Georgena was always known to all as “Jo”. Jo was born September 3, 1912 to Adoniram Smith and Alice Pennell. She married Jacob “Jake” Buchanan, December 24, 1937, and had two sons, David and Keith. She died January 3, 2009 in North Bay, Ontario.
At the time, Jo was working at [Eaton’s] but she had been scheduled to be off on her wedding day. However, as luck would have it, she was asked to fill in for another staff member on that special day. She agreed, but said, “I have to be off by 6pm, because I’m getting married at 7 o’clock.”
North Bay Nugget, 1987, “Honored on 50th Anniversary”
Aunty Jo was beautiful, both inside and out. I remember being at a funeral, sitting beside Uncle Jake. Aunty Jo was across the room chatting with someone. Uncle Jake said to me, “Just look at your aunt. Isn’t she beautiful?” I was very struct by that. I always thought of her as pretty, but Uncle Jake’s comment made me realize just how beautiful she was and how much he loved her after so many years, kids grown and gone.
Going to North Bay meant going to the Buchanan’s. They had a round doorbell and a little 3” x 1.5” plastic plaque on their door with the Buchanan plaid on it. They had a faux fireplace in the living room and a pump organ. The pump organ eventually ended up at their cottage, replaced by an electric fancier organ. The floors creaked in places. They didn’t have a shower in the bathroom, which didn’t mean anything to me until after we moved to a house with a shower in Porcupine.
They had their washer and dryer in the kitchen, like we did in Rutherglen, but theirs was the type with the little round windows in front. Their basement was dark and dank but finished. Uncle Jake had a bedroom down there with a lot of his records and reel to reel recording equipment for his little DJ business. There was actually two bedrooms with a shared bathroom in the middle. I was always forgetting to lock both doors. I think David and Keith slept down there when they were young.
There were three bedrooms on the main floor. They used to rent two of these to students from the teacher’s college, I think. But when there were no tenants, and we stayed overnight, these are the bedrooms we’d use. I remember in particular the front room, as this room faced Fisher Street which was a very busy route into downtown North Bay. The streetlights were so bright compared to Rutherglen, and the windows vibrated when trucks would drive by.
That front bedroom’s closet was also a bit of a treasure spot for me. Aunty Jo kept games and puzzles and books in there. I used to go in there and find things to play with. Uncle Jake had a magic trick kit that he loved to bring out.
The upper floor of their house was a separate apartment they rented out.
They also owned the house next door to them, which they rent out. When my sister Carol and Roy Sullivan married, they rented this house.
Around the corner from their house, I met a little girl my age named April. I used to go and play with her sometimes.
Aunty Jo made her own bread and little buns with 3 balls.
When we’d play 500 with Aunty Jo and Uncle Jake, and Aunty Jo was my partner, she’d wink at me as if she had some really good cards or had a trick up her sleeve. She rarely did, so I’m guessing now that her wink was more of a “knowing” wink, as Uncle Jake was a reckless bidder, and often bid up to 9 without having good cards. They were also bridge players.
Uncle Jake took Wayne and I to his Canadian Longyear’s Christmas parties and Santa would be there with a gift for everyone. He worked there as a purchasing agent. I noted on their marriage registration his occupation is Bookkeeper.
Aunty Jo and Uncle Jake are buried head-to-head with her parents, Alice and Adoniram Smith at Terrace Lawn Cemetery, North Bay. I recall Aunty Jo telling me, on a visit to Terrace Lawn, that she had already bought and arranged for her and Uncle Jake to be buried in the “touching” plots. Logically, I’m not sure how she arranged this with the cemetery, but sure enough, if you visit the cemetery, the “front” of the grave stone is marked with Alice & Adoniram’s names, while the back of the same of stone is marked with Aunty Jo and Uncle Jake.
