Thank you to everyone for rsvp'ing for the June 30 gathering to share memories of Maria.
If you have confirmed you are joining us on June 30 you should have just (June 23) received an email providing final details and directions to the gathering next weekend.
If you have questions, or did not receive a confirmation but you plan to join us, please contact Kate at the email provided earlier.
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Photos updated online
I just finished scanning and uploading a series of photos of my mom. Slowly piecing together a photo-history as relatives and friends send images. So many wonderful memories.
https://picasaweb.google.com/110782173217239581599/ArtAndPhotosOfMariaAJennings19452013#slideshow/5871954626209558578
https://picasaweb.google.com/110782173217239581599/ArtAndPhotosOfMariaAJennings19452013#slideshow/5871954626209558578
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
good memories of a loving and kind-hearted soul
June, 2013.
Dear Jennings Family,
I am writing to offer my profound and heartfelt condolences to you all, and Tony, Tim, Kate, and all the rest of your family on the sudden passing of Maria. I hope it not insensitive to say that it is very much in keeping with the Maria I knew, to take a quick exit and to be out of the world, not as a result of a protracted illness, but on an enjoyable evening, at home, with the goodness and harmony that existed for her in what I would call, "the cat bird's seat", of her home and garden, a place of pride and joy.
My memories of Maria are of a steadily supportive and sympathetic aunt, quick to accept guests and visits, and always glad to see a family member with open arms and a warm heart. I remember one visit to Georgetown and area very fondly, where we walked through a water land and wet land, over rocks, seemingly through a lake, over streams, up and down hills, and remember Maria saying how it was one of her favorite places, if not her favorite place in the world of nature. Various of us including Maria, Tony, myself and others would stop and pose, pausing on a stone and seem alone in creation against still and running water; an unforgettable walk in a mythic, otherworldly setting. Maria's joy in showing us this was palpable and her joy in being in that environment was, too. Unforgettable.
That evening and on many others, exquisite food, drink and cig's were enjoyed by all, in the manner of our parents' generation, which is to say with no abstemiousness, no judgement, and no brake on pleasure!
I surely felt and still feel the welcome and love in Maria and Tony's home. I would like to give witness to the love that Maria had for her family and home as so plainly evident. Steady crowds of people some evenings in and out of the house and through the garden. In the house, carefully chosen paintings, sculptures, I remember a wood carver's hummingbird, I believe, all delectable. All this set peppered with an unending selection of culinary sensations, each elegant and deep with flavor.
Whenever I saw Maria and Tony too, I felt nothing but good regard, and a lasting steady empathy for me as a relation, whether my fortunes or moods ran high or low. This is rare-- and was unwavering, which I admired. One person I brought into Maria's home and garden was not a social joiner, and always seemed to find sorrow in social interaction, but not there, where the welcome was of heart's hearth glowing, and warm as fire, shining through the house and garden. In many conversations I shared with Maria, her love for her siblings and families of, Harry, Dede, John, was evident, for her Father Harry B. as well, and Prudence, too. But Maria's concern for and feeling for Tony, Timothy and Kate, gave me inspiration, as I felt she so keenly cared for their wellbeing, again-- without a brake. I am sure she would wish you not too much grief, but good memories and good cheer, plus the embrace of life's available pleasures.
My Mother, Martine, fondly remembered Maria from when they first met in the early 1960's, when they were all, it might be evident without saying so, quite young. I sent Martine a copy of the obituary from the Globe and Mail as she had expressed an interest, in particular, in what kind of work Maria had continued to do- and was interested as she, Martine, has made a third career out of artisanal work and was a longtime member of the Merrickville Arts Guild, before moving to Victoria, B.C. Martine knew of, experienced, as well as admired Maria's work and talent in the fields of Craft and Art, as well as the organization and display thereof.
I wish to extend my sympathies to all of your family, but particularly to Tony. Tony, please be well, and to all of you, please accept the good wishes and love of any family members (for whom I will speak) who are not able to attend, we ruefully wish we could be there.
Wishing you all-- good memories of a loving and kind-hearted soul.
Love to you all, as well, wishing you good comfort in good company.
David Gow (and Kalo)
Memories of Maria (by her brother Harry William Gow)
MARIA
My first
memories of Maria are unsurprisingly of a baby wrapped in warm covers to keep
out the spring fogs of the British Columbia West Coast. The next memory is of her quickly forming an
attraction for Father (Harry Broughton Gow) and of his equally unreserved
affection for her. Her outstretched arms
were clear signs of her need to give and get affection, remarkable in a
British-Canadian family wherein such demonstrativeness was not the norm in the
immediate postwar era. This positive affection marked Maria’s dealings with her
family from the beginning to the end.
No one else
in our little coterie of children, soon joined by little brother John, was as
overtly demonstrative as Maria, even though there was much (usually unspoken)
love lavished by our parents, Harry and Dorothy on all the children and shared
among the four kiddies.
