrative Team, and as Chairman of that Admin Team. I resigned in November 1993.
Jean and I continue to be active at York Pines United Church, where she is an Elder, and I sing in the choir, and serve on the Board of Stewards and the Property Committee. Our passion is travelling and writing the genealogy of our families.
