TRANSCRIPT

WM - Wilma (Miller) Morrison, interviewee / LR - Lyn Royce, interviewer

WM: ...?'ve taken them. This is the man and his wife who took us in, uh, when we moved back to London. We were on our way to find a place to stay and he and his wife invited us to stay with them.

LR: And who's he?

WM: Mr Walter - SIR Walter - Cromwell.

LR: SIR?! Walter Cromwell?

WM: That was his first name Sir Walter.

LR: Sir!

WM: Yeah...

LR: And how did you know them?

WM: Well, um, you know we were a small community in London, and I... to tell you the truth, I don't know. He was out cutting the lawn, and my mother, ah, because we had had an apartment... well, this is a long story, but anyway...

LR: 's all right...

WM: My brother, um, had moved into our apartment with a, with a lady, and so there was no place for us. So my mother had kinda cut him down at the knee and, and we were stomping down the street. And this man was out cutting his lawn. And he said, 'Oh hi Mabel, I haven't seen you in a long time.' And we had been in Dunville; you know, remember I told you about the flood story? And, uh...

LR: You know what we don't have the flood story recorded...

WM: Oh! Don't yuh?

LR: So tell me the flood story in Dunnville, I know it's a sidebar, but...

WM: Well, we had, we worked 1 year in, my mum worked 1 year keeping house for this man and his 2 sons in Canfield and he was kinda 'mingy.' [meaning cheap or stingy] So she heard about this, this man whose wife had just died in Dunville. And, um... He was the caretaker at the high school. So, anyway, we went and he hired her, and the house was right across from the high school and it was right close to the river. And so, you know we were getting along fine there. And then, um, in the spring, the Grand River flooded, as it did just a few weeks ago. I laughed at home... Anyway, we were upstairs, we were stuck upstairs for 2 week, um, and it was before I had started school, I think I was only about 3 so. And, um, so I, I remember I was saying my prayers 1 night and I peeked over at my mother, and she's kneeling on the other side of the bed, saying, 'Lord, if you'll take this water out of downstairs and let me get the place cleaned up down there, you won't find me here next spring.'

LR: Ah... okay....

WM: So the river went out, and she got it all cleaned up, and then she shook hands with Mr... forgotten his name... Thomas; and, uh, we moved back, we went back to London. To our apartment...

LR: To this...

WM: ...that my brother was supposed to be babysitting.

LR: Ah, okay...

WM: Okay. And so we weren't, uh... we were... there was no place for us. So we were walking along the street- my mother was going to the church to see Reverend Jackson!

LR: Ah, okay...

WM: To see if, uh, if they knew where there was a place where we could stay. And he said, 'Gee, Mabel, I haven't seen you for a long time.' He said, 'Where... what have you... Where have you been? What have you been doing?' So she told him. And he said, 'Oh, just a minute.' So he stopped and he went in and he talked to Mary Jane, his wife, and, uh, he come [sic] back out and he said, 'Well, we have an extra room there and we would welcome the money.' 'Cause this would have been... 1932 or so. Yeah. So, we moved into the 1 room there in the Cromwell's house and then they finally lost their house and we ended up all moving to this house.