Ottawa, late 1930s

From left: my mother's uncle, Harry Chew; sitting; behind him (far left) is Mrs. May (?) -- (she owned the house in the picture; I think Uncle Harry was a boarder at the house); my mother is in the middle, standing and looking stylish as ever; I believe that's my mother's mother, Bertha Chew Parker standing next to my mother (she died when I was around seven years old and I have no memories of her); in front of Bertha, sitting on the stairs (in suit and tie) is my grandfather John Richards Parker. Harry was the best man at my grandparents' wedding.

Uncle Harry's wife ran off with another man, possibly to Chicago, and left him with their two daughters. I have the girls' names written down somewhere. This was a story I heard quite often but despite that I have still forgotten the girls' names. One of the girls was adopted by my mother's cousin, Gertie Holden Brown (her mother was Alice Chew, the sister of Bertha Chew above) and Gertie's husband Fred Brown who lived in Woodstock, Ontario, but I guess Gertie and Fred were set in their ways, older and conservative and not really parent material, and I guess the girl was young and a bit too energetic or too wild for them and they sent her back...

The Chews, Parkers, Richards (my grandfather's mother), all came from Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and some of them moved to Montreal, or Woodstock, Ontario, and one went to Bercy, Saskatchewan. Back in Blackburn they worked in property management, the trades, or in the mills. It's possible we have relatives there we don't know about, you can see more at Morrissey Family History. Later, I'll post some photographs of them.