The Day Granny King Turned 75

On Wednesday, October 7, 1942 Granny King celebrated her 75th birthday!

Around the table are the following people who gathered to honour her, with their relationship to Granny King:

Aunt Sal - Salome (Porter) Hepworth, younger sister
Mrs Lathem, friend
Jacqueline Gay, granddaughter
Honey (Audrey) Mavor, granddaughter (my Mom)
Nita Mavor, granddaughter
Granny King (Mary Jane), the birthday girl
Herbert Mavor, son-in-law, married to Sadie (my Grampa)
Bessie (Elizabeth King) Gay, daughter
Sadie (Sarah King) Mavor, daughter (my Granny)
Ivy (Stroudley) King, daughter-in-law, married to son Robert
A friend

Standing at the back:
Cecil Brooks (stepping out with daughter Stella)
Harry Gay, son-in-law, married to Bessie
Stella King, daughter

The party was at Granny King's ground floor cold flat at 434 Egan Avenue, Verdun, Quebec where she lived with her spinster daughter Stella. Aunt Salome was living in Red Deer, Alberta and made the trip east to help celebrate her sister's birthday. The other guests all lived close by in Verdun. Granny King's other siblings lived in New Hampshire, US since the early 1900's.

I see a plate of sandwiches and a birthday cake with candles on the table. The cake was perhaps bought at Langevin's Bakery, down the street. The family often bought baked goods there for special occasions. The table is set with Granny King's best china, and her silver sugar and creamer set are laid out, waiting for the coffee to be served. Granny King didn't allow liquor in the house, but Aunt Stella may have had a stash mixed and camouflaged in a ginger ale bottle, ready to sneak to anyone who wanted to imbibe.

After everyone had cake the men would have gone outside to smoke and chat, while the women caught up on family news. Everyone wanted to hear about Salome's children and life in Red Deer, Alberta. It would have been an early evening as most had to get up early to go to work the next day. Granny King was happy to have her loving family share this special day with her.

Mary Jane Porter (1867-1957)  
my maternal great-grandmother, "Granny King"