Maria’s
special affections sometimes made the rest of us jealous, however. A more puissant cause of difference, however,
existed between on the one hand Harry Jr. (me) and Diana (Dede) and Maria and
John on the other: H&D had survived the war years together and had a strong
bond forged during a nomadic existence with Mother (Dorothy) with frequent
migrations between Invermere (her parents), Banff (our permanent residence),
Ottawa (Dad’s parents), Montréal (Margaret Wood), and Vancouver Island.
Maria and
John naturally found their way into the family constellation of course, but the
age difference between the two “war-timers” and the two younger siblings was
led to a naming the established duo “the big kids”, and the newcomers “the
little kids”.
“Little”
Maria was, we thought a very pretty little girl with enormous eyes and a way to
your heart with her propensity to cuddle and to do things a bit differently
from the other three, who were more attuned to skiing, skating, riding and
hiking than to civilised pursuits. Maria
saved her reputation, however by her early interest and skill in trout fishing,
a valued attribute in the outdoorsy Gow – Vernon-Wood world. Her rapid uptake of domestic skills made her
a force in the kitchen and at the sewing table.
Hence the big kids recognised a younger equal in Maria.
The Gow
family lived where paternal Army postings (and the family ranch) took us; first
Vancouver, then Invermere (Horsethief Ranch) and later Ottawa, Calgary and
eventually Camp Borden and Pettawawa. In the first years from 1946 the ranch
was very rural with no electricity or indoor plumbing. For me, this seemed normal as it was in the
era before widespread rural electrification, but I recall Maria being less
comfortable with this as the years went on. When Tex (Mom’s father) took the
ranch back and sold it to Albert Cooper, while reluctant to leave the beauty of
the Selkirks, we were glad that the complications of keeping the ranch afloat
were over, Maria not least among us.
We Gow children
had many pets. While dogs were dominant in the family collection, cats were a
necessity in a rural home. They took to Maria and I tended to think of most of
the cats we had over the years were her pets.
This affection for animals was a stable feature of Maria’s life and households;
- she welcomed a chipmunk and some very friendly dogs to supplement the cats in
her menagerie.
A constant
in our family life, despite the constant travel, was the friendship with other
families formed during the war, and we were particularly close to the Jennings
family of Toronto and the Wood family of Oakville and Burleigh Falls. After I left home for university studies at
the too-young age of 17, these relationships sustained me during a year off
from academia spent in the Toronto area. While I knew that Diana was going out
with John Wood I was less au fait
that Maria was close to Tony Jennings.
So it was, that in those days of younger marriages, first I (Martine),
then Dede & John and then Maria & Tony tied the knot. (John Gow waited
some years!(Heather)).
After ten
years, my first marriage (with Martine) broke up and I was a rather lonely
individual. Brother John invited me to come skiing, and both my sisters,
despite them having children to care for, frequently had me in their care for a
weekend or longer. Trips to Georgetown
were part of my annual or semi-annual routine from then on, especially for
Maria’s and Tony’s famous Thanksgiving dinners. The hospitality and companionship of these two
exemplary hosts were later extended to my new spouse Jacinthe Mathieu, and for
many years this was an annual pilgrimage.
Gardening, cooking and art were shared passions!
The circle
was widened with the arrival of Timothy and then Katherine, both of whom became
our friends as they matured. Other young
people, such as Phil, whom Maria took under her wing with the same caring and
loving attention as with her own joined the family. In the past few years, obligations in
Montréal and Chelsea and an expensive move made our visits rarer, but I tried
to compensate with stopovers on train trips to Windsor and Detroit.
During all
this time, it was gratifying to follow Maria’s artistic career (weaver, potter)
and to meet her circle of friends such as Brookie and Bob, her bookseller
friend (Norman Holt), and many others.
Our one complaint was that Maria seemed to hate travel, and her trips to
Ottawa, Chelsea Qc and so on were rarissimes,
although we were able to welcome Tony at Chelsea from time to time.
I had hoped
to make a Georgetown stopover in the spring of this year 2013, at the time of a
speaking engagement in Essex, Ontario.
The budget-cutters in Ottawa and VIA Rail decided otherwise, reducing
VIA service through Georgetown to once a day.
I decided to forfeit the stopover and come back by car in late
spring. Shortly thereafter, we were
shocked to hear that Tony had a sinus cancer, and these plans were put off
while this situation was being dealt with by a courageous Tony and a solicitous
Maria.
What was
our further shock when Tony, by now beginning to see light at the end of his
treatment tunnel, phoned to break the news of Maria’s sudden death at home, on
her porch, with cigarette and Scotch in hand.
We didn’t get a chance to say good-by to this warm artistic welcoming “little”
sister who ended every phone call with “I love you”.
Harry
William Gow - June 2013
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Monday, May 13, 2013
Quilt - From the Ords
Dear Kate;
Attached please find a photo of a quilt that both Maria and Marjorie [Nazer] worked on. It depicts June and John Ord’s farm in Cheltenham in a fanciful way, complete with Sumpy the lab on the front lawn and their neighbour Bob Kohler buzzing them with his piper cub as he often did...
Cheers;
Sunday, April 28, 2013
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