The following was taken from conversations Oakville Historical Society member Barbara Warden enjoyed with her late mother as they read the book Oakville A Small Town 1900-1930 by Frances Robin Ahern. As her mother reminisced, Barbara took notes of her mother’s comments. We used her late mother’s voice to tell her story.
I was born Jacqueline Stunden on September 19, 1925, in the village of Bronte, the oldest daughter of George and Mary Stunden. My brother George was exactly two years older; we shared the same birthday. We had two younger siblings, Ray and June. My father supported our family by working as a mechanic at Whitaker’s Garage located on Colborne Street (Lakeshore Road) in Oakville. Since we were of modest means, we initially lived above the garage. I did not like staying there, and I particularly did not like having the customers come upstairs to use our only bathroom. At night I could hear the rats running in the walls.
Our family moved several times in my childhood, living in homes on Thomas Street, Allan Street at Palmer and on Douglas Avenue. I remember watching the dairy horses having their shoes changed just west of us on Church Street.
I worked in the strawberry fields as a child, picking fruit for the jam factory. My brother George and I attended Sunday school at St. John’s United Church. My Sunday school teacher was Mrs. Ryland New, who gave us shiny red apples at Christmastime. I was also taught by Mrs. Tuck. I loved them both.
I attended Central School as a youngster and remember the children from the orphanage on Bond Street crossing the bridge to attend school. I joined Brownies and loved my Brownie Leader, Miss Finch-Noyes. She held a party in her backyard of her beautiful big home, which took up the whole block at the north-east corner of Colborne Street and Allen Street.
I enjoyed the Christmas parties at the Oddfellows Hall on Colborne Street, where we were given gifts. I also attended Brantwood School on Allan Street with my siblings. At that time, we lived on Palmer Road, just two houses away.
My mother babysat children during the day to bring in extra income. One of the mothers worked at the Murray House, a hotel at Navy and Robinson Streets.
I remember the burned-out remains of the beautiful home called Mount Vernon, which caught fire in 1928.
I recall the weekly gathering of women called The Monday Club at the Oakville Club, a gathering that my mother could not aspire to. Gracious living was not our lifestyle; “just coping” was a better way to describe it. I loved to read, so would go to the library on Colborne Street at George Street, supervised by the head librarian, Mrs. Irvine. Only whispering was allowed. My favourite books were the Marjorie books, Little Women and Camp Fire Girls. Overdue book fines were a penny a day.
I have vivid memories of drug bottles lined up on the upper shelves around the entire room of the Colborne Street drug store of Dr. Urquhart. I was best friends with Joan McLeary, his granddaughter whose family lived above the store.
Our dentist’s name was Dr. Jebb, and I did not care for him after he extracted a tooth without anesthetic, but I loved his daughter, Barbara, who would invite me to play in her wonderful backyard playhouse.
My siblings and I were taken care of by our family doctor, Dr. Eric Soanes, who gave us an awful anti-polio spray in our noses. Later in my early 20s, I contracted polio and was in the hospital for over a year recovering. My eldest son was only 18 months old and was sent to my parents in Carleton Place as my husband was working and studying part-time. It was a difficult time for us then.
When I graduated from grade eight, our family moved to Carleton Place, Ontario, a small town near Almonte, far away from Oakville. Upon graduation from high school, I would go on to study nursing in Ottawa. While in training, I met my future husband, Douglas Wickware, who was an intern at the time at the Ottawa Civic Hospital. After four dates, we became engaged, married in December of 1946 and had three beautiful children together.
My husband became a psychiatrist with a lengthy career helping many patients as the Superintendent of London Psychiatric Hospital. After leaving the hospital, he would further his career specializing in Forensic Psychiatry. We were happily married for 61 years until my husband passed away in 2007. A year after that, I moved from London, Ontario to Oakville. My youngest child and only daughter, Barbara, took care of me while I lived at the Kensington Residence on Lakeshore Road. My two older sons, who lived in Toronto and Almonte, helped when they could. I had six beautiful grandchildren.
Mrs. Wickware passed away at OTMH in April 2013. Her daughter has lived in Oakville since 1994, where she and her husband have raised their two sons.
This article was reposted with the permission of the Oakville Historical Society originally posted in the September 2022 newsletter.