Sept 25, 1924

Evelyn is born to Edna Doucette and Harold Green in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She would later be joined by Beatrice, Stanley, Phyllis and Edna.

Phyllis Marie was later to become Sister M Charles RNDM.

Evelyn’s mom was French Canadian and was born in the US. Her family moved to Saskatchewan to farm. Her father Harold was originally from England where his family had been gardeners. They did not remain in Canada, but Harold did. He became a Mountie for a while but due to his injured feet from the war could not do a great deal of work if it required a lot of walking and standing. Her parents met late in life and what started out as a lovely friendship soon blossomed into marriage. They moved from Saskatchewan to Winnipeg where Harold worked at Eaton’s department store.

When Evelyn was born the dollar was worth about 18 dollars today. Gasoline was 13 cents a gallon, and life expectancy was 54 years. The war had been over for five years, but the world was still reeling from it.

It Had to Be You and It Ain’t Gonna Rain No More were on the airwaves. Evelyn would have heard those at home or sung them while attending local school. As the eldest she was determined to be a big help to her mother.

Sept. 26, 1934

Evelyn is ten years old and growing up in Winnipeg attending school at St Edwards and St. Mary’s Academy.

By the thirties life expectancy had increased to 62 years. One dollar is now worth $18.55. The Dionne Quintuplets are born, and Bonnie and Clyde are caught. The Bank of Canada is established, and the Canadian Wheat Board opens its doors. Its presence would prove important years later in Evelyn’s professional life when she begins working at the Grain Exchange in Winnipeg.

Sept 26, 1944

Sept 26, 1944 arrives and Evelyn is twenty. The world has been at war for five years. On June 6th of that year D Day unfolds and results in a major shift in the war. It also marks the first large- scale production of penicillin. A dollar is now worth about $14.00. Don’t Fence Me In and Swinging On a Star are playing on the radio and Hollywood has produced the timeless and classical films; Citizen Kane, Casablanca and It’s a Wonderful Life.

By this time Evelyn is working at the Grain Exchange where she will be busy in the summer months recording all the transactions. Come winter, the employees are left with not much to do so she and the rest of the women take up knitting to fill the long hours. We will have to ask Evelyn what she knitted. With her accumulating wealth as a working woman, she bought her first piano. That must have been a joyous day for the musically gifted Evelyn.

Eveyln had actually wanted to enter the convent before getting her first job but her father felt she was too young. It wasn’t till 1947, at the age of 22, that Evelyn entered at Sacred Heart College in Regina. In 1948 Evelyn became a novice and declared her profession in 1950. It was also in this year that she headed off to Fort Francis to teach Gr 3 and 4 as well as music, one of her greatest passions.

Sept 26, 1954

Evelyn is thirty and still in Ft Francis. The fifties see a housing boom and continued baby boom. It also heralded mass vaccinations across Canada against Polio. Roger Bannister breaks the record by running a mile in under 4 minutes. Meat rations are ended in Britain and Metropolitan Toronto comes into being along with a subway line. CBC opens its first station in Winnipeg and the St. Lawrence Seaway begins construction. A dollar is now worth $10.55. Songs on the radio include Mr. Sandman, Sh-Boom and Earth Angel.

The sounds of a new age of music is also at hand. The Big Band and Swing era give way to a new sound. Elvis is about to hit the stage and gyrate a craze with That’s All Right. Evelyn has been teaching for three years and will stay in Ft Francis at St Mary’s till 1957. She is also racking up the points in the local five pin bowling alley where she is a league member and will remain as such for 15 years. Evelyn makes her perpetual vows in Regina and teaches music at the convent and also Grade 5 at St. Joseph’s in Saskatoon.

In 1958-59 Evelyn moves on to St. Augustine’s and teaches music at St. Michael’s Academy in Brandon. In ’59 she will return to Ft. Francis where she will continue teaching and no doubt bowling. In 1962 she attends teacher’s college in Brandon after which she moves to Winnipeg and to St. Edwards where she teaches Grade 5.

Sept 26, 1964

Evelyn is now forty and has moved once again back to dear, old Ft Francis, where she will remain until 1982, teaching Gr. 5 and giving piano lessons as well as perfecting her strikes at the alley. Sadly, this was also the year that Evelyn will lose two of the people most dear to her; her mother Edna, and six months later her father, Harold. The shock and loss of both so close to each other is a heavy burden for Evelyn and one that will take a long time to heal.

In other events that year Martin Luther King wins the Nobel Peace Prize; Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act, and the Beatles appear on Ed Sullivan. Milk costs a dollar and gas 30 cents a gallon. The music on the radio is a rocking with I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Pretty Woman, and Dancing in the Street. Clint Eastwood is making and staring in Westerns and Zorba the Greek is filling theater seats. The longevity rate is now averaging 73 years for women, 66 for men.

Sept 26, 1974

Sept 26, 1974 arrives and Evelyn has lived a half a century, two decades of which have been as an elementary and piano teacher in Ft. Francis. During the seventies Evelyn would teach during the school year and then attend summer school in Winnipeg where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from University of Manitoba in 1975. In 1982 at the age of 58 Evelyn retires from teaching after 31 years. But that wouldn’t be the end of it.

