48/ JUNE 2017 THE RIDER REAL ESTATE:


Community and Fellowship


Disappearing


piece of my soul and heart. I grew up in Toronto, Ontario but my early years, summers and vacations where spent on our family farm in Whitevale near Pickering, Ontario. I come from a long time generation farm family and


community. Markham was the biggest town near our farm and we


By Teri Davidson Small towns have always had a big


spent time at the annual fair and did some shopping there. Outside of that we stayed at the farm where we played in the barn, chased the cows and wild kittens and helped my grandmother prepare her fresh from the garden meals and desserts. We belonged to our Catholic Church and my grandmother, who had a big impact on my life, taught at St Michaels school in Toronto. An all boys school where, she was fond of saying, all the students ended up as priests or hockey players. I eventually moved away from Toronto and my life


path took me to a small town the opposite side of Toronto where I grew up after our family farm was expropriated for a new Pickering airport that never came. I made my career in the real estate business and es-


tablished my own family in a small town. My children at- tended Catholic schools, we belonged to our nearby church and I taught a year of Girl Guide students one year in our community church hall. We had lots of get togethers with neighbours and friends and the children flourished. The church and the hall and the group there were part


of our lives, something we used to forge friendships and a way of life. Two years ago the small family church beside our


farm was designated to be torn down. It is a Circa 1861 brick two storey building, built the same year as our farm- house on land that was given back in 1861 to the Bethel Church as a donation off the corner of our farm. It was used for many years of Sundays as both a place of prayer and sanctuary. Members of my husbands family attended Sunday school there, marriages were attended and my mother in law was baptized there as an infant. We didn’t want to see it torn down and I purchased it from the small congregation and hope to restore it one day. So many memories of the years past reside there. Last week two local churches came on the market


Real Estate Agent Directory Brant County


Central Ontario


Teri Davidson Broker/Owner


Over 36 yrs full-time experience • Canada's Most Referred Realtor


Serving: Brant, Haldimand, Norfolk, Ox- ford, South Dumfries, North


Dumfries, Ancaster, Flamborough, Cambridge and Woodstock.


Associate Realty Brantford Inc.


519-752-4116 • (519) 647-3330 teridavidson@execulink.com


Grey & Bruce Counties Erin, Caledon & Surrounding Areas


here in my city. A client I am working with asked for a viewing of both with thoughts of conversion. I arranged to show him through and we toured both magnificent buildings. The quality of construction, the stained glass, the huge post and beamed vaulted ceilings, pews and or- nate fixtures were breathtaking. The lower level and back rooms that served as community kitchens, Sunday school rooms, scout and girl guide facilties were empty and the child drawings on the walls along with the little chairs and empty play boxes made me feel sad and empty. This is where families spent time, cooking for special


occasions, this is were kids first learned about themselves and their spirts were taught to soar. This is where the sense of belonging and community sharing were established. We worked together to raise money for the pews, the beautiful stained glass the new roof for our gathering place. How sad that these rooms now stand empty. There were differ- ent dedications on the walls speaking of donations on be- half of family members who’d passed. Several of the magnificent stain windows were donated by families in memory of their loved ones. Erected in years of the 1800‘s and early 1900’s. How sad these families would be to see how we don’t worship in our gathering places, we seem to have lost our sense of fellowship and community. I have spent the last few days reflecting on times and people passed. I worry what the future holds for my children and theirs in a world so different from what mine was.


Broker


Harnessing Country Living For You 1-800-268-2455 • (519) 939-SELL (7355)


E: jguagliardi@royallepage.ca • jacquelineguagliardi.com Top 3% in residential marketplace 2014-2016


Teri Davidson is Broker Owner of Associate realty Brantford Inc. Teri Davidson is Broker Owner of Associate Realty


in Brantford Ont. She has been a licensed realtor with the Brantford regional Real Estate Association since 1976 and sits on several committees within her board. She and her family own and operate White House Farm in Ancaster , Ont.


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