My Grandfather Robert Alexander Gibson "Bob" was an engineer for the Canadian National Railway in the Canadian Rockies. My Mother (Margaret Helen Gibson Robinson) told me that when she was young she was afraid of the steam locomotives he drove because they were so big and so noisy. Here are a couple of pictures of my Grandfather.
Both my Mother and her brother Gordon are gone now. I recently called their cousin Helen who is 92 now and lives in Kingston Ontario. I asked her what she remembers about my Grandfather and Grandmother. They were Aunt Marion and Uncle Bob to her. She said:
"Well
you know one thing I can remember… one
time after Jane (my sister) was born Grandma came down and she asked me if I wanted to go
home with her and of course I jumped at the idea. I thought it was great. So I
went home with her and you know I ended up staying about a year and a half. While I was in Edmonton your Grandfather was transferred to Jasper
and while he was getting a place to live in Jasper Aunt Marion came to
Grandma’s. We were all there. There was
she and Margaret and Gordon and me.
I remember Uncle Bob, he was a nice man, good looking too. You know the train went right back of Grandma’s house, about a block, and of course we’d watch, we knew what train when he was going by and used to run out the back and wave at him and he’d blow the whistle. He was
the engineer. He was always leaning out the window there and waving at us. That
was my Uncle!
He worked for the CNR,
Canadian National Railway. I’m sure
about that. You know Gordon used to say
… He was a little bit lonesome for his Dad you know and he used to