I knew how to enjoy myself when I was a child, as.you can see in this 1955 photo of me getting a groove on with my ukulele. But my exuberance was often problematic for my parents, e.g., my penchant for cutting off my hair.
Leith Peterson discusses what was involved in setting up her first WordPress blog and writing her first post.
My post discusses Peterson family home life from the early 1950s to the early 1970s. It includes a poem my brother Don wrote about what life was like in our unusual household, e.g, my father’s “save the trees” campaign, and how “rock music coming from our house” gave “a headache to the sexton’s spouse.”
The Ivey Family London Room 2017 “Winter in London” display contained 2015 and 2017 Christmas cards with artwork by my mother Jay Peterson (1920-1976). My post includes a photo of London Room Library Assistant Barb Scott and I standing next to the display which includes these cards.
From 1958 until her passing in 1976, my mother was involved with Indigenous issues. She helped Aboriginal people to market their crafts and supported many of their other endeavours. Some people encouraged me to carry on with her interest, but since the mid-2000s, I have mostly been on the outside looking in.
From the 1950s to the 1960s, my mother was involved with many projects at First-St Andrew’s United Church in London, Ontario. For instance, she helped organize religious art and artifact exhibitions. The Very Reverend Angus J MacQueen (1912-2006) gave my mother’s 1976 eulogy at the church. He described her as “very special kind of person.”
My mother created a shoulder-bag carrier for infants. She also turned a banana box into a swing that small children could play in. She acknowledged she got her ideas for these devices from researching how women had carried their offspring throughout the ages.
My father Charles T Peterson (1913-2007) was born and raised in Bruce Mines, Ontario. He was very concerned about irresponsible development in Northern Ontario, so made a submission to the Royal Commission on the Northern Environment, 1978. His submission was rejected, but some of his arguments for sustainable development are worth noting.
Around the early 1960s, my mother painted pictures of children on the wall of my father’s periodontal office. His office was torn down shortly after he retired, but before his office was dismantled, he cut the pictures out of the wall and had them individually framed; a couple of examples are included with this post.
My father Charles T Peterson (1913-2007) served in the Canadian Army Dental Corps during the Second World War. In 1943, he married my mother. Around 1949, he set up his periodontal practice in London, Ontario. He frequently stressed to me the importance of knowing who you are and where you come from.