| Number 27 | June 1, 2003 |
REUNION READY TO ROLL
The most ambitious Beck Reunion ever is less than six weeks away and the details are rapidly falling into place. It breaks down into two parts - a formal section and an informal affair, all intended to mark the arrival of Vere Beck and his young family in Guernsey Cove, P.E.I., 190 years ago.
The formal section is under the direction of Eileen Tanner (1.4.3A.3.5,4,) and runs from July 11th to 13th, starting Friday evening and continuing through Sunday morning. The activities will be based in the Northumberland Arena in Murray River and get underway with a caleidh featuring Beck family members on Friday night.
There will be tours of points of interest in the Murray Harbour, Cape Bear and Guernsey Cove areas on Saturday morning. In the afternoon there will be lots of activities in the Arena again as people mingle and greet old friends and meet new ones, and learn more about their family tree while updating the formal records. The afternoon program will include a talk by Alan Beck of Virginia who started out 5 years ago wondering if he had any relatives in Prince Edward Islands, and soon was overwhelmed by hundreds of them. There will be a "pot luck" supper in the arena Saturday evening, followed by another concert. Sunday morning there will be a church service in the arena combined with a memorial service to remember those family members who died since the last reunion five years ago.
A WEEKLONG EVENT
While the formal opening is scheduled for Friday evening, July 11, the reunion actually starts much earlier.People are coming from all over North America led by our chief genealogist, Jim Beck (1.4.6.6.1.) of Michigan. The retired professor, his wife, Barbara, their children and grandchildren will be arriving on the Island on July 6th and will be available all week to discuss family links and family history with anyone interested in the Becks. You can contact him at the Harbour Motel in Murray Harbour. Jim has been busily updating the Beck listings with the latest information available, and adding to the biographies in an effort to get both books ready for the printers. There is still time to get your information included if you hurry. Jim wants your information whether its the arrival of a new child or grandchild, a wedding or the biography of a family member. Send anything you have to him at jamesverebeck@attbi.com
THERE'LL BE PICTURES TOO
First there was just the family tree, then later Jim started gathering biographies, and now work is underway on a collection of Beck family pictures. Jim's son, Doug (1.4.6.6.1.2.) of Colorado, has teamed up with Sarah Jackson (1.4.6.8.3,) of Beach Point to collect and organize the photos on a compact disk. They have collected an amazing number of pictures already and hope to get many more during the reunion week. People are encouraged to bring family pictures to the Reunion for display and also for scanning. This will not harm the pictures in any way and will result in a permanent record for future generations. Professional-type pictures are particularly desired. One of the pictures Sarah is quite interested in finding now is one of Vere Beck, the sixth child in the first family.
WE WANT TO KNOW MORE
Jim's daughter, Sharon Beck (1.4.6.6.1.1,) of California, and Ann Brooks (1.4.2.3.7,2.) from New Brunswick have designed a form to gather information at the Reunion regarding individuals and families. These forms will be available at the Reunion. Ann has named the activity the Beck Biography Bonanza, and they are hoping everyone will take the time to fill them out with family information. Sharon and Ann are arranging for a drawing to select the winner of a prize for those who submit a biography of themselves or a relative or complete a biography update. There will also be the task of collating the material when we get it and working it into future family records.
LOTS OF NEW MATERIAL
From family trees to biographies and family recipes, you'll find them all at the Reunion. There will be the latest versions of the listings and updated versions of the Beck Biographies, but the number of copies will be limited. To make sure you get one, place your order early by contacting Jim at the above address. For the first time we'll also be offering all of the information on compact disks for use on a computer. All the information we have, the listings, the biographies, the pictures, all of the back issues of the Beck Bulletin and much more will be on the CD with lots of space to spare.
Demonstrations of how to use the CD will be given at the Open House (from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm)
on Friday July 11 at the Murray Harbour Community Center, and at the Reunion in the Arena on Saturday July 12. You can learn how to make the most of the CD at either location but more individual attention will be possible at the Community Center on Friday. To ensure you're not disappointed, you're urged to place advance orders for the listings, the biographies, the CD, or all three by emailing Jim. The books and the CD are priced at $20 Can. each.
