Cape Breton's Magazine

With Piper Alex Currie, Frenchvale As it happened, we visited with Alex Currie just two days before he died. And lest anyone think we were vis? iting an old and feeble man, it should be made clear that he talked with vigour, dem? onstrated rhythms with his nimble feet, and was just great company • and when we left, exhausted, he went out for an evening of cards. The next day he visited with his daughter for an early breakfast • had another busy day • until he took a final, sudden attack that afternoon, and died. We are grateful to him, certainly, and to his grandson, Lau? chie Sumners, who was staying with him and was there for the interview • and to the family who encouraged the story and helped locate photographs. And our thanks, as well, to Paul MacDonald, Alex Currie's friend, who had been encour? aging us to visit him • for years! Alex Currie. Frenchvale: I was not a drinker, but I like a drink when I feel like it. Four months I never touched it. But I had a notion today, I felt like hav? ing a drink. What the hell are you going ' to (do)...? You're not going to live for much longer anyway. I'll be 88 next Au? gust. I have no worries, to now. 'Cause the wife died...'93. March 22nd. I took her to the hospital March 1st, and she died on the 22nd. Ah, she was, at the last, in a wheelchair, and she couldn't do nothing. But I took her to the hospital on the 1st of March. And she always--never said she didn't feel good. She always said, "I feel good." And she died in her sleep in the hospital. And then things went haywire on me, I didn't know what in the hell to do. After 57 years I was married. And I went through hell west and crooked, before that, and Royal Bank Financial Group, Canada's leading financial services provider, has the breadth and depth to ensure you have all the options you need to manage your financial world - from convenient day-to-day banking solutions to financial advice and investment management. For information call: 1-800 ROYAL 1-5. Let us connect you with one of our professionals. Royal Bank - Banking Solutions RBC INSURANCE - Financial Security Royal Trust - Trust and Investment Management RBC DOMINION SECURITIES - Investment Advice Royal Bank Action Direct - Discount Brokerage ROYAL BANK FIINAINCIAL GROUP • YOUR COMPLETE INTERIOR DECORATING CENTRE • Mr. Paint Ltd. "Drop infer personalized, friendly service." • Free Computer Matching Service • NOW CARRYING Ma/ter Choice Wall Coverings NOUR BRUSHES & PAINTING ' . .. ' ACCESSORIES Complete line of ' • ~~-S BENJAMIN MOORE PRODUCTS lV1oc)feA/ (residential • commercial • industrial) V..R']['rrs_J (367 GEORGE STREET, SYDNEY, N.S.B1P1K2 ? 539-3422) OFF THE DOCK iffish FRESH SEAFOOD is your dish... ...then this isJhe place! We pack for travel Live & cooked lobster, year-round ' Fresh halibut • Fresh haddock, salmon • Englishtown mussels • Scallops • Homemade fishcakes MUCH MORE! 1071 King's Rd., Sydney River (same bIdg. as King's Ck>nvenience) 564-5541 29