Bella Jane LeClair was my mother's mother. She was born on October 13, 1884. She was a hard working, fun loving, religious lady who hailed from parents who lived in St. Peter's Parish on the Pequis First Nations Reserve in Manitoba, what was then called St. Peter's Band. She would now be considered to be of Metis heritage.
The Grannie that I knew kept a boarding house with lighthouse keeping suites in Brandon. It was always interesting to see which number room we would be allotted whenever we went to visit. In fact, I think I first became aware of numbers because of the numerals on those bedroom doors. I didn't think it strange at all that Grannie had hot plates and kitchen utensils in these rooms. I do remember the crispness of the sheets on the bed and the brightness of their whiteness, both probably a result of bleaching and sun drying.
Bella Cooper's was a popular place for service men's wives to stay during the War while their husbands trained in the nearby military base of Shilo, Manitoba. Her walls at Christmas for years following were covered with cards from the many friends she made while watching over young mothers and wives who stayed under her roof during those tumultuous years.
Grannie had a huge refrigerator for those days...well for any days actually. I think it would be considered a restaurant fridge, one with several doors that shut with the metal sound of a click and which covered almost one whole wall of the kitchen. This fridge was always full whenever we visited. I had my first taste of cheddar cheese and sliced bread taken from that fridge. That fridge was where that Milk in a Box came from. Milk that had an odd taste which I suppose is the taste of pasteurization which was foreign to someone who was used to the warm and fresh whole milk straight from the cow. This fridge also had brown bottles of orange crush and bottles of 7 up (rare delights) which we were allowed to have at any time during our stay. Besides having these bottles of POP, Grannie actually had the only permanent wall mounted bottle opener that I had ever seen and have ever since seen in someone's private home. (None of that pound a nail through the top stuff for these city dwellers I guess).
My first sight of what most people nowadays call 'front loading' washing machines was at this grandmother's. She also had a front loading clothes dryer. She needed what must have been luxurious appliances of the day for her rooming/boarding house business. I do remember that my first $2 bill that I earned was when I washed the floor behind her wood /coal cook stove. I was the only one visiting who could actually still crawl in behind and wash and rinse the wall and floor so the $2 job went to me.
Grannie also played the pump organ and my sister and I spent many happy times trying to get a tune going. I still have some of the music hymn sheets that were Grannie's from those times.
I remember her aurora borealis earrings and necklaces, the smell of her face powder, the rouge on her cheeks. She always wore a dress with nylons and black laced shoes, even for housekeeping and everyday work. I remember her purposely drinking cold tea and dry toast.
Grannie had a unique way of sneezing. I am not sure wheather it was acquired or heritary but she sort of had a little snort when she did so..a family trait passed on to my mother.
I also remember the incident when we met Grannie at the train station in Melville and her hands were full of suitcases while her nylons , which were being kept up with what looked like sealer rubber rings, rolled down around her ankles with every step she took. The wind was blowing at her dress skirt as Grannie stopped suddenly and stared down at her legs as the wads of material that were once her nylons slipped down, down, down past her knees in little brown rolls that looked liked bizarre dougnuts wrapped around her ankles.
Her laughter at her own bizarre predicament is what I remember the most.
I do not know if or where she attended school. She could write a fine letter though..usually in pencil..with little notes written on the sides of the paper so when one read her letter one would have to turn it around and around to get the news from the 'asides' which, I guess, they truly were.
Her husband and her raised a family of five children, three boys and two girls, my mother being the youngest. All five of her children served in the Canadian Armed Forces during the war and all five returned safely although one son had been permanently affected by his experiences, and another chose to relocate in California, a planet away in those days. The other son and daughter lived relatively close by and her youngest daughter, my mother, married and lived on a farm in the next province. Raising a family of five during the 1930's in central Canada was a challenge for Grannie and Granddad as they faced many financial trials and worries. My mother would rarely talk about those times of desperate want and crippling poverty, although she did mention how 'better off ' family members (aunts and uncles) would come to visit from the EAST but wouldn't stay at their home , but instead sought out refuge at more suitable neighbours.