It is rumoured that Aunty Jo was very frugal. One such rumour was that she controlled the bank book (strange now that I know Uncle Jake was a bookkeeper) and would give Uncle Jake 25 cents weekly allowance. So when I think about her arranging to be buried head-to-head with her parents and then reusing the headstone, it could be possible that there were additional reasons for her to buy the plots where she did.
After my Dad passed away, they were always there for my Mom, helping her however they could. My Mom didn’t drive, so Uncle Jake would take her where she needed to go. They were witnesses to my parents marriage and also to my Mom’s 2nd marriage to Albin Miklautsch.
Georgena’s Obituary
Peacefully at Cassellholme on Saturday, January 3rd 2009 in her 97th year. Predeceased by her parents, A.W. Smith (Nide) and Alice Smith (nee Pennell), and all of her siblings, Elmo, Chester, Edna, Vera, Emmett, and Lloyd. Beloved wife of the late Jacob “Jake” Buchanan (1995). Mother of David (Marilyn) and Keith (Maureen). Special Grandmother to Jordan (Brenda), Andrew (Cherie-Lynn), Kevin (Esmeralda), Chris (Debra) and Alison (James Dennis). Grandma Jo will be missed by her great-grandchildren in St. John’s NL, Sudbury, and Russell, Ontario. She will be fondly remembered by her sister-in-law Joan Smith-Miklautch and many nieces and nephews.
Jo was an avid dancer for years in Square, Round and Ballroom dancing with various clubs in the area. She was the past chief of Kintail Camp, Sons of Scotland and enjoyed many social gatherings at Hogmanay, Burns Nights, and the Tartan Balls. She loved playing bridge and enjoyed the Golden Age Club for many years. She was a faithful member of St. Andrew’s United Church and the UCW.
The Buchanan Cottage
It was always exciting to go to Aunty Jo’s and Uncle Jake’s cottage and it was a big deal because summertime was a busy time for Dad on the farm and I knew he had to take an afternoon away from the farm to go. Most of the time we’d go as a family, although I don’t remember going with Carol and Donna. Sometimes Wayne and I would go and stay for a couple of days.
It wasn’t that far from our farm – perhaps 20 to 30 minutes. It was on Trout Lake, a lake that is cold and rumoured to have a water monster in it. They had a little sandy beach, a dock, but lots of sand at the end of the dock. There were blood suckers close to shore and I had to get many blood suckers salted off or burnt off my legs.
They had a boat and Uncle Jake would take us out for boat rides around the lake. Uncle Jake and Aunty Jo had two sons, David and Keith, around the same ages as Carol and Donna. So they had water skiing gear and lots of life jackets. This was one of the only places that I ever water skied (or tried!).
I remember Aunty Jo giving me a peanut butter and banana sandwich. I’d never had one before and she was so surprised. They were great. What made their cottage different in my mind was that the kitchen and living room were all one big room. Open concept was so strange.The Buchanan cottage is, to this day, my idea of a “real” cottage: bedrooms with curtains for doors, beds that took up the whole bedroom, hooks for clothes instead of closets, log walls, boats and life jackets, water skiing, swimming, a front porch with screened wall to wall windows, binoculars hanging from a nail on the wall, the call of loons in the night, the smell of wood and water. I think I remember an outhouse and Uncle Jake taking soap down to the lake to bath. Later came an inside toilet and shower.
Descendants of Georgena Buchanan
- Georgena Smith (piano, organ) m. Jacob Buchanan (fiddle, bagpipes)
- David Buchanan (fiddle, bagpipes, singer) m. Marilyn Brown (artist)
- Jorden Buchanan m. Brenda Hulan
- Andrew Buchanan (guitar) m. Cherie-Lynn Ervine
- Kevin Buchanan m. Esmeralda Galen
- Keith Buchanan (bagpipes) m. Maureen McGarvey
- Christopher Buchanan m. Debra
- Allison Buchanan m. James Dennis
- David Buchanan (fiddle, bagpipes, singer) m. Marilyn Brown (artist)
