October 21, 2017. Canyon Lake, Texas. Aunt Margaret.

She was not even a real aunt but she was Aunt Margaret to me.   Her real name was Margaret Crosbie, Major Margaret Crosbie actually.  She was a Salvation Army officer and a nurse.  And she was single.  Fortunately for me, she lived in the same cities as us in Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto where she was the superintendent of Grace Hospital in all three cities.   My real Aunt was Aunt Miriam, my mother's older sister, and a life long friend of Aunt Margaret.   As we did not live in the same city as Aunt Miriam, Aunt Margaret took on that roll and did it well.

When I was 13, Aunt Margaret hired me to work for her on Saturday mornings.  I did whatever she told me to do.  Sometimes I cleaned her white shoes or ironed her white uniforms.   Or I would file letters.  Before leaving for home at 1:00, I ate lunch with her, often dining with other people.    Once I allowed the iron to get too hot and the tip of the iron marked the inside of the front  of the uniform leaving a brown stain.  I was horrified and quickly found Aunt Margaret to show what I had done.  I still recall her words.  I had offered to buy her another uniform.  She did not tell me that there was no problem and she was serious about what I had done.  But she told me that I had not done it on purpose and that the uniform was still wearable.  So I went back to work.

While still living in Vancouver when I was young, Aunt Margaret would invite me to have dinner at the hospital whenever she entertained the Doctors who were on the Board of Director.  She told me that she wanted some life around the table so even though I was 14 or 15, I as expected to hold conversation with the doctors.    That training was invaluable for me all thanks to my Aunt Margaret.

When Ken and I moved into the apartment over the hardware store, the windows were huge and we lived on a busy street.  She called to ask if we needed any help and I told her about the windows.  She dug around in the back closets of the Grace Hospital and found big heavy drapes which were perfect.

All my life, I have been in touch on the phone with Aunt Margaret.  I spoke with her my whole life.  She was always interested in everything we were doing, whether we were living in Texas or Maryland.  She was an important person in my life, every year of my life.  I still miss her.  She was a wonderful aunt.