Sunday, October 27, 2013
In the spirit of celebrating a long life well-lived, I'd like to offer this reminiscence of Anna McGlade.
It was the fall of 1966, just after American Labor Day, the perfect time for a road trip. Most students were back in school, but fortunately for me, Wayne State University was on the quarter system and classes were still three weeks away. I had money in my pocket from my job at a local bookstore (people buying racing forms at 5 a.m. were generous tippers) and a good friend, Eric, to share the driving with me. We had no set itinerary; our general plan, despite the changing seasons, was to drive north into Canada. All of Ontario fit into two pages of the Rand McNally map and there were plenty of provincial parks. We decide to travel light--no tent, no stove, nothing except sleeping bags and an old frying pan.
With great enthusiasm, we set off along roads lined with golden fields of drying corn and ripening pumpkins. Through Kincardine, past Owen Sound, on to Algonquin Provincial Park. The farm fields turned to dark conifer forests and night temperatures dropped sharply. Frost saturated our sleeping bags and the skies turned aluminum-gray. "Closed for the season" signs blocked the entrances to all those parks on the Rand McNally map.
Scanning the map, I noticed a familiar name: Gananoque! We would visit Anna and Hugh! They had been so welcoming two years before when I had been in town for Helen and Larry's wedding. So two weeks into our great camping adventure, Eric and I were knocking on the door of the McGlade house on Stone Street.
Anna opened the door and seemed puzzled by the dirty, unshaved figures on the porch. When I introduced myself, she burst into a warm smile. "Well, my goodness, it's Denis! Where have you lads been?" Immediately, we were invited in, warmed with coffee, and assigned an upstairs bedroom. Dirty clothes were deposited outside the door on the way to Anna's washing machine. And when Hugh came in that evening, he was greeted with "You won't believe who's here!"
We left two days later, warmed and well-fed, the beneficiaries of generous hospitality. Thank you, Anna, for your remarkable kindness.
Denis
