14

Betty Hinton and the family dog Bruno.
29 June 1941
193 Aylmer Street, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada

15

Betty thinks the doctor who delivered her had an office at the corner of Brock and Aylmer (this area was known as Doctor's Row) but he made house calls as well. Betty's mother didn't believe in going to the doctor unless things were really desperate. She doesn't think she had any inoculations and doesn't ever remember getting a booster shot. She thinks that she was basically a healthy kid and doesn't remember being sickly except for measles, whooping cough and earaches. Betty never heard the word allergy while she was growing up. She thinks allergies were fairly rare. She had her tonsils out at Old Nichols Hospital which was where the bible college used to be at Argyle and Hilliard Streets, the building was torn down and the bible college built. This property is now owned by Trent University.

16

Betty Hinton in her confirmation dress on the lawn at St. Luke's Anglican Church.
June, 1947
St. Luke's Church, Roger's Street, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada

17

Four generations of Betty's family have been married at St. John's Anglican Church in Peterborough. Her grandparents were married on June 1st, 1905; her parents on September 28th, 1935; Betty and her husband on August 29th, 1959 and Betty's daughter Jane and her husband on July 8th, 1989.

Betty went to St. Luke's Anglican Church for many years. Her family didn't always go to St. John's in spite of many generations being married there. All of her public school friends went to St. Luke's and they all sang in the choir and went to church camp at Camp Couchiching on Lake Couchiching together. She was also in brownies and guides at St. Luke's.

On Sundays her family went to church and had Sunday dinner with her grandparents. They usually had roast beef; it seemed to be the regular feature of Sunday dinner. Betty also remembers doing her homework, visiting her friends and in public school riding her bike with friends on Sunday.

18

Betty Hinton walking with her mother across the train bridge over the Otonabee River.
1942
Otonabee River, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada

19

As a young child living on Aylmer Street, she didn't really strike out too much on her own but stayed within a couple of streets of her house when she was playing. Once the family moved to Ashburnham she had a whole new world to explore.

20

Betty Hinton and her friend Maureen Fletcher playing with a doll.
8 August 1943
193 Aylmer Street, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada

21

Betty went to Prince of Wales School for kindergarten, grade one and grade 2 before moving to King George School for grades 3 through 8. She is still in contact with her King George friends and they had a 75th reunion in the early 1990s. She started high school in 1949 and went to Peterborough Collegiate Vocational School (PCVS) for all five years. Betty remembers that C.S. Brown was the principal at PCVS, the teachers "had been there forever" and not many female teachers were married.

She remembers that the West end kids came from wealthier families and she really didn't have much contact with kids from the south end. She didn't even really realize that there was a south end. Kids tended to stay in their own neighbourhood and didn't know anyone from other parts of town until high school. Then they would make friends from other parts of town. Betty says that in high school "your horizons broadened, then you got to notice the rest of Peterborough, until then your whole life centred around Ashburnham".

22

Betty's favourite subjects in high school were English, French and History. She also took two years of Art and 4 years of Latin. Gym was compulsory until grade 13. The old gym was split in two with sliding doors, girls used the smaller portion and wore a grey gym outfit. Periods were 35 minutes long and there were nine periods in a day which ran from 9 to 4 with a lunch break from 11:45 to 1:20. There were no semesters. There was no such thing as individual schedules and students walked in lines from class to class. Girls wore skirts, sweaters and saddle shoes to class. There was a lot of homework because the classes were so short. When she graduated in 1954, there were 69 people in her graduating class.

23

Betty Hinton in formal wear for the Levana Formal at Queen's University.
10 February 1956
Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

24

Betty remembers dancing to big band music: Eddie Fisher, Rosemary Clooney, Glenn Miller, Frank Sinatra, and Johnny Ray (her parents hated him!). There was also square dancing every Wednesday afternoon in the gym at high school. This was something that she and her friends did for fun. She remembers when King George the Sixth died. She says he must have died on a Wednesday because square dancing was cancelled and they were all so mad because they couldn't square dance. Dances were an important part of the high school social scene.

25

Betty Hinton with her brother Bob.
24 November 1943
Peterborough, Ontario, Canada

26

When she lived on Engleburn (she moved there when she was seven,) it was perfect because Riverside Park was nearby and it had a huge playground. In the summer they had the H Wharf nearby which stuck out into the Otonabee River and had a big diving board. The small kids went to Riverside Park because the water was very shallow. She also remembers swimming in the canal every summer as well as the river. They swam by the train bridge near Maria Street. They tobogganed on Armour Hill, rode their bikes down Armour Hill and would go as fast as they could and see how far they could coast down Hunter Street without stopping. There were railway tracks that they had to cross and one time her wheel got stuck in the railway tracks and she went flying over the handle bars. Skating on the canal and at one of the local parks was also a big part of her leisure activity.

27

The MacDonald's home at 20 Dale Avenue (This street was renamed Engleburn Avenue).
25 June 1944
Dale Street (now Engleburn Street) Peterborough, Ontario, Canada