Written By Bob Gentleman, Local Writer
While the future is uncertain, there are many eras of the past to choose from to remember, reflect on and share. I have been an avid reader for all of my life, mostly of novels, and certain eras have become vivid from the output of a variety of certain writers. Jane Austen, for example, has many fans who are attracted to the Georgian Period. Charles Dickens gave us a bleak view of the Victorians. Zane Grey had us riding into the sunset after we, as white hats, put the black hats in their place. The dust bowl gave birth to John Steinbeck’s vivid portrait of the Okies migrating west in the thirties. Even my village of Melbourne raised a writer, Harold W. Trott, whose “Campus Shadows” was published in 1944.
I have my own favourite era, my own personal “Good Old Days.” It just happens to be the 1920s into the 1930s, the era in which I was born. I imagine that many people would choose the time of their youth as a very special time.
I do not have the imagination to give life to a fictitious character or place a magnifying glass on their every movement. At my age I possess what I am told is a good memory and a bank of stories that were attracting questions of the past from younger family members. My maternal grandmother was a home child, one of those young immigrants from industrial Britain. I did not want the memory of her tragic but worthwhile life to be forgotten. As I was writing, a supporting cast of people, other relatives, good neighbours and the Township of Ekfrid and the Village of Melbourne joined the saga I was putting together. Finally, with the expert support of my editor, my niece, Kathy Evans, a book emerged. The title “They Settled in Riverside” was coined, and lots of family and local pictures were chosen to add interest.
While I have a limited audience of relatives and local residents, this group’s support has exceeded expectations. I hope that my book paints a picture of a particular place and time—a small Ontario hamlet of the 1930s following a lifestyle that no longer exists. The village has grown and now belongs in another era, but I hope readers who still inhabit the area are building up their personal “Good Old Days” and that they see the importance of recording and sharing their stories.
