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Marion Christie
2003
Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada

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Growing up in Bedford
1914-1930

Marion Christie was born April 5, 1906 in Sydney Nova Scotia. Her father was Andrew Webster Robb and her mother Helen Dennis. Marion moved to Bedford in 1914.
With her BA and MA from Dalhousie University, Marion was employed as a teacher, she taught in Calgary from 1927 - 1930 when she returned home to Nova Scotia. She worked as a reporter for The Halifax Herald, married, and later taught in Bedford from 1955 to 1968.
Marion has been a life long member of the Bedford Presbyterian Church which became Bedford United Church in 1925 and she has made a tremendous contribution over her years there. Marion has always been deeply involved in the community and has been recognized in a number of ways. In 1986 she received the Elsie Churchill Tolson award for her enduring contribution to the preservation of the heritage of our community. Also in 1986, Marion received the Provincial Volunteer of the Year Award representing Bedford. In 2000 Marion received the Governor Generals Caring Canadian Award, presented by Her Excellency the Right Honorable Adrian Clarkson.
Marion is an avid local historian and her hobbies include keeping scrap books of all kinds of current events. Marion has written the history of Bedford United Church from 1868 to 1975 and collaborated on a second volume of the church history from 1975 to 2000. Marion has also given many presentations on life in Bedford in the early 1900's. This is one of them, entitled "Growing up in Bedford from 1914 to 1930."
There are not many people alive today who can tell us what it was like during this period. Marion is still telling interesting stories even at the celebration of her 100th birthday April 5, 2006. We hope you enjoy this presentation. Here is Marion Christie.

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Growing Up in Bedford
2003
Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada

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GROWING UP IN BEDFORD

I have been asked many times what it was like to grow up in Bedford about 85 years ago, and there are many interesting memories.

If I am going to tell you about Growing up in Bedford I have to tell you about my growing up so it will have to be a sort of autobiography.

We came to Bedford in 1914 when I was 8 years old. My Mother had died of TB that spring, as did so many at that time, and my Father was determined that my sister, Jean, and I were to be brought up in the fresh air, so he bought the property in Bedford where the United Church is now and a younger sister of my mother's came out to keep house for us. I had a younger brother, Stuart, who was only 2, but Mother had been sick since his birth so he had been living with my Grandmother in Saint John. When we moved to Bedford my Grandmother and little brother joined us.

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Property purchased by Andrew W. Robb.
1914
Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada

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The property he bought had belonged to Hon. W. A. Black of Halifax. And this is the property that he bought, and actually my brother and sister and I are sitting in the front. He was well known in shipping circles, being a member of the firm of Pickford and Black. Later he was a federal minister in the Cabinet of Hon. Arthur Meighen. The property consisted of 1 acre, the present lot where the church now stands went back to High Street, then there was the strip between the road and the track which was a large field in those days and which is now the parking lot, and the large area which is now called Isleview, between the track and the Basin.

The house had been Mr. Black's summer home, and when we went there there was no indoor plumbing, we had a so-called two-seater outside, no electricity, we used lamps, no telephone. We had a well and one of the pumps and a handle that went up and down, and worked fine after it was primed. When my Father had a bathroom installed upstairs he had a large zinc lined tank put in and we children had to pump to fill the tank, up and down, up and down. We got paid one cent for every 200 strokes, so we kept strict count, marking our score each time on a piece of cardboard on the wall.

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Barn on the Robb family property.
1915
Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada

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Behind the house there was a large barn that had a big ice house at the back where blocks of ice had been stored in sawdust. That served as a wonderful playhouse for us.

Later the building was used as a garage. In the field across the road, just at the edge of the property, there was a large carriage house with horse stalls and separate upstairs and downstairs. We used that for a playhouse too. Later when there were more cars in Bedford, my Father had it converted into a garage and it was rented to those who were looking for accommodation for their cars. At one time it was one of the fire centres. The Ratepayer's Association set up stations around Bedford to house fire fighting equipment, and we had buckets and ladders stored there.

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The Village Queen
1925
Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada

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This picture shows the Village Queen, the earliest piece of fire-fighting equipment which is still in existence although not used any more. It used to be dragged around by a truck.

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Marion and Jean Robb in a tree.
1914
Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada

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There were many trees on the property and my sister and I loved to climb them.

This shows us in a large oak tree right in front of the house. My Father must have taken that picture from the upstairs verandah. There was a very tall tree down in the corner of the property and from the top of that we could see right up to the station.

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The August apple tree
1915
Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada

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We had several fruit trees at the back of the house. This is a picture of the August apple tree in bloom, and some of the family.