I still read the obits

Talking about the Ottawa obituaries.  Today, two I recognized:  One was for one of the partners in the law firm that handled my adoption in 1947, the other for a woman I knew at Carleton about 52 years ago.  Redmond (Red) Quain was the son of the lawyer who handled my adoption back in 1947 because my parents were considered to have been in a "mixed marriage".  Why?  My father was Catholic and my mother Protestant, thus the province considered them unfit parents.

I kid you not!

So, they went to the Salvation Army Bethany Home and picked out a girl of 18 who was about to give birth.  Red Quain, sr, arranged it all before I was born and at six weeks old -- torture for the birth mother -- I was handed over to my wonderful parents.  When pregnant with my second child, I started to wonder about my genetics.  So, I wrote a letter to Red Quain, jr, forged my father's signature, and asked him to give me my file.  He sent it to me, but all it contained was the name of the mother, Shirley Ann Latimer, and that she was a music clerk.  This was before the internet and I scoured city directories for Latimer's.  I finally found a family in Kemptville and called them.

When Gladys Latimer picked up the phone, I told her I was a long-lost relative of Shirley's.  "Oh, that's too bad.  Shirley died a year ago."  I was devasted.  Shirley had only been 49 years old when she died of lung cancer from smoking.  I did find her family and realized I was lucky to have been raised by my parents because the Kingston Latimer's were pretty rough "townies".  Having met everyone who had been alive back then, I came to the conclusion that although they were my birth family, they were not my family.  

Sadly, Shirley had married later in life, but was unable to have children.  I was her only offspring.  She died without having known what had happened to me; at least I knew what had happened to her.

_______________________

The other death notice was about the wife of a guy I had known when I was at Carleton.  The guy I was dating at the time was a close friend of this couple, so we double-dated frequently.  She was lovely, but I wondered if their marriage had lasted because the notice said, "Loving wife of Br..., for 54 treasured years of marriage."  Really?  I laughed because he had made passes at me on numerous occasions while he was married.  I am sure I was not the only one to whom he did that.  But evidently, she stuck by him.  Anyway, I put a remembrance in because I really liked her.