The seventies are also tumultuous years. Post Vatican Two religious life is in flux. Pierre Trudeau enters a third term, the Vietnam War is in full swing, Nixon resigns over the Watergate scandal, and the environmental movement spawns the birth of Greenpeace in BC. Disco is the new rage, Microsoft is born, the first email is sent and Star Wars and Jaws hit the screens.

Life expectancy is 68 years for men 75 for women.

Sept 26, 1984

Evelyn is now 60 and teaching music in the convent in Ft Francis, a role she will continue till 1989 when she will move back to St Michael’s Academy in Brandon to continue with her piano teaching. A little bird told me that it was during this time that Evelyn displayed a talent for winning. At one point she won $800.00 and at another a car. I do not have details of but I imagine someone, if not Evelyn, will tell us all about it.

It is in the late eighties that Evelyn will attend Trinity College in London, England and earn an Associate of Music Degree. Her advanced music studies will continue into the nineties. The eighties also included a trip to Italy to study for a month which made a big impression on Evelyn. The biggest thrill, however, was connecting with her father’s side of the family in England. Evelyn is the only member of her family to meet these relatives, and that connection has been on going to this day.

The eighties saw the first visit of a pope to Canada. It also resonated with the sounds of cash registers as the rise of consumerism and a new kind of decadence takes hold. The mantra from Hollywood is a movie about Wall Street and the phrase, Greed is Good. Reganomics is king, AIDS is ravaging young gay men, and the Berlin Wall is about to crumble. Tina Turner is belting out What’s Love Got to Do with It, while Prince and Bruce ‘the boss’ Springsteen, fill a good portion of the airwaves. Television is showing The Simpsons, Dynasty, Golden Girls and Murphy Brown opening up conversations about politics, women’s rights and ageism.

Sept 26, 1994

Evelyn is a spry seventy and has moved from St. Michael’s in Brandon to 826 Pepperloaf Crescent in Winnipeg where she will share an house with Jeannie Fillion. During the nineties Evelyn would study Advanced Music graduating with a BA from the University of Manitoba.

The nineties will see the Liberals lose power and Brian Mulroney take center stage. Apple will introduce its new computer. Music has changed with bands like Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam. Heavy metal and Grunge are big. Don’t ask me what they sound like because I don’t know, and I doubt Evelyn does either. Life span has now increased to 80 years. The dollar itself is only worth $1.74.

During this time Evelyn also moves back to St. Edward’s Convent where she teaches music and theory to students and takes on the role of accompanist to the St. Edward’s choir. When St Edward’s closes Evelyn moves to an apartment on Cambridge Ave near Grant Park. She has her beloved piano so she can continue to play for herself and guests.

Sept 26, 2004

Evelyn is eighty. She busies herself with her crocheting and knitting and watching her favourite sport’s programs. She is also able to get out and visit Grant Park Mall on occasion, a pastime that her friends and relatives have benefited from, time and time again as Evelyn is a generous gift giver. Another past time is writing cards and letters to family and friends. Evelyn writes the most informative cards and takes time to remember birthdays and seasonal celebrations. She has written to every member of RNDM province and beyond.

This new Millennia does not bring about the cataclysmic end of the world some had foretold. Computers do not run amok with all those zeros, but 2001, specifically Sept 11th, does change the world and world politics, and that tragedy continues to influence world affairs to this day. Sadly for Evelyn, this new age will bring about the loss of her only brother Stanley who dies in 2003 and sister Phyllis, Sister Mary Charles in 2006 and sister Beatrice in 2012.

In this Evelyn’s eightieth year Facebook makes its appearance, as does the transit of Venus for the first time since 1882. The US re-elects George W. Bush, and the Liberals are back in with a minority government in Canada. I could list the songs on the radio but I’m afraid none of us will ever have heard or sung them unless you know the names Maroon 5 and Usher. Films you may know are Spider-Man 2 and Shrek 2. The dollar is now worth $1.67. Average life expectancy is 77.8 years for men 80 for women.

Sept 26, 2014

Evelyn has reached the remarkable age of ninety and doesn’t look a day over eighty. It is around this time that Evelyn suffers a fall that results in a broken shoulder. This leaves her in a great deal of pain and restricted her mobility. It also required trips to the physiotherapist which helped to speed up what to Evelyn seemed a slow recovery.

It was during her nineties that Evelyn moved to Aulineau, the former convent of the Missionary Oblates, where she will join some of her RNDM sisters. Here her proven facility for hospitality and jois-de-vivre finds a welcome home.

Evelyn makes new friends at Aulineau and has regular gatherings in the dining room with her RNDM sisters and outings with Germaine and other residents. Her health for the most part is excellent aside from a few trips to the doctor to ensure it remains so. I mention this fact because it is about this time that I took over as Elder Care Coordinator for the RNDM’s and accompanied Eleanor on her few trips to eye doctors, and physiotherapists. It was then that I learned what a great conversationalist she is and how fiercely independent as well. I also learned of her generosity and kindness when I received thank-you cards and Xmas gifts from her.

The world by now is beginning to catch up to Evelyn as men can expected to live till 79 and women to 84. A dollar is now worth about $ 1.33. The music however seems even more foreign in 2014 and to be honest there is no point in listing any songs because none of the ones listed were familiar except Happy by Pharrell Williams. Movies are almost as foreign though I did hear of Twelve Years a Slave and Frozen.