One of the highlights of the informal part of the week is a lobster supper at New Glasgow, P.E.I., on Thursday evening. You can view their menu and prices on line at http://www.peilobstersuppers.com/ Since they offer discounts for groups of more than 25, we are planning to take advantage of that. Shirley White (1.12,2.2.5.) has agreed to keep track of the people who plan to go and will make the reservations. You can call Shirley at 902 962 2698 or e-mail me at imunn@accesswave.ca and I will relay the message. If you decide later that you are not going to go, then we ask that you let us know as soon as possible so we don't get charged for no shows.
RECIPES TOO
Another book that's printed and ready for sale is a family cookbook. It's called "Recipes from the Descendants of Vere Beck" and was compiled by Sarah Jackson of Beach Point, P.E.I. It contains about 500 recipes contributed by Beck family members. Each is identified with the name of the contributor.
The recipes fall into eight categories, ranging from Appetizers & Beverages to Desserts. At the back there is an "Extra Special" category for recipes from cooks of earlier generations. The recipes include everything from bread and biscuits to cookies, date squares and pies. They are from women who baked for large families of hard workers with big appetites, and some of them are quite revealing.
For instance, this pickle recipe from the late Bessie (Keeping) Birt (1.4.9,6,4,).
| 12 Day Pickles | |
| 4 gal cucumbers (64 cups) | 16 Tbsp salt, |
| 2 cups white sugar, | 16 Tbsp of mustard |
| 16 Tbsp sugar, | 2 cups of pickling spice |
I bet they're delicious, but I suspect most modern day cooks will drastically reduce the recipe or opt for a bottle from the supermarket as required. (Sarah tells me they are Hughie's favourite pickles.)
ANOTHER REUNION
Some Beck descendants are likely to be attending another reunion, far from Murray River. The Jordans/Jordens plan to get together in Britain and spend a few days touring the area that was home to their ancestors. Unfortunately, their get-together overlaps with the Beck gathering. The Jordans have been holding their reunions on the Island every three years with some visitors coming from Britain, but last year they decided to reverse the trend, and speed up the schedule.
Liz Lacey is handling the planning in Britain. She said it was decided to schedule the reunion for 2003, rather than the following year, because some of those planning to go are getting up in years. She has lined up a number of sites to visit.
"There is a poem written about some of the Edward Jordens," she said, "and we have been investigating this and found the Methodist Church in Monmouth that one was associated with and we also found a Georgian family mansion built in 1720 by another Edward Jorden who was a Sheriff of Shropshire."
Liz said the schedule calls for the arrival of the group at Heathrow Airport in the early morning of Friday, July 11, 2003, where they will board a bus for the trip to Tintern in Monmouthshire to begin their tour of Jorden country.
The hotel at Tintern gets very busy during the tourist season and reservations were made a year ago.
Those Jordans with Beck connections will have to choose which reunion to attend, as the Becks will be gathering in Murray River at the same time, July 11 - 13, 2003.
A NEAR THING
It was a disappointing end to the season for the Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. They came within one game of winning the League championship and then just ran out of gas. Halifax battled its way through two seven game series against Bathurst and Baie-Comeau and led three games to two against a well-rested Hull team that had won their division title handily. Halifax had nothing left and lost their last two games to Hull by lop-sided scores.
It was a major let-down for the three 20-year-old overagers on the team. 
Interviewed by the Halifax Herald, Thatcher Bell (1.4.6.5,3.6,3) said, "It still hasn't really set in. The last five years have flown by and this year, in particular, I've loved playing here in Halifax." He had spent the previous four years with Rimouski. He thanked the Mooseheads for making the trade that brought him here, and the Halifax fans for their warm reception.
"It's a bittersweet end to a career," he said, "but at the same time, I had fun this year."
Thatcher along with Brandon Benedict and Stuart MacRae are facing uncertain futures. Thatcher had been drafted by the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League, but then developed back problems and the team did not sign him. All three players will weigh whatever pro opportunities come along, but there's a good chance they'll end up playing university hockey in Nova Scotia next year.
"It's tough to think about the future right now," Thatcher said, "but with the back problems and what not, I'll really have to look at things this summer. I don't know if I can handle playing in a league with that many games again.
"University's obviously an option and it's up there right now. It's probably what I'm looking at right now, but I want to take some time and talk to my agent before I make any decisions."
DEPUTY MAYOR RESIGNS
Jock Beck (1.4.3B.7.2.2.) has resigned from Montague Town Council and his position as Deputy Mayor. The announcement at the April meeting came as a surprise to most people. He said he was resigning because he has no choice. He is moving outside the town limits and so is no longer eligible to serve. Jock has served three terms on Council in the past 20 years and has acted as waterfront manager as well as in other capacities in the town. However, he will not be relinquishing all his posts. He will continue as deputy chief of the Volunteer Fire Department. Jock told Steve Sharratt of The Guardian that while he is moving outside the Town, he will still be within the Montague Fire District.
