Lakefield Herald Special Report

Letters from Home: A New Twist on an Old Favourite

by Patricia Heffernan

Dear Mary Jo,

Susan Twist is home to stay.

And it is by pure happenstance that she finds herself smiling out from behind the counter of one of the most charming and captivating bookstores in this part of the country.

The youngest child of John and Helen, Susan is a third generation Twist-Peel of Lakefield. She speaks affectionately of her siblings Doug and family of Lakefield, Cathy and family of Chicago and Patti and family of Toronto, and explains that a desire to be closer to family is the reason she moved back to the area from the Yukon a year and a half ago.

Susan’s great grandfather, Joseph John Mitchell Twist, came to Canada in 1910 from Egham, England, just outside of London. Joseph was a boat builder who had learned of the Lakefield Canoe Company. He came to the area to investigate, not intending to stay. By happenstance, Joseph met a young teacher by the name of Wilhelmina Buell Read at a boarding house in Peterborough.

Wilhelmina was born in Bobcaygeon, attended Teacher’s College in Peterborough and was staying in Peterborough when she met the boat builder from England.

Joseph and Wilhemina were married in 1918 and lived in a house on Concession Street in Lakefield. From Lakefield, Joseph travelled to where boat building was needed.

Susan’s Grandmother Twist is remembered as a long time member of St. John the Baptist Anglican church where she played the organ for 35 years. The couple raised four children (Elizabeth, Marion, John and Bill) and the family has had life-long ties with the Anglican church community ever since.

Susan’s father, John, spearheaded the restoration project of Christ Church Museum, along with Charlie McDermott, Vic and Minta Griffin, Winder Smith, Jean Gastle and Clare and Vi Sisson. Her late Uncle Bill Twist, supported by his wife Shirley, carried the project on in his brother’s memory upon his death in 1981.

Susan’s maternal grandfather, Guy Burnah Peel, was born in Springhill, Nova Scotia. He went overseas during World War II and became a salesman for Great West Life Insurance Company after the war.

Susan’s maternal grandmother, Laurita (Rita) Cusack, was born in Truro, Nova Scotia. As a young woman, she trained as a nurse in Beverly, Massachusetts, but chose to marry and did not finish her program. She is fondly remembered for being a vocal soloist.

Laurita and Guy were married in Boston in 1925 and moved to southern California for a time where Guy’s father (Susan’s great grandfather) lived.

Susan’s mother, Helen Peel, was born in Whittier, California in 1926. Her sister, the late Evelyn (McCarthy) of Lakefield was also born in California. In 1927-28, the young family moved back to Canada. Helen’s two brothers, Stu and John, were born in Ottawa in the early 1930s.

Guy Peel eventually worked with the Canadian Order of Foresters Insurance Company and was relocated to Peterborough in 1941. Housing was scarce in war-time Peterborough where an army base was thriving, so the family settled in Lakefield and rented a house on Queen Street for $15 per month in the current location of The Chocolate Rabbit.

A gifted carpenter and wood worker, Susan’s grandfather was thrilled with the barn at the back of the property which provided ample space for his carpentry projects.

From his shop on Queen Street, Guy operated a wooden toy business where he created toys and wheelbarrows which were shipped across Canada via the Lakefield railway station. After his death in 1944, Laurita and her two grandsons, Stu and John, carried on the toy business for some time.

Susan’s parents, John and Helen, met during their Lakefield high school years.

Helen Peel and a few Lakefield girls joined the “Farmerettes” in 1942, an initiative organized by the Y.M.C.A., giving women the opportunity to travel to the Niagara region and other parts of southwestern Ontario for six to eight weeks to help farmers with the harvest while men served overseas. Helen went to St. Thomas where the young women were paid 20 cents per hour to pick strawberries, peaches and dig potatoes.

John Twist, a member of the Sea Cadets attended sea cadet camp in Georgian Bay in 1943.

Helen, who worked part-time at the Lakefield Post Office, was surprised one day to receive a letter from John Twist which carefully outlined all the reasons he would make a good husband, including the experience he had gained washing up and preparing food for his colleagues.

After making some inquiries to confirm John Twist’s identity, Helen then recalled the fellow who had come to her wicket many times to pick up mail. Once this matter was cleared up, the two were formally introduced and began to date.

In 1944, John joined the Military Reserve, The Prince of Wales Rangers and was accepted into the Navy in 1945. After serious consideration, John chose instead to work at Canadian General Electric where he would spend his entire working career.

Despite John’s wish to marry sooner rather than later, Helen insisted on delaying until she had completed her nursing training at the Old Nichol’s Hospital in Peterborough. Having completed her practicum in Peterborough and Toronto, Helen worked for a year in radiology before they were married in 1949.

