LONELY

Jannet looked out the window of her little home and reflected, not for the first time, on how lonely it was out here in Manitoba. The prairie, which had been so beautiful and full of color in July, had turned dull brown, and the blue skies of summer became gray and threatening as November drew to a close.

     Today was Jannet’s birthday, and she wanted her Grandmother.  – Grandmother, who had been there for her at every hard spot in her life:

     When she was nine years old and her mother died, Grandmother was there to take care of Jannet and the other children and Father.

      Nine years later, when kind, gentle brother Willie died, Grandmother was there.

      Then, just a few short months ago, Grandfather died, and there was Grandmother, taking care of them all, calm and strong and loving.

     If not Grandmother, maybe her Aunt Ann could come – her dear, almost-sister Ann, with whom Jannet had shared everything all her life – if only Ann could be here to share this next big event – the birth of her baby.

Jannet, seated on right, with her grandmother,
Janet Riddell Scott, brothers, William and
Walter, and sister, Edith.

     But Grandmother and Ann were a thousand miles away, back in Ontario; and she and Herbert had been here in Manitoba for almost five months now. It had been exciting when they got off the train in Binscarth and started out to make their own life together on this prairie. She, a girl raised in a bustling eastern Ontario town, surrounded by a large, loving family, hadn’t realized just what she was getting into when she married Herbert and became a pioneer. Not that Herbert was a farmer! No, Herbert was a publisher and he was going to publish the best newspaper in Manitoba!

     Thank heaven for Herbert! He was so kind and so worried about her and the baby. Jannet was very careful to show Herbert a brave face and to tell him there was nothing to worry about, but deep inside she couldn’t help remembering that her mother had died when little brother Walter was born.

     Just a few more days now and the baby would be here, and all would be well. If it was a girl, they would name her Mary, after Jannet’s mother. A boy would be named David for Herbert’s father and her own grandfather. Just a few more days . . . .

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David William Bowley was born in the Rural Municipality of Silver Creek, Manitoba, November 25, 1902, to Herbert John Jesse Bowley and Jannet Robson. Jannet Robson Bowley died nine days later, December 3, 1902. She is buried in Binscarth, Manitoba, but her name, date of death and place of burial are inscribed on a stone in the Mount Osborne Cemetery, Beamsville, Ontario, where her brother William, her mother and father and grandparents are all buried.

(Jannet Robson was my father's cousin, the daughter of David Scott and Janet Riddell's oldest child. Jannet was 29 years older than Daddy, so her story had ended before his began. The emotions depicted in this story are what I imagine one would feel in the circumstances; the facts are real and can be verified.)