LOOK AT THE BRIGHT SIDE...

A Prairie rendition of the trials of Job (The Carlyle Observer, May 01, 2003)

When the Morrison family reunites this summer in Saskatchewan, the topic will almost certainly turn to the long, troubled life of their matriarch, Ethel. Mrs. Morrison (nee Hawkins) died after 83 years plagued by injuries to herself and untimely deaths among her family members. Her travails were chronicled in frank detail by her eldest son, Roderick, in an obituary that appeared in this week's issue of the Carlyle Observer. Here is his account:

Ethel Mildred Morrison MORRISON: Ethel Mildred Morrison, 83, passed away on Friday, April 11, 2003 at 1:00 a.m. in Arcola Hospital with son Roddie, by her side, after she suffered through three months in pain and failed to recuperate after having her seven remaining teeth extracted in two visits to the dentist around Christmas 2002.

Ethel's father was Sidney James Hawkins, born in Kent, England in 1888 and who worked on London Bridge in Railroad Traffic Control. He emigrated to Canada around 1910. Ethel's mother was Christina Bugyik, born in Kisusalag, Hungary in 1894. She also emigrated to Canada, possibly around 1910 with her parents and a sister. They were farming at Delisle, Sask. when her father, mother and sister were murdered by the sister's estranged husband, Joe Elak. The sister's daughter, Jenny, escaped this tragedy and she may be living in Saskatoon to this day.

Christina developed sugar diabetes and also went crippled, probably as a result of the shock of this tragedy.

Christina married Sidney Hawkins and he worked as a CN Railroad Towerman in several parts of the country, including Petrel Railway Crossing at Petrel, Manitoba where the troubled life of their second daughter, Ethel Mildred Hawkins began on Feb. 1, 1920.

At one point, as a child, Ethel accidentally froze her fingers and the tips of them were left stunted as a result and they remained so for the rest of her life. She also crushed some of the toes of one foot, in the gears of her father's railroad hand cart.

In yet another accident, Ethel was sliding down a teeter totter and broke her tailbone on one of the u-bolts at the center of it and her tailbone healed sticking rearward and remained that way for the rest of her life and she always had difficulty sitting in a chair.

Her family moved to Carlyle, Sask. in 1939 where Sidney Hawkins carried on as a CN Railroad Towerman.

Ethel's mother, Christina Hawkins, passed away in Weyburn Hospital in 1961, suffering from complications from a failed experiment performed on her by doctor who erroneously tried to take her off insulin. Sidney Hawkins died in 1964 after he swallowed a chicken bone.

After failing to recuperate from the dentists, she was allowed to keep her top false plate in her mouth, with no teeth on the bottom. It is believed that this further complicated the problems that she had.

...at least Canada has National Health. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 2, 2003 9:37 AM