After Susan was born, Helen went back to nursing and worked with Dr. Hugh Gastle of Lakefield for approximately 25 years.

The late Helen (Peel) Twist is fondly remembered by villagers as a professional, pleasant and understanding nurse who put her patients at ease.

Two of Helen’s daughters, Cathy and Patti, would eventually go on to become nurses, but her youngest daughter, Susan, would be heard to say, “Mom, I just can’t do it.”

Susan has happy memories of attending the “old public school” in Lakefield and Ridpath School in Lakefield. She recalls that the long walk to school was always made more interesting when crossing the swamp at the foot of Ermatinger Street where the children were rewarded with “soakers” when they stopped to catch pollywogs. She fondly recalls frequent stops at her Grandmother Twist’s house on the way home from school.

In preparation for a school speech on the subject of horses, Susan’s mother sent her to see “Doc Gastle” since he was a horse owner and passionate about the subject. “Doc” promptly gave Susan a massive book on horses and, on the day of her presentation, he arrived at her house with a horse and cutter and drove Susan and his son, Jim, to school.

After completing her high school diploma at Lakefield D.S.S., Susan attended Seneca College where she completed a diploma in Historical and Natural Interpretation Service. Her decision to enter this field, Susan says, was influenced by her father’s love of the world of museums.

Susan returned to the area after graduating and enjoyed working at all of the various museums in Peterborough before deciding to return to school. She studied part-time at Trent University and then enrolled full time at Bishop’s University, completing a degree in History and Political Science.

After graduating, she worked for nine years as Director-Curator of the Brant County Museum Archives in Brantford.

Susan’s father, the late John Twist, was a prolific reader and Susan shared his passion for the history of the Canadian frontier and Pierre Burton’s award winning book on the last great Gold Rush entitled “Klondike”.

Susan also recalls her own personal fascination with the famous poem, “The Cremation of Sam McGee”, written by Robert Service, which students were required to commit to memory in school.

Seizing a chance opportunity to travel north with her work, Susan planned to stay just a short while, but subsequently spent 13 unforgettable years living and working in Whitehorse, Yukon.

In downtown Whitehorse, Susan coordinated the public program for McBride Museum dubbed as “the best place to start your Yukon experience”. She witnessed profound change and growth in the Yukon during her time there.

Having realized her dream to experience the north, thoughts of home and family eventually caused Susan to make the decision to begin another new chapter in her life and she returned to the village.

As expected, Susan worked part-time jobs as she settled in at home. One day, last August, she stopped by the village bookstore to inquire about part-time work. As chance would have it, Julie Dillon and Martha Whatley informed her they were planning to sell the business and, that day, a new dream was born.

As you know, Mary Jo, the village bookstore and yarn shop has served up a tiny slice of heaven for book lovers and knitters near and far for many years. Susan is devoted to the tried and true recipe affectionately created and honed by Julie Dillon, Martha Whatley, Eleanor Hayden and Edna Whitehouse in years past. As the new owner of HappenStance Books & Yarns, Susan is eager to add a dash here and a sprinkle there to reflect her own personality at the little shop she describes as “a community treasure”.

Susan says she is very happy to be home again. She feels privileged to be the new owner of the beloved shop, working alongside Jennie MacKenzie and staff at the Lakefield Pantry.

Please tell me you have a bookstore in your little hamlet, Mary Jo. And be sure to stop in to say hello to Susan when you are home next. As Sam McGee suggests, be sure to close the door, for it’s fine in there and she greatly fears you’ll let in the cold and storm.

On a sunny winter’s afternoon, Susan stands behind the counter of one of the most charming and captivating bookstores in this part of the country –just a hair’s breadth from the post office where her mother received a love letter, a stone’s throw from the barn where her Grandfather Peel made wooden toys, a hop, skip and a jump from her Grandparent Twist’s home and a mere village block or two from the home where she and her siblings grew up.

It seems a perfect fit. Like a book jacket.

Welcome home, Susan.

Fondly,

Tricia

~

Dear Tricia,

How I enjoyed your letter! So much history about which I was ignorant. It seems our little village has more than its share of captivating people with life stories, all waiting to be unfolded for others to ponder and delight over.

HappenStance has been a favourite of mine for many years. When I step in the door, time stops and although I cannot knit a stitch, I revel in the peace and quiet and the opportunity to spend some alone time with a multitude of well chosen authors.

Susan’s connections to Lakefield are many and I know she’ll be welcomed with open arms by everyone, even those of us snowed into a tiny hamlet whose amenities are so few but, as chance would have it, sports a bookstore containing only “How to Garden” books.

Lost in the barrens,

Mary Jo

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