Page 40 - Aunt Annie MacLeod, Wreck Cove

ISSUE : Issue 48

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1988/6/1

sick anyhow?) No, no, just that I was born three weeks before that. And my father had a heart condition. So he died about--I guess--a few days before her. Because, the day that his remains were go? ing out the door, she was dying. So that was how it happened. It was just a short time between the two of them. My Uncle Angus (Morrison) was with her at the time. So, he said that's what happened. And he had an experience there then, too, about that. He said that he almost fainted, because there were angels in the room. (When your mother died.) Yeah. He often spoke about it. He said, "I almost fainted, because there were angels in the room at the time." He said they had wings. But I heard an(other) experience like that. An aunt I had--my father's sister--the per? son that was in the room with her was her grandson. He had the same experience as that. (He said) she was talking to her hus- MACLEOD'S TRUCKING ltd. BIGENOUGH TO GIVE GOOD SERVICE • SMALL ENOUGH TO KNOW YOUR NAME! 539-0070 562-7093 band--and he had passed (away) years before that. She was saying, "John, oh John, how nice to see you again," and all this. (Her grandson) felt this other--he said, "Just like wings" or something--around her. (Your mother must have been very young when she died. Were there other children?) She was only 36. Yes, there was my brother (Al? ex "Sandy" MacDermid)--he was 14 years old at the time. And three other sisters be? sides me. (So they made a coffin for your father, and very soon afterwards...) They had to start making one for her (my mother). My grandfather and grandmother died within the same year, you know, and they lived in (that) same house. So there was only an old aunt left with all those three girls and a boy. And how she ever survived! (How did she survive?) Well, that's what we often talk about. We often say that. Neighbours were very good. (Annie Mae MacLeod. Aunt Annie's niece: And my father--Alex "Sandy" MacDermid. Aunt Annie's 14-year-old broth- 'r--he went out fishing with his uncle. And that helped, I guess. Whatever they made, he shared some of it with them. He had to support and help bringing up the rest of the children that were younger than him.) ' ' P • PSl.. ' -THGCHOICGOF ANeWQ • NeRATIOiSI. CAPE BRETON BEVERAGES LIMITED (So this older aunt, she took over the household. And did she expect to raise you?) Aunt Annie: No. (Another) aunt took me right away--my mother's sister. She never was married. Kate Morrison. That's who brought me up. And she lived with us after I got married. When we moved to our own place, she went with us. She was 91 when she died. I was with her till I went out west in 1910. I was 11 when I went out west. And all the schooling I had gone to then was half a term--and I was 11 years. And think of the exper? ience I had when I went out west--11- TrMJiAAgefyof We plan it all for you. 794-7251 158 QUEEN ST., NORTH SYDNEY

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