FAMILY WEB PAGE

Heather remembers her dad telling her that she was named for the ‘heather’ that grows on the ‘dales’ in Scotland.  Her first memory was of being in a crib at Children’s Hospital when she was three years old.  She had red measles and she remembers someone giving out gifts to the children and hers being a pink case with a baby bottle in it.

 

She was only about that age when her older sister, Rhonda, brought her boyfriend Gord home.  Heather remembers them walking into the kitchen where she was sitting on a kitchen chair eating ice cubes with no clothes on.  It is a little embarrassing to think about meeting your future brother-in-law when you have no clothes on but in this case she was only three years old.

 

She remembers starting kindergarten at Sargent Park School and that she loved her teacher Mrs. Warry.  She also remembers the principal Mr. Brown and how nice he was.  They did a lot of fun things in Kindergarten.  She loved to paint and remembers that you had to go up to the teacher with your picture, one by one, and tell about what you had drawn. 

 

She hated lying on the mats for a nap, though.  When they were ‘sleeping’ the teacher would step out of the class for a few minutes and she was always afraid that the teacher wouldn’t come back.    She always liked to go and visit her friends Glen and Susan, Glen lived on Lipton Street which was a fair distance from Downing Street where she lived..

 

She had an awful Grade One.  Because her birthday fell in November she seemed to be younger than the other kids in her grade and thinks now that perhaps she should have been held back a year.  Her teacher that year was Mrs. Calver(t) and she was really mean.  Because Heather was too young for the other kids she couldn’t do a lot of the things they could do and spent a miserable first grade. 

 

Grade two with Mrs Miller was the exact opposite, thankfully, and Grade three her teacher got married during the year, which was a big event for the kids.  Her sister Rhonda also married Gord that year and Heather was part of the wedding party, which was very exciting.

 

She started piano lessons and her brother Ray was playing drums.  She went to Mrs Russell, who had a baby grand piano, for her lessons.  In about the fourth grade she began taking lessons from the Johmany Sisters and remembers going to their big home.  In Grade 6 in 1966, her dad died and the whole family was shocked as it was so sudden. 

 

Heather continued with her piano lessons but after Grade 7 (RCM?) she got a bit bored with the theory part and decided to quit the lessons but continued to love music.  She also wanted to concentrate more on school.   She did the extra things like Brownies and Girl Guides where she got her share of badges but Grade 7, 8 and 9 were not happy years for her.

 

When she hit high school, though, things changed.  She loved Grade 10, 11 and 12, had lots of friends, got good marks and was very popular.  Even though she could remember her dad always saying ‘Get a University Education’ she had had enough of school after Grade 12 and decided to work instead.  Had she continued she would have liked to be a psychologist or a psychiatrist.  She always liked to help others and was always interested in childcare.  She says she should have been a ‘Dear Abby’ as all her friends said she always gave them good advice.

 

During 1972 she met Tim, who became a special part of her life, and they dated from Grade 11 until 1975 and then got together again in 1979 until 1991.  That was a special time in her life and she has just recently been in touch with him again (written in 2009).

 

After graduation in 1973 she worked at clerking and cashing until 1982 and then followed her love of children and did childcare from 1982 to 1993 for several families.  Her last position was a special one as she really became part of their family, caring for Martin who was 3 years old and Olivia who was 1 ½ years.

 

In 1995 she developed a condition that precluded her being able to work and since then she worked caring for her mother (Isabelle) at 28 Cabot Crescent, where they both lived. When Isabelle passed away on July 17, 2011, Heather moved into 1004-133 Niakwa Road, Winnipeg, where she lived until her passing October 29, 2015. She is interred in Section 37 at Brookside Cemetery, Winnipeg.