Biographie Gibbons Ida-May

A Tribute

To the memory of

Ida May Gibbons-Tracey

By Bernard Joseph Tracey

Ida May Gibbons born Oct. 03,1918 in a modest farm house in North Onslow on lot 9A Range 8. Her father John Gibbons acquired this 200acre property in 1904.

Ida attended a one room schoolhouse about a mile up the road on lot 6A Range 9.

Ida married a young man who just lived over on lot 11 Range 8 on June 16, 1942 at St. Brigid’s Catholic Church in North Onslow. His name was Thomas Joseph Tracey.

Their life together began.

A short time later (early 40’s) Ida and Thomas purchased 150 acres. The same property that housed the one room schoolhouse.

Some of my memories of Ida my mother will follow:

Ida picked me up to look at Rev. J.J. Sammon lying in his coffin in the front of the altar at St. Brigid’s church North Onslow in August 1951.

Down on our knees as a family praying during a bad storm in an old log house. Ida would get the candle out, the palm and the holy water.

Taking the 1951 Fargo truck on a Sunday afternoon in the summer time to go and visit my mother's uncle Albert Mayer’s on the Martindale Road in Low Quebec. The truck would be full with some of us sitting in the box and Thomas, Ida, and Lucie in the front with one or two younger ones on their knees.

Ida had a large garden and she made all kinds of preserves for the winter months. All of this food dried or canned was stored in a root cellar underneath the old log house. She would have potatoes, cabbage, onions, turnip etc along with all her canned preserves like crab apple, plums, rhubarb, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries etc all kinds of pickles. How she managed to do all this stuff and raise all us kids, help with homework, wash our clothes, do all the other household chores; i will never know.

I remember standing beside Ida with my left hand on her shoulder while she rocked a little one, that was crying, had to be 1956.

Then came along 1957, all was going great, preparing for Audrey and Jim’s wedding. Then, news arrived that Andrew Farrell died Sept 06,1957. Well people would be talking and the phrase that was used back then was: When one goes over the bridge three goes. Next. came news that Daniel Farrell died Oct. 07,1957. Ida heads to Shawville to give birth to a baby boy on Oct.10,1957. Ida arrives back home in a few days and is in a bed known as our living room (with the baby at her side) to keep an eye on us kids and to help us with our homework. In a matter of days Ida was back in the Hospital. Needless to say; I had to go see her. They did their best to keep me away; but I final made it to her room only to see her lying there with a Hugh Oxygen tent over her upper body. Ida died Oct.21,1957.