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Vol. 8
No. 10
YOUR INDEPENDENT LOCAL NEWSPAPER - LANARK, NORTH LEEDS & GRENVILLE
OCTOBER 2021
Ten decades of benefiting others Smiths Falls - Sally Smith editorial@pdgmedia.ca It was a ‘tough’ interview. But when there are 100 years to talk about…where to start? The plan was to break the story into four sections — that’s four sections of 25 years each — starting at the beginning, going to the end. Centenarian James Smith Sands, resident at Lanark Lifestyles in Perth, was okay with that. But, as often happens, stories are evocative, and while the 100 years were covered, it didn’t happen quite as planned…a lot more meandering. Centenarian James Smith Sands is the youngest child of a family of six; he was born September 3, 1921 after four older sisters and Adam, the first child in the family. Several early memories are more than vivid for him still. Public school was pretty boring; he admits to “not being too bright” and even failing and repeating the last year. He went because he had to. He excelled when he got to high school, though, where he was introduced to and became intrigued by electronics which became a lifelong passion.
One of his vivid memories as a teen was taking the train from Peterborough with Adam to the roundhouse at west Toronto and climbing around the engines there. The only thing they were told, he says, his eyes crinkling in remembrance, was “not to touch the throttles on the locomotives…they were big engines, steam locomotives.” The two ‘trained’ back to Peterborough in the early evening. “Kids sure wouldn’t be allowed to do that today,” he muses. And this, he adds, is where his fascination with trains started. A second passion was music. He describes it as “a major part of his existence.” He picked up the guitar, which he played all his life until a couple of years ago — at 98 — when his fingers gave up. Along with guitar he sang tenor and his voice became a perfect complement in many choirs over eight decades; he and two sisters formed a trio early on and through the years he was frequently asked to sing solos in The Messiah. “There was music every day…it just happened. We were a singing family. Martha and Agnes and I formed a trio before I joined the Air Force. I played guitar, and
CHEX Peterborough used to broadcast a Milk for Britain. I’d sing Shabby Old Cabby with two of my sisters.” He stopped for a moment and recited word-for-word Willy, Willy, Willy, one of the “crazy songs” he’d memorized more than 70 years ago. Third…his faith has been strong and engrossing throughout his life. He tells the story of a friend later in life who was in a dire way and he, and 40 members of his Bible Study group in Agincourt, sat and prayed for him over many long days. “The fellow came right back out of death.” And, of course, the war. He joined the Air Force in 1945, and eventually became the “youngest airman commissioned out of Clinton as a radar officer. “When war started Britain had to have 5000 technicians in a hurry. They came to Canada, and the 12 universities across Canada agreed to give basic training in electronics.” Sands remembers more than 200 going to the University of Toronto where he says he became so wrapped up with electronics, as fast as they would “pour it out, I absorbed it.” From there, they were sent
Jim Sands is 100. His pace has slowed a bit but he keeps his hand in taking pictures of residents and events at Lanark Lifestyles in Perth. Photo credit: Sally Smith.
to Clinton, north of Toronto, to the village of Vanastra which became the secret radar school. “Once there we were sworn to 50 years of silence.” Six of his class were commissioned as pilot officers. From there they went on to Corpus Christi in Texas and were trained on the Loran navigation system. He met an interesting fellow there — movie star Tyrone Power. At the time Sands needed dental work and Power drove him back and forth between Corpus Christi and his dental appointments.
Sands called him “quite the guy.” After a year of criss-crossing the country — Florida, Bahamas, back to Canada, on to Miami, then to Moncton, he gave his one and only true love Evelyn a call and said “Let’s get married!” They were married when he was 22, she was 21. They were stationed in Moncton and every morning he’d walk four miles to the base to see what was happening. One day his orders were to “get on the train to Halifax” and he didn’t see Evelyn for a year-and-ahalf after that. He sent airmail
letters every day, though. He says, matter-of-factly, that “Ev burned them years ago.” But, boy, what a story they could have told! In England, at RAF Winthorpe, Sands found himself the first Canadian staff radar officer, and the youngest. His mom gave him some good advice then. Pointing to the stripes on his arm on his newly-bought uniform, she said, according to Sands, “Son, if you have to rely on that to get the job done, they’ve given the commission to the wrong man.” Continues on page 5
Truth and Reconciliation Day in Lanark: first step in a long journey
Regional - Brian Turner editorial@pdgmedia.ca On Thursday, September 30, Lanark County Warden Christa Lowry, council and staff hosted the first Truth and Reconciliation Day ceremony at the county’s
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admin offices in Perth. A series of speakers outlined the history of Indigenous peoples in our region and both the need for and the paths forward to achieve reconciliation. They all strived in their comments to provide connections to Facebook/HometownnewsPerth
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and foster understanding by non-first nation’s persons in attendance. Reminders that residential schools existed up to 1996 provided some context to the day’s proceedings. One of the most touching presentations came from a young Ojibway member from the Crane clan who described the pain and suffering she and her small community suffered on a reservation and how it was difficult to get her off-reservation friends to grasp the situation. Warden Lowry noted the
organizers were pleased that the turn-out was bigger than expected and that a variety of speakers was chosen to help everyone in attendance understand how they had a role to play in the process of healing. September 30 marks the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation — an annual commemoration honouring the children who died while attending residential schools and the survivors, families and communities still affected by the legacy of that system.
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Algonquin Elder Larry McDermott addresses the audience at Lanark County's first marking of Truth and Reconciliation Day all photos courtesy of Lanark county staff. Photo submitted.
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