Memories
O F C L E A R WAT E R B AY Introduction by Tannis Erwin Engel–Memories by Phyllis Ketcheson
Following are memories shared by my Aunty Pook—Her name is Phyllis, but she was always Pook to us. She grew up in Winnipeg and the cottage has been in the family since she was a little girl and, of course, for my whole life. She inherited the cottage from my grandparents in the 1990s, and we subsequently purchased it from her and her husband, Donald Ketcheson (Ketch to his friends and family), in 2014. It was a succession that happened partly because my dad, her only brother Stewart, passed away when I was only 15 years old. It was the cottage that was the glue that held our small family together. Pook and Ketch were both so creative and inspiring, Ketch an interior designer and Pook a visual artist. They led a glamorous and busy life in Toronto but always had the cottage to come back to every summer to stay grounded and gather with our Winnipeg family. Now in her 80s and without Ketch, who passed away in 2018, Pook finds the journey to Clearwater Bay more difficult but her love and lasting memories of lake life remain strong. Pook got her creativity from my grandparents Ralph and Helen Erwin. My grandmother was a concert pianist and my grandfather was an actor that managed a traveling acting troupe called Chautauqua. Although they were Americans, his troupe travelled through Northwestern Ontario and the prairie provinces throughout the 1920s. This is how Ralph discovered the beauty of the Lake of the Woods area and eventually settled in Winnipeg, where he started up a successful restaurant chain called Salisbury House that is still in operation today. But that is a long story to be told another time. The following memories of Clearwater Bay are in Pook’s words. They are stories I have grown up with and will also continue to share to ensure our family’s long and wonderful history at Clearwater Bay is always remembered.
Ketch’s watercolour paintings of the main cottage provide a beautiful, permanent record of the Erwin/Ketcheson/Engel family cottage.
Lake of the Woods District Stewardship Association
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