As we lived 200 miles from Grannie's it was common for Mom to pack us children up and catch the train for at least one visit a year. In fact, for my 11th birthday my mother sent me, ALONE, on the train, to see Grannie. I had to ask someone at the Brandon train station to phone Grannie's house, so Granddad could pick me up in this Taxi .
Grannie was at one time a deckhand for the 'June Bug', a small fishing boat that was owned by Granddad which fished off the coast of British Columbia for at least one season. She also was the Cooper Cab dispatcher, answering the ever ringing phone for fares and keeping track of where and when the Cab was supposed to go next. This keeping track was primarily done with pencil writings on the wall surrounding the telephone--didn't everyone's Grannie (who wasn't a bookie) have a wall like that?
She also had a jar with her gallstone floating in it, high up in the mothball (no those are not peppermints) laden linen closet. It was the size of a small walnut. My sister and I would climb up and have a peek and a shake whenever we got the chance. We would wonder when visiting our other grandmother where she kept her gallstones.
Grannie also had a plum tree and grew columbines in her small garden on 1st Ave. There was a sun porch that we would sit out on on summer evenings and watch numerous cars go by, as Grannie's house used to be on the edge of the #1 Highway. We would play car games- keeping track of colors, types, and license plates. There were stained glass windows trimming the sun porch, the original lead trimmed type, and the ledges were filled with geraniums. If I close my eyes I can hear the flipping hum of the tires of the vehicles as they passed by, the smell of the flowers, and taste pink strawberry ice cream that came in a block (making the ice cream portion square ) all while sitting in that warm little room with Grannie and Mom; listening to them talk about things and people from their past of which I had no idea.
Bella Jane LeClaire did something that on the surface looks very avant- garde, riske, and even scandalous . Besides smoking Black Cat cigarettes , she lived with a man who was not her husband.
After Granddad passed away Grannie found herself alone, in a huge empty house. I do not know how they met. He might have been a roomer that became a rumour in the neighbourhood, or simply a very good friend that came a calling. I am not certain. He was a very nice man. His name was Hector and he was about ten years her junior. My family accepted him sort of like another grandfather. He was good to Grannie and that is all that concerned my mother I suppose. Christmas cards were discreetly signed from Grannie and Hector. I never heard anything negative about the arrangement, and I never have I even considered (as granddaughters probably never ever even want to do) any of the so called moral ramifications of the living arrangements.
The last time I saw Grannie was just after completing my Grade 12 examinations. Mom sent me on the bus to meet with Aunt Marie (Aunt Muzzie) to spend some time with Grannie in Brandon. Sadly, the Grannie I had known no longer existed. We found her unwell, unkempt, and lanquishing alone in her large home that was empty of any valuables, as was her bank account. She had been duped by unscrupulous tenants and had suffered from the misjudgment and befuddled thinking that came from her unhealthy living habits which had started the War years and became more problematic as time passed. Hector had long since left not being able to handle the change in her personality brought upon by her dependencies, although he remained her friend until her demise.
Bella Jane LeClair (Cooper) passed away in a Brandon Nursing Home on September 4, 1973 just short of her 89th birthday. She died while Mom was enroute to be with her. I did not go to her funeral.
Whenever I see a Chinese Checker game in a store (Grannie kept her marbles in a sock), think of train travel or nylons which need garters, see sparkling earrings, have cheesecake with cherry pie filling (the kind she made me for my 11th birthday), loose tea--Grannie read tea leaves, or an elderly lady without her teeth (I have no recollection of Grannie ever wearing her false teeth), I think of this woman who showed me and still shows me how to be daring, smile at life, and never ever pass up a chance to be kind.
"Isn't that Grand?" was Grannie's favourite saying.
And you know what?
She was.
ps. My sister and I had our gallbladders taken out the same day by the same doctor..neither of us kept the stones.
pss. As I lay on the delivery table , in the throes of childbirth, I distinctly remember the face of my Grannie , Bella Jane LeClair, flashing across my mind and I knew all was going to be well.
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