Daughter and cottage both on the mend thanks to family’s quick action
Joyce Beauchamp
Special to the Tribune
What was supposed to be a nice, relaxing week at camp to celebrate Canada Day turned into quite an ordeal for Crissy Green and her family, as a sudden tornado on June 30th ripped through her parents’ camp and sent her to hospital for the holiday. Fortunately, Crissy was quickly on the mend, but the camp sustained major damage that the family is still coping with today.
Like most of us, Crissy had July 1st off work as a statutory holiday, so she booked Thursday and Friday off as well and looked forward to a fun 5-day weekend at her family’s campground – a group of cabins near Rutherglen on Talon Lake. Crissy’s grandparents, Andrew and Margaret Green, founded the campground. They bought a beautiful park-like, evergreen-covered, boat-in property and began building cabins to rent to tourists. When their son Garnet married Bertha, the tourist business was going strong but required work, such as cleaning cabins after each tourist visit. The work was done with pleasure, however, because eventually three generations were doing it together. Crissy grew up regularly going to “The Evergreens” camp, spending each summer in bare feet, exploring, swimming, boating and doing all camp-related things.
One cabin at The Evergreens was special. Garnet built it himself, installing five rows of logs until, sadly, his mother Margaret died. This stopped construction for many years while he sorted through his loss. The loss of Margaret also led to the family’s decision to close the camp to tourists (except longstanding annual visitors) and dedicate the entire compound to family. Each son and daughter had the use of one cabin, which they could share as they wished with their children. Garnet and Bertha passed their cabin along to a brother and decided theirs would be the now-completed log cabin with the red roof. This is the cabin where Crissy enjoyed her summers from birth.
