This past year we said goodbye to my grandmother “Juanita”. I’m not intending to make this a sad post by any means, but I wanted to give her a little tribute on here and share with you a part of her very interesting and inspiring life story.
Please note: story credits also go to my Aunt A and parents S & S for their help in getting some historical facts strait.
Juanita was born in a small farming town in Eastern Canada. When she was a child, she was diagnosed with severe epilepsy, a diagnosis that she would struggle with her whole life.
When she was 16, a nice young man named Stanley moved in to the boarding house across the street. His landlady was a notable matchmaker and thought it would be fun to set the two of them up on a date.
She told Stanley “Juanita is hoping to go to the cinema tomorrow night with you.”
She told Juanita “Stanley would like to take you to the cinema tomorrow night.”
The movie they watched? “An Affair to Remember.” I don’t think there was an affair that evening, but it was certainly an evening to remember because after that they started going out.
It wasn’t long after Juanita’s graduation from high school that they knew they wanted to get married.
Then a curveball hit Juanita’s small town world. Stanley, who worked at the local bank, was offered a management job at the Bank of Nova Scotia in the Dominican Republic. But the bank would only hire him on the condition that he go there as a single man.
So off he went… and two months after his arrival, Stanley announced to his co-workers that he was engaged to a girl named “Juanita”. His co-workers, assuming that “Juanita” was a Dominican, were amazed that he had wasted no time getting to know a local girl, not realizing that this “Juanita” was from back home!
Juanita had never traveled or left her home county before, so after packing her wedding trousseau she was escorted to the airport and set off to get married in a new country, without any of her friends or family present. She was 18 years old.
Stanley’s co-workers and their wives at the bank put on a wedding reception for them and helped Juanita get settled in her new home. The next year my father was born, and a little later, my aunt.
1961 was a turbulent year in the DR, with dictator Rafael Trujillo being assassinated and replaced by a democratically elected president. In 1963, a coup overthrew the government and turbulence continued for the next two years, developing into the Dominican Civil War. In April 1965 the United States dispatched 22,000 soldiers to the DR, occupying Santo Domingo.
At this time, ex-patriots and foreign civilians were advised to evacuate out of the country. Almost overnight, my grandparents had to pack a small suitcase of belongings and flee the city, not an easy thing with two small children!
They were air-lifted by helicopter to the USS Boxer, an aircraft carrier stationed nearby. They lived on the ship for a week before being taken ashore in Puerto Rico, flying to New York, and from there they travelled back to their family in the Maritimes.
Before they left, Stanley and one of his good friends and co-workers at the bank were tasked with making sure all the bank’s gold coins got safely smuggled out of the city in the middle of the city being in complete chaos! I’m not sure I heard the full story, but it was definitely not an easy responsibility!
Six months later the fighting had settled down, so Stanley and Juanita decided returned to the DR to attempt to resume their lives there, but after a few post-war altercations, (including a friend of theirs losing his life to a grenade very near them), they decided to return to Canada for good.
Stanley and Juanita later moved closer to Toronto where he continued working with the bank and she raised their kids. Sadly, while on vacation in the United States a few years later, Stanley had a sudden heart attack and died.
Juanita was now a widow and although her two children were now young adults, they were moving on with their lives and shortly after moved to homes of their own. She had to learn to live on her own while continuing to struggle with epilepsy.
She became involved in her local church and made some close friends during this time. Serving others seemed to help with her grief and keep her busy.
13 years later, she was on a cruise with one of her friends and met a handsome farmer named “Dan”, who was recently retired, travelling alone, and was a widower.
They struck up a friendship during this cruise, and continued to meet back in Ontario after the cruise was over.
After a time, he asked her if she would move in with him to his farmhouse. She said no, but that she’d marry him instead!
The next few years were happy ones for Dan and Juanita. They travelled on many cruises all over the world, seeing many different cultures and places.
I have many postcards from their adventures and being homeschooled at the time, it was a natural inquiry to geography and history from some of their travels.
As their health and energy started to drop, they became more settled into their new condo and took smaller local trips around southern Ontario.
Whenever my family and I would come south to visit, there was always a pre-scouted adventure or local outing lined up to do with them. It was important to them that we learn as much as we could about our Canadian heritage and appreciate what we have.
Every trip always included watching the ships go through the Welland Canal, and dinner at the Mandarin or Swiss Challet.
When Dan passed away from cancer a few years later, Juanita’s epilepsy became more severe, leading to falls and she was unable to take care of herself. My aunt and family brought her to live with them for the next few years until she moved into a senior home.
Although this season was difficult for her health, she enjoyed spending time with her grandkids and especially the great-grandkids that began to arrive! Within five years there were 9 little ones that she loved to cuddle and give rides to on her walker.
Although my grandmother no longer had energy for socializing much or writing letters, she did her best to stay in touch by phone and always remembered when we had a birthday.
She loved the Lord, and loved her family. She had a strong, stubborn, and sometimes difficult personality to understand, but she knew she wasn’t perfect.
In her bible, there were a few things that we found written and underlined that provided insight into her faith and walk with the Lord.
I hope it provides some encouragement to those that are reading this.
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:1-11
3 “You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Psalm 139:3-16
“The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.” Psalm 23:1-3 (NKJV)
I’d also like to share with you some of her most memorable recipes—she was an amazing cook! When I have the time, I’ll do individual posts to feature the recipes properly, but until then enjoy this snapshot version!!
Ps. Don’t you love these food-stained recipe cards?! Made many times with love!
More Stories from The Mom Page:
Hi, I’m Jessie!
I’m a Wife and Homeschooling Mom living in a remote town in Northern Ontario, Canada. I love making wholesome meals for my family from scratch, homeschooling our girls and learning more about natural living.
Read more about my story HERE.
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