When a Hamilton from North Russell has a complaint, I listen.
There are a couple of good reasons for that. The Hamiltons don’t complain often, so when they do, I figure it could be legit.
In addition, they’re one of Russell Township’s pioneering farm families and deserve respect for that fact alone. And I happen to be current custodian of the original Hamilton homestead on the North Russell Road which accentuates my sense of duty.
Born a Sullivan – which gives her extra clout – Ethel Hamilton married into the family through Wilmer who passed away not long ago. That was after they spent 61 years together, with Wilmer farming for much of that time alongside his older brother Clelland, also deceased, leaving behind wife Ruby.
Ethel caught me on the phone one day and gave me a good-natured blast about a column I wrote in this space entitled “Slap on the Back” which gave Russell Township council credit for looking at refurbishing existing arenas in Russell Village and Embrun rather than spending untold millions of dollars on a new central sportsplex as some residents have advocated in recent years.
True, as I noted, the Embrun proposal is a little extravagant as some ratepayers have since advised council members. I predict it’ll be scaled back to something more manageable before funding is sought for it.
Ethel followed up her call with a handwritten letter delivered to my North Russell door this week. She didn’t think council deserved a slap on the back, more like a slap on the back of the head as one might deliver to an unruly child… not these days, of course, but I got plenty of them.
“Slap on the Back is outrageous,” Ethel railed. “What has the township done to deserve a slap on the back?
Should the Russell Arena get a facelift, Ethel hopes council respects the sign on it honouring Dr. Frank Kinnaird, legendary physician who served Russell and area for more than 40 years.
“These old-timers are forgotten too easily, but remember… if it wasn’t for them, where would Russell be?”
She also took a shot at the Embrun arena plan because it’s “ten times better” than what’s proposed for Russell… a standard complaint from the west half of the township where many residents – including Ethel – feel they don’t always have a voice.
She goes on in the letter to cover off a lot of issues, some fresh and some older, including that Russell hasn’t got as many businesses as Embrun and could use the stimulation of a Tim Hortons to help get things moving; that it would be great if the motor vehicle license bureau moved with its jobs to the Russell Registry Office; and there should be more local history in area newspapers.
Ethel reserved several lines in her letter for the confrontational nature of the bilingual signage bylaw, which she called a “disgrace”, recalling when, growing up on a farm along what’s now known as Wade Road, French-speaking neighbours would “talk to us like neighbours should.”
“They taught us how to speak in French. We would speak using just words, and they would tell us how to put sentences together. All I ask is for us all to get along and not worry about language.”
Before he died, Wilmer Hamilton wrote down segments of his life story now being prepared by daughter Dulcie for publishing. History curator for five area Women’s Institutes, including her home branch in North Russell, Ethel is poised to write her own story which she also hopes to publish.
The experiences and opinions she’ll record will reflect those of an entire era of rural Russell residents. Sadly, they’ll also reflect a divide between two halves of the same municipality which, for many, continue to exist.
