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Page IS THE HERALD Wednesday June Arts Ideas Local love affair sparks gossip Last week I wrote about Jack who at 20 years of age eloped with 17yearold An nie Wheeler against the wishes of his family That shocking show of in dependence became the talk of the county I have the suspicion that la Roche who was at that time a school girl in Acton listened to the gossip about the mad young couples with fascination She tucked it away in her mind and used it 25 years later when she wrote the novel that catapulted her to fame In that novel two young people Piers and Pheasant run away get married and spend their wedding night in the Queens Hotel in Toronto When they return to their families next day they are received with outrage Jack and Annie became a hap py couple for most of their mar ried life but the older Ballantines never forgave Annie for bewit ching their son Jack and Annie had four chilren Albert was born in 1901 Marjorie in Jack in 1904 and Dorothy later Mrs Marshall in 1908 Dorothy Mar shall loves to talk about her childhood and she remembers those faroff years with great ac curacy Life was very modest by to days inflated standards but An nie was more like older sister to her children than a mother She played with them and covered up for them when they got in trouble with their father Life with father was at times dif ficult Jack new his own worth but people compared him with his dashing brother Jim and found him wanting Today men like Ideas and The Arts by John Sommer Jack might be appreciated more but his contemporaries had rigid ideas about what a man was sup posed to do and what not Jack Ballantine had an eye for beauty Everything in the house from chairs to lamps to wallpaper had to pass muster in order to be accepted by him He loved order and elegance The righteousness of his parents and the bleak repressive mindset of so many people in town depress ed him at times On his blue days he liked to join other young men at the bar of the Hotel which was understandably enough not to Annies liking On the whole life was not bad Jack was too goodnatured to resent his parents infatuation with his brother Jim very deeply His love for his wife was more im portant to Jack than anything else even his children In the Great War started Jim went to France as an officer He was severely wounded in and came home to Georgetown a war hero There was an enthusiastic reception for Colonel Ballantine and the newspaper The Herald printed glowing reports about the towns most celebrated citizen Jack Ballantime enlisted a year later I have a notion that he did it because he wanted to shut people up once and for all Mrs Marshall told me that her father had drinks with a recruitment of ficer and before he knew what had happened he had enlisted I rather suspect that Jack Ballantine had wanted to enlist ever since his brother Jim had come home a hero This was a momentous decision for one with his family responsibilities and he simply needed a few drinks before he jumped It took quite a few months for his unit to get ready to leave Canada for Europe In the mean time the letters started to flow and there were still many op portunities for the family to get together Strikingly different from today are the trains that bring Jack to his family for a weekend or his family to him Milton Erin Camp Borden Hamilton all these places were within easy reach from Georgetown in those days I wish it had stayed that way Mrs Marshall remembers her mother and the children visiting father at Camp Borden and retur ning the same day Finally the day of departure arrived There was leavetaking in Hamilton when the whale battalion got on the train for Halifax and the ship that took them to England From Witley Camp in Surrey Jack Ballantine shipped rose bushes to his wife in Canada in August 1917 with his note attach ed Dear Annie These are rose bushes Put them in cold water first Maybe you had better plant them inside first they are very beautiful Have them blooming when Jack comes back A community- minded citizen Continued from Page He taught painting in Bolton Acton Milton and Georgetown and exhibited his work throughout Ontario In 1958 he painted the portrait of Col Walter Biehn former owner and publisher of the Herald helped open the special J Newman exhibit Paintings from Six Decades last Wednesday at the Art Gallery located in the Hills Cultural Centre on Church Street in Georgetown The exhibit which runs through July has even more poignancy now as Mr Newman died in Toronto last Thursday on his birthday Herald photo GET THE VIP TREATMENT VERY IMPORTANT PERSON Thats the way youre treated when you shop with your hometown merchants You rely on their honesty and you know they stand be hind the goods and ser vices they sell Support your local com munity and keep the dollars you spend in Hills Shop at home and youll be a VERY INTELLIGENT PERSON too Queen St E Brampton 4516000 Mrs Marshall remembers the roses arriving and doing well in her mothers garden But altogether 24 months would go by before Jack Ballantine would em brace his dear wife again About Jacks time in England I will write in the next column Its Raining BRING THIS AD AND SAVE with the purchase of ANY SHOWER CURTAIN EMERALD ISLE BEDROOM GALLERY J BRIDAL REGISTRY 8732753 130 St Georgetown VIDEO PLUS West of Georgetown Fruit Market COMING THIS WEEK JUST FOR Guclph Units JOIN US ON FATHERS DAY JUNE OPEN 500900 Book A Special Treat For Dads Taste I call 8737402 PROUDLY Gordon Cousens for Branch 120 of the Royal Canadian Legion in Georgetown He was a member of the Society of Painter Etchers and Engravers the Canadian Authors Association and the Five Counties Art Association He was asked to manage the re organization of the Georgetown Branch of the Canadian Red Cross Society In he was appointed Direc tor of the Halton County Museum at Kelso and transformed the old Alexander Farm into an im aginative regional museum He retired in but became im mediately engaged on behalf of the Oakville Harbour Develop ment Authority in the reconstruc tion of an old log cabin that had been removed from Trafalgar Road COUNTRY MUSIC AT ITS FINEST WEDNESDAY Country Music Singing Contest THURSDAY FRIDAY JOHNNY BURKE THURSDAY IS LADIES NIGHT LADIES GET IN FREE NEW ON THURSDAYS Country Dance Lesions pm Cover Charge Dress Code A Located on Hwy Just Yard East Winston Churchill Blvd For More Information Call 416 Music Fun Laughter VARIETY SHOW k Adult GEORGETOWN DISTRICT Friday June Saturday June 1991 open 730 pm Curtain 800 pm No reserved seating JOHN ELLIOTT THEATRE CHURCH STREET at Main Street GEORGETOWN REFRESHMENTS in the Gallery after the performance Income Tax Receipts available on request at the theatre 12 50 Tickets Available at These Locations Hallmark Greetings Gifts Georgetown District Memorial Sired Hospitals Auxiliary Gift Shop Real Estate Office 170 Street Georgetown Main Street Georgetown Youngs Main Sued Video I tunc 1 Moore Park Plaza