2 Friday, April 29, 2022brooklintowncrier.com Brooklin's Community Newspaper Proud to be a Brooklinite Since 2000. Published 24 times per year. Editor, Richard Bercuson 613-769-8629 • editorofbtc@gmail.com • Circulation 8000 • Delivery via Canada Post Locally owned and operated. A publication of Appletree Graphic Design Inc. We accept advertising in good faith but do not endorse advertisers nor advertisements. All editorial submissions are subject to editing. For advertising information, contact: Email: mulcahy42@rogers.com Next Issue: Friday, May 13, 2022 Deadline: Friday, May 6, 2022 Brooklin TOWN CRIER.com Call us at 905-655-6200 to book your appointment Sunglasses... It was, she once said proudly, a labour of love. Years before organizations such as the Ontario Genealogical Society in Oshawa existed, Chrissie Simpson collected information about the history of local pioneer families. Their graves were the only reminders that these people had once forged a living in the Village of Brooklin and surrounding areas. "There was a long time when those old cemeteries were forgotten," Simpson stated, "but the people in them were the ones who opened up this part of the country and we have a duty to remember them." It explains why the headline for an article in the Whitby Free Press on February 2, 1983, shouted, "Brooklin Woman Saves Local History from Slipping Away". Cemetery Board In 1946, she took the position as secretary with the Groveside Cemetery Board where she proved to be so capable that she was eventually given a management and research position. When the Township of Whitby took ownership of the once privately owned cemetery, the office was in disarray. Records were misplaced or incomplete and it was not known where a particular person or family was buried. In some cases it wasn't known if anyone was buried in some areas of the cemetery. A few stones were engraved with Mother or Father, without names, birth or death dates (as is the case of my Bailey great-grandparents) making it difficult to match with any records. In many cases all Simpson had to go by was a name. During her time with the Board she created reliable records out of the disorder, sometimes just from the memories of Brooklin seniors. Many old flagstones were saved from fields and a few were recovered from Brooklin's first cemetery on Albert at Church Street. The stones are now in an area at Groveside marked "Pioneers of the Township of Whitby." Married later She served on the Groveside Cemetery board for 37 years, her last five as the wife of. Dr. John McKinney, whom she married on April 21, 1978. Christian Katherine (Chrissie) Simpson was born on April 15, 1902 near Peace River, Alberta. In 1922, her family moved to live in Brooklin's oldest house, the Hunter Darlington place on Cassels Road. Her father was minister at the Burns Presbyterian Church in Ashburn from 1937 to 1940, where she eventually became an Elder. In Helen Alve's book, "One Hundred Years of Brooklin Schools," there is a record of Chrissie teaching grades 1-3 at the Brooklin Continuation school from 1934 until 1948. She then taught grade 1 at Meadowcrest School until she retired in 1971. When she left her job with the Cemetery Board in 1983, a retirement dinner was held in her honour. TheTown of Whitby presented her with a gold pin in appreciation of the many years she dedicated to providing a lifeline to the past for local families. She passed away on August 16, 1995 and is resting, naturally, at Groveside. The Lady Who Saved Local History By Jennifer Hudgins