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- ?b?The gift of words: Perth woman seeks birthday cards for mother's 90th birthday
For a woman who wanted to be a writer, how better to celebrate Barbara Hendry's 90th birthday than with a handwritten note or card for her??/b?
Hendry's daughter, Jeannie, is organizing a drop-off of cards in time for her mother's birthday on May 7. She got an idea while out for a distanced walk with one of her friends.
"(Mother) loves cards. She loved to write. She is from that generation of correspondence," said Jeannie during a telephone interview on the morning of Saturday, March 20. That is why she is hoping that anyone who knew her ? or even if you do not ? would drop her a line to mark her big birthday.
Jeannie has already put out a call online, and there has been "a lot of good response."
For those who are interested in brightening up Barbara's big day, the address is: J. Hendry, P.O. Box 221, Perth, ON, K7H 3E4.
Born in Montreal, Barbara and her husband Jack Hendry (originally from St. John, N.B.) moved to Perth in the 1950s, where they bought a farm, which Jeannie said was "the first apple orchard and Christmas tree farm in the area."
Barbara became the mother of 11 children, though two died as babies and one child, Sister Janet Hendry, died 11 years ago from ovarian cancer.
According to an article in the Dec. 13, 1962, edition of the Perth Courier, her parents planted their first 2,000 Christmas trees on the farm in 1953. By 1962, they had 30,000 trees in various stages of growth on the property.
They started planting an apple orchard in 1955 and were selling apples by 1962, from more than 400 trees and 10 varieties of apples.
If you attended the Perth Fair in those days and ever ate a candy apple, you were likely biting into one of their apples, which they sold to the March Midway Shows company for many years.
"We were a bit of an institution for a while," said Jeannie.
Treeland Orchard and Christmas Tree Farm sold trees up until this past December, when one of Barbara's sons moved the operation to his farm outside of Smiths Falls.
Her mother was also a canvasser for the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cancer Society. She was an active member of the Catholic Women's League (CWL) for decades. She was president of the Perth chapter from 1991 to 1993, and later president of the Kingston Diocese of the CWL from 1999 to 2001.
In the meantime, Jack worked in the greenhouse of the Rideau Regional Centre in Smiths Falls, while Barbara ran the family business. (The family also sold strawberries and honey for a time.)
WRITERLY CALLING
In between, Barbara also wrote special interest stories for the Smiths Falls Record News and the Perth Courier.
"She always wanted to write fiction, but child-rearing made it difficult, so she thoroughly enjoyed when the Record News published some of her stories," according to Jeannie.
"Her real love was to be a writer," Jeannie recalled. "She wishes she could have been able to go to university," but her father thought the idea of a woman going to university was "ridiculous."
When Jack took ill, she nursed him until his death in 2013.
She just got her COVID-19 shot recently, and as such, "things are looking a bit brighter." Even though she is celebrating a milestone birthday in the middle of a pandemic, "she's so resilient. She's been so positive through all of this."
Positive attitude aside, how else does Barbara get through these difficult days? "I pray constantly!" Jeannie recalls her mother telling her.
"Mom has had an extraordinary life," Jeannie said.
The Perth Courier
29 March 2021, updated 8 Jun 2021
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