V Eldred Milne can remember animals on the farm including Clydesdale horses.
LOOKING BACK Centenarian Eldred Milne has deep roots at the TBG By Lorraine Hunter
ISITORS TO THE TBG today likely couldn’t imagine roosters crowing or sheep grazing in Edwards Gardens. But that was the reality for Eldred Milne as a child almost a century ago. The last living member of the original Milne family to be born on the farm, Eldred turned 100 this past summer. She was born on August 27, 1920 in the old Milne farmhouse in what is now Edwards Gardens. The house burned down in 1962, long after the Milne family had moved on, and was replaced by the wooden gazebo or teahouse, as it was once known, on the crest of the hill close to Lawrence Ave. The old well, now a wishing well with cover, is still there. Eldred has fond memories of the animals raised on the farm including Clydesdale horses, cows, pigs and sheep. In fact, there was an old ram she remembers who preferred staying with his friend Mickey, a beige and white collie, to joining the rest of the flock when it moved from one pasture to another. She also recalls her brother Bill having pet goats and skunks. Entertainment in the Milne House when Eldred was a girl included listening to the radio, a gramophone and
Paul Latimer, Eldred’s nephew, her sister Alberta and Eldred on a recent visit to Edwards Gardens.
Eldred Milne celebrated her 100th birthday last August when friends and neighbours drove by her current house in West Hill to wish her well.
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