Adieu, Aunt Gladys

Adieu, Aunt Gladys

I honestly don’t know how to begin my tribute to Aunt Gladys who passed away last month at the age of 96. This blog post will be too long for those of you who didn’t know her and too short for those of you who did. We all have our own stories about Aunt Gladys. I am only one of several nieces and I can only tell my story.

Gladys Marjorie Henderson Titus
1923-2019

When my blond-haired blue-eyed sister was born, my two-and-a-half-year reign as “Baby of the Family” was over. I don’t remember the details, but I’ve heard the talk---I was miffed---displaced by the Million Dollar Baby. But when I got to go visit Aunt Gladys’ house, I could be the youngest again. You know that brings privileges. And her house was multi-generational. Aunt Gladys and Uncle Eldon had five children, and Uncle Eldon’s parents lived there too—Grandpa Harry and Nannie. So, during my visit, I was the youngest in a household of ten people.

Million Dollar Baby...

I was a working girl by the time I was three—I had responsibilities. There were turnip tags that had to be threaded on lengths of baler twine, and I couldn’t go to Aunt Gladys’ unless I took my work with me. When I arrived with my little suitcase and a feedbag full of baler twine and turnip tags, Grandpa Harry, who moved around their rambling house on one crutch, took pity on me and did all my work! I just pranced around pretending to be the baby of that family, sucking up every little bit of attention I could.

My Early Career in Turnip Tags

Aunt Gladys had a life-long passion for cutting bushes and burning brush. One of my earliest memories was walking down the line between her farm and the neighbours' with her and her clippers. She stopped beside a young white birch and started cutting away the bushes and weeds that grew around it. When she was finished, she stood back and admired her work. “There,” she said, “we’ll call this tree Barbara.” I was thrilled. Still am.  

Barbara, the White Birch

Aunt Gladys was the seventh child in a family of eight and only fourteen years old when her mother died. Her father moved on to work, and the three youngest children tried to “keep house” without adult presence. The picture of three young teenagers huddled around a wood stove named Adeline is imprinted in my brain having heard that story all my life. After several months on their own, the three children were dispersed and went to live with relatives. 

The Henderson Family

Aunt Gladys is the babe in her mother's arms.
Aunt Jean and Aunt Betty not in photo.

Aunt Gladys dated two Eldons in her youth, Eldon Chetley and Eldon Titus. At age 17, she chose to marry Eldon Titus, the one with the nice teeth. She broke Eldon C’s heart. Over the years I have heard the story of this heartbreak. The image of Eldon C. lying in the middle of the McCarron Road and crying following the rejection by Aunt Gladys is burned into my brain. 

 Aunt Gladys: Heart-Breaker 

Aunt Gladys and Uncle Eldon had five children, each of them unique and wonderful in their own ways. And they all have nice teeth! At Aunt Gladys' insistence, the three oldest children, Bill, Deanna and Ross, “The Holderville Children”, have always called her Mother, never Mom. She relented somewhat when the family moved and the two youngest, Reid and Beth, "The Gorham’s Bluff Children", referred to her as Mom.

Mother/Mom and her 5 Children

Reid, Bill, Beth, Ross, Deanna

Aunt Gladys was always a good sport. Although she was cautious, she was adventuresome in her own way. She loved to travel and took many trips after she retired from work on her dairy farm. She loved the river, the outdoors and she loved to laugh. Always keen for bonfires, skinny-dipping and sleeping under the stars, she managed to get in the river even in her 90s. 

Bathing Beauty

There was definitely a romantic side to Aunt Gladys. Remember the Eldon she rejected in her teen years? Following the death of each of their spouses, Aunt Gladys and Eldon C. got back together, rekindled their romance and enjoyed more than ten years together as a couple.

Together Again...

Aunt Gladys kept a diary during the war years, then again from the 1950s to 2019. That is more than 70 years of records. She has settled many a dispute and answered many a question with her diaries. Recently I needed information about my own medical history. I knew I had spent time in the hospital as a child, but I lacked details. I phoned Aunt Gladys with my inquiry and a few hours later, she called me back with the information. “And by the way, Barbara, you took your first step on May 21^st of 1958.” She also kept a Death Book in which she recorded the deaths of people in her life. The list was extensive, running the gamut from Joseph Stalin to Johnny Cash to Uncle Raym to Aunt Marjorie to the neighbour down the road.  

70+ Years of Diaries

Four years ago, my sister and I took Aunt Gladys on a trip in my all-wheel drive vehicle. Able to access woods roads, hills and fields, we visited the haunts of her childhood in Holderville. The first stop was The Corson Well, the water source for her childhood home. She recalled the gallons of water they lugged during the last summer of her mother’s life, her illness requiring additional water for the extra laundry. We visited the Haze Williams Field where she remembered picking wild strawberries with her mother. We visited Kimball’s Orchard and Mom’s Hill on the way to the Meadow Brook where she and her sisters had gotten lost in the woods trying to reach their father’s sugar bush. When our day was over, Aunt Gladys said, “That was better than a trip to Paris. Won’t I have the best dreams tonight.”

Holderville Laundry Facilities:1930s
(Aunt Margaret)

Although she was independent and innovative, Aunt Gladys did not like to be alone. In her 96 years, she only spent 18 nights by herself. She had opinions and spoke her mind. She is famous for posting notes signed with her initials, G.M.T.

Make sure the toilet isn’t running. G.M.T.   
No Smoking. G.M.T.
Unplug the toaster. G.M.T.

G.M.T. Signage

Upon her passing, Aunt Gladys had 55 descendants--5 Children, 16 Grandchildren, 31 Great Grandchildren, 3 Great-Great Grandchildren. Among them is a two-year-old named Eldon…

Eldon Jack

Aunt Gladys was an important influence on all of us, enriching our lives in so many ways. Her granddaughter, Carrie hit the nail on the head in her tribute to her grandmother… “the real lesson she taught me was about time. She started giving not just me time, but my kids her time. She never gave me extravagant birthday or Christmas gifts... but what she gave me was much more valuable.”(Carrie Titus)

Time with Liam

To say this is the end of an era is cliché, but it’s true. Aunt Gladys was the last of my mother’s siblings to pass on. That generation is gone, and the next generation is "sitting in the front row."  

Adieu Aunt Gladys

...Until Next Time...