The Becks are moving from their home in Montague to their cottage on the Robertson Road in Brudenell, a distance of about three miles. The decision to move is for the benefit of his wife, Gwen. She suffers from electrical and environmental sensitivities associated with everything from air quality to home use pesticides.
"We hope that living in a less populated area might be healthier for her,'' he said.
"We're making our summer home our permanent home from now on."
Jock urged Council to push for amalgamation and said he hopes that in the future his new residence will be part of the town of Montague.
"I've been reflecting lately on the benefits of regionalization," he said. "It's gone far beyond the time when regionalization should take place and there's already those that are willing to organize a committee from the various communities to see this achieved. Only a larger body will go into the future," he said.
Town Council paid tribute to Jock at the meeting of May 12th. They presented him with a framed print to mark his final meeting and the members thanked him for his years of public service. Mayor Pat McGowan said he was a forward looking representative with good ideas. "He's been a councillor with great integrity and we're all the better for having known him," she said.
The resignation becomes effective June 2nd.
STRONG SUPPORT FOR HOSPITAL
People in the Murray River area raised $19,500 for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital this year, far surpassing the efforts of the past two years. Garnet Buell (1.6B.6.5,2.) and his supporters held nine weekly ceilidhs in the Murray River Hall to aid the annual hospital fund raising drive.
Since Garnet started the campaign three years ago, the ceilidhs have raised $40,600 for hospital equipment.
Each concert featured local singers, fiddlers and stepdancers. In addition to the entertainment, each event included a bake sale and a 50/50 draw, and sometimes an auction.
Garnet said he hopes the new equipment will reduce the number of Islanders who have to travel out of the province for medical treatment.
Beth Cullen, chair of the hospital fund drive, described the efforts of the Murray river group as, "fantastic."
TOP MARKS
Jennifer MacKenzie (1.4.9,10.1,3,3) of Beach Point, an Honors graduate of the University of Prince Edward Island, has recorded the highest mark in Canada in her national certification examination for Radiological Technology. Jennifer is the daughter of Lorne and Lorraine MacKenzie, and will be recognized for her achievement at a national convention in Manitoba in June. This spring she has been specializing at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Her family and friends offered congratulations in an announcement in The Guardian newspaper.
WEDDING: NANTES - GOSBEE
The wedding of Judi Nantes, daughter of Des and Carolyn Nantes, Hunter River and Robert Gosbee, (1.4.1,10,1A.2.1.) son of James & Beverley Gosbee, Murray River, took place on April 11, 2003, at St. Eugene's Roman Catholic Church, Covehead, P.E.I. The Matron of Honor was Michelle Boutilier, sister of the bride and the Best Man was Cameron King, a friend of the groom. Fr. Charlie Cheverie performed the ceremony. The couple honeymooned in Cuba and will hold a wedding celebration in their new home in Murray River in the fall of 2003.
DEATHS
Nicholas T. Wilburn of Machon Point Road, Murray Harbour, died May 10, 2003, at the Riverview Manor in Montague, P.E.I. He was 78. He was the husband of the late Eileen (Maddox) Wilburn (1.12,6,3,2B,).
He is survived by a sister, Marguerite Bacon of Florida; and nieces Jeanette Bacon, New York; Alice Bacon, California; and a nephew, the Rev. Edward Bacon of Maine.
The funeral service was held in the chapel of Ferguson's Funeral Home with interment in the Murray Harbour Cemetery.
BIOGRAPHY
Garnet Rudolph Penny (1.5,2.2B.5.) was born in Murray Harbour on August 26, 1903, to Reuben Penny and Elizabeth White. He attended school in Murray Harbour but left at the age of 14 to go to sea with his father. Reuben operated a coastal vessel and help was scarce in 1917 because all the young men were overseas in the army fighting the First World War. Garnet spent several seasons working with his father, then started looking for other opportunities and headed to Boston where he found work on a farm outside the city.
He must have had an understanding employer because he returned regularly to Murray Harbour each spring to work on the vessel with his father. While working in the States, Garnet met Jessie Campbell from Cape Breton who was working up there as a cook. Jessie kept a diary and mentioned how much she missed Garnet during his trips back to Murray Harbour.
After spending a number of seasons sailing with his father, Garnet bought his own vessel and spent a few years running it in the late 1930s. He still went back to Boston for part of the year, but that ended in 1938 when he and Jessie married and settled in Murray Harbour. Shortly after that Garnet gave up the schooner and started lobster fishing, and fished until the early 1950s. Then he got a contract to operate a smack for Magees, a lobster packer in Pictou, N.S.
His daughter, Linda, said Carl Richards helped him build the smack and Garnet worked off Pictou Island visiting the fishing boats and buying their catch for delivery to the factory. Linda said that despite the fact that he had spent little time in school he was a beautiful writer, and good in arithmetic as he had no trouble keeping track of the daily transactions with the fishermen and calculating the value of the catch. In the 1960s Garnet came ashore to stay. He got a job at the government-owned Brudenell Golf Course as Superintendent of Maintenance. Linda said he was known for his hard work plus he was a good gardener, and as a supporter of the Liberal Party, was on the right side of politics. In the early '70s Garnet sold the smack to a buyer from Newfoundland who wanted it for its motor. Linda's son Mark said he was with his grandfather when they took the boat to Cohoon's wharf to complete the deal.
After he retired from the golf course, Garnet got a job looking after the Murray Harbour dump. Linda said he was a pack rat and never threw anything away himself. "He saved everything," she said. "Everything!" Soon he was dragging things home from the dump that he felt were still useful. "He'd bring home old lawn chairs, and buy new webbing kits and fix them up and give them to someone who might need lawn furniture," she said.
Linda said when their mother died in 1980 they went over to clean out the house and the attic was full of stuff. They opened the window and started throwing it out. Garnet sat on a stool out front and watched what was coming down. Linda said, "Nothing was going out of that house without him him checking it first." He kept saying, "You can't throw that away. That's still good." She said he gathered up what he wanted to save and took it to the barn. After he died they hauled truckload after truckload of junk from the barn.
Linda said when Garnet wasn't puttering around fixing things up, he was working in his garden. She said he had the best vegetable garden in Murray Harbour and grew everything in it. "There was everything you could possibly want, and not a weed to be seen."
Garnet had a number of health problems in his final years. He suffered from diabetes and heart trouble, and had cancer and alzheimers. Despite it all, he kept plugging away. Linda said he'd take a nitro-glycerin tablet for his angina, and then go out and work in the garden.
Garnet died on Oct. 24, 1987, at the age of 84.
DOCTOR SHORTAGE IN SOURIS
A doctor shortage is creating problems at the Souris, P.E.I., hospital. It was announced on Monday, April 23, that the hospital's Emergency Department would be closed for 72 hours because the doctors would not be able to cover all of the services required.
A Citizens' Group pushing for improved medical services said the move is not completely unexpected. A spokesman for the group, Alan Beck, (1.4.3A.3.1.3.) said closing the Emergency Room for any length of time is not acceptable.
"It's a bad situation when the Region is working hard to get a doctor, to see this happen, but it surely seems that since the amalgamation took place services at Souris Hospital have decreased."
Hospital officials said a Newfoundland physician is planning to move to P.E.I. but it's not known if he will choose Souris or West Prince. The hospital has been getting by with only two permanent doctors, and some part-time help, while seeking a third.
"We've been told numerous times before that a doctor is coming here," Alan told the Eastern Graphic, "but it is almost five months now without a permanent doctor on staff." He added that it is now up to the public to let the government know if it is concerned or not.
NATIONAL RECOGNITION
Home Hardware Ltd has confirmed what people in southern Kings County, P.E.I. already knew: Stewart and Beck in Montague is one of the best Home Hardware dealers in Canada. There are more than 1,000 Home Hardware dealers in the country and Stewart and Beck ranks among the leaders. Dealers are judged on many aspects and Stewart and Beck achieved the highest standards in customer service, merchandise presentation, staff training and participation in dealer network initiatives.
Paul Strauss, general manager of Home Hardware, said the certificate represents a total team effort and shows the value of dedicated people working together to serve their communities. George (1.11.8.3.2.) and Mark Beck accepted the certificate on behalf of the firm. Mark said, "All of us at Stewart and Beck Home Hardware are excited to be recognized among Canada's best."
The Vere Beck Family Home Page
We're always looking for news of Beck family members. If you know of any significant events drop me a line with the information. imunn@accesswave.ca
imunn@accesswave.ca