Category: E

Etmanski, Brian #917 *

Honoured by the Baytones

You will always be remembered by The Baytones…

Sometimes it is difficult to put into words what someone has meant to us in his lifetime.  Not so for anyone who was lucky enough to know Brian Etmanski.  When speaking of and remembering Brian, what comes to mind are thoughts of a man of honour, devotion and great character, wearing many and varied hats as he walked through his all-too-short lifetime in his beloved home of North Bay.

Devoted son, brother, uncle, husband, dad, grandfather; dedicated nurse, talented singer, musical leader; champion in his own right as well as champion of and for others, and perhaps the most meaningful for us, friend: these are just some of the descriptors of Brian.

Son of Max and long-time Baytones Harmony Chorus Inc. member, Rita Etmanski, Brian served as the Baytones’ musical director for several years working diligently to improve and showcase the talents of the membership.  During this happy time, his love of music in partnership with his knowledge, encouragement and dedication served to challenge and inspire us to improve our craft and share it with family, friends and community.  It is our great honour to continue that legacy and in so doing, to honour the love of music that our dear friend brought to and nurtured within us.  “Thank you Brian.”

Ellsmere, Thomas #1892 *

Honoured by Sadie Youmans

My Uncle Tom was the one who stands out in my family as the one most loved and admired. He gave me away at my wedding and carried off the reception party.
He and his brother Jim operated Ellsmere Brothers Lumber Co. from 1941-1961 at Tilden Lake. Uncle Jim was killed in 1946. They employed between 20 to 30 people and a little school was built for about 15 children. There were three tourist camps on the lake, mostly Americans. His old farm at Craighurst was sold to E.P. Taylor of Toronto and is today Horseshoe Valley. One of 11 children, he was the leader; he was there for his brothers and sisters throughout their lives. They worked for him in the business, built modest homes, set them up any way he could help, free equipment and lumber in many cases. He belonged to the Lumbermen’s Association and was well known in the industry. He was a big supporter of St. John the Divine Anglican Church and built the Minister, Rev. Jarvis, a retreat on the Tomiko River. My mother and father were divorced in 1948. We lived in a rented house next to the old homestead at Craighurst. Times were very tough for my mother. Uncle Tom offered her a job in the cookery at the mill for about 25 men. Mom had never worked outside the home, but was always helping on the farm, killing chickens, picking potatoes, feeding the threshers, etc. My sister Jean was 16 and very good at high school, but she was taken out to help mom (the cookee). She always wanted to go back to school. I could go to school at the mill. My Aunt Enola was the teacher. There were always lots of cousins from the families in Craighurst or at the Mill. Uncle Tom took a carload to church or whenever he went to North Bay for appointments or whatever. He took me to and from high school in North Bay where I had to room and board. He was a terrible tease. He arranged a bicycle for me from Cochrane Dunlop Hardware and a cocker spaniel, Taffy. He never gave me money, just love. The whole family played musical instruments and he played the fiddle for the dances in the school house. He loved to travel and see progress. He bought three farms at Crown Hill where his daughter, Gladys, and her family, ran them. He spent five months in Florida every year in the 1950s and there he died at 68. My husband Dave (we met at the mill) and I were to have our honeymoon in Florida. Today, if you turn in Ellsmere Road at Tilden Lake, a small village remains and the old cement burner still stands. A Community Centre and volunteer Fire House is on the Sawmill site. As I grew older, I realized the impact he had on my life and I never got to tell him. I regret that.

Sadie Youmans

Elliott, Edna May #82 *

Honoured by Mr. & Mrs. Johnston C Elliott (“Dinty”)

Edna was born in West Seneca, N.Y., USA, on 4 October, 1894, daughter of Marian and Emmanual deGuehery.  She was raised and educated in Buffalo, N.Y.

She spent her summer vacations at the farm of her uncle, William Cuthbert, in Chalk River, Ontario.  There, she met and subsequently married Charles Elliott in 1915.  The couple had
two sons while in Chalk River, and then a daughter and two sons after moving to North Bay.

Edna was a very active member of the First Baptist Church in North Bay, serving as President of the Women’s Association and was a Dominion Life Member of the Janet Holmes Mission Circle.  She was a Sunday school teacher, and headed the Cradle Roll department for many years.
She was a member of the Ladies Auxiliary to the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen, and a long-time member of the Civic Hospital Auxiliary.  She was very active in the Girl Guide Association, and served as Area Commissioner from 1938 for 25 years, for which she was awarded a Life Membership and awarded the coveted “Thank You award from the Boy Scout Movement.

She thoroughly enjoyed summer at their cottage on Lake Nipissing, and was devoted to her five children, but also ‘mothered’ the neighbourhood kids – a loving and understanding woman, with the ‘patience of Job’.

She had poor health during her last several years, and passed away in 1976 at the age of 81, after a full and active life of service to her family, her church and her community.

Elliott, Charles James #81 *

Honoured by Mr. & Mrs. Johnston C Elliott (“Dinty”)

Charles was born to William and Alice Elliott on 5 June 1891.  William was a locomotive engineer who worked on the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway from Mattawa, through North Bay, to Schreiber in the 1880s and 1890s and resided in North Bay.  At the age of five, in 1896, Charles moved with his parents and siblings, to Chalk  River, Ontario, where he received his elementary education.  He graduated from Business College in Pembroke in 1907, and joined the CPR in Chalk River as a yardman in 1908.

He married Edna May deGuehery in Chalk  River in 1915 where the couple had two sons – Thomas E. and Johnston C.   In 1921, Charles was promoted to night yardmaster in North Bay, and the family moved there where three more children were added to their family – a daughter Betty, and two sons, Wilburt and Gordon.  Charles shared the management of the CPR passenger and freight rail yard system with the day yardmaster, William Dreany.  Other members of Charlie’s Elliott family who worked for the CPR were his uncle, David J Elliott, and son John, locomotive engineers; his brother, Johnston H.

Elliott, freight and passenger agent; Charlie’s sons Johnston C., clerk, Wilburt C., clerk, and Gordon K., trainman, and son-in-law Verne Grozelle, clerk – truly an early CPR family worthy of recognition on the pergola and Waterfront Park!

Charles
was a member of St. John’s
Anglican Church, charter secretary of North Bay Masonic Lodge No. 420, the
I.O.O.F. and Brotherhood of the Railway Trainmen.  Despite his night work, he was devoted to his
family, catering to all their needs, and he enjoyed fishing and his cottage on Lake Nipissing.

He was
promoted to General Yardmaster in the early 1930s and retired due to ill health
in 1948 after 40 years of service.  He
passed away in 1952 following a lengthy illness. He was 61.