By Wendy Truscott
Always ready with a smile and joke, Alex, a fit 98, is also Baysville’s last war veteran. He’s enjoyed this community since a family holiday in 1933 at the King’s guest house on King’s Rd. His parents, Georgia and August, immediately sought property to purchase and found it on the river, where “the Ellis boys” had erected just six logs of a square cabin. In 1934, parents, six children, a dog, a canary, and their grandmother, piled into their Model T Ford and arrived to tent for the summer while completing the cabin. However, a polio epidemic in Toronto delayed their return, and Alex, 11, and two siblings began their school year here.
Alex remembers walking along the shoreline from Baysville to King’s Rd., munching wild raspberries, to visit the Kings and enjoy Mrs. King’s ready supply of cookies.
Leaving school, he worked as a butcher for Dominion Stores but in 1941 decided to enlist. Still 17, too young to sign up here, Alex and a buddy hitchhiked to Quebec, where he could. His enlisted older brother, Bud, managed to “claim” him, bringing him home to serve with him in the Conn Smythe Brigade. Alex served for four years, landing in Normandy a few weeks after D-Day. On his return in 1945, he found work where he could, learning valuable trades by working at De Havilland and Canada Rogers Sheet Metal.
In 1952, Alex met Rhoda, “the best thing that ever happened to me”, at a dance and also introduced her to the cottage. They married in 1954, and in 1957, began construction of their own cottage on the property. After the birth of son Paul, in 1962, Rhoda began spending summers here with him, while Alex came up weekends.
Alex’s maternal aunt, Lucy, married Ken McPhee. They eventually moved from Toronto to Echo Lake, and later to University St., Baysville, where Alex’s mother, Georgia, joined them.
Through years of self-study and exams, Alex became a Stationary Engineer at A&P’s head office, where Rhoda also worked. In 1990, upon retirement, they immediately moved to Baysville. Here, Alex has enjoyed golf, boating, fishing, puttering, and maintaining their beautiful property. Grandchildren, Sean and Scarlett, are the fifth generation to enjoy it. Asked to describe the biggest change he’s seen after 88 years in this area, he immediately quipped something like, “The women are even more beautiful,” but his wife Rhoda cut in with, “Alex! You can’t say that!” so he reconsidered.
Rhoda herself turned 90 about two weeks ago, and when the author was chatting with her outside a coffee shop and asked about Alex, she told Truscott she’d never believe what he was doing at that moment. Then she explained that he was installing bats of insulation under the floor of their deck! At 98! Quite a guy!
Alex turns 99 tomorrow, Aug. 20, 2022. If you see him around the village, be sure to wish him a happy birthday!
This article was first published in the South Shore Times in 2020. Wendy Truscott is the author of Haunted Journey and MacGregor’s Curse. You can find her books on Amazon, Chapters/Indigo, Barnes & Noble, & others. E-versions: Amazon, Kobo, Kindle, and others. Copies also available at Heron’s Nest Studio and Gallery, Bracebridge; Veranda; Bracebridge; Rafters, Baysville; Miss Nelle’s, Baysville; Baysville General Store; Robinson’s, Dorset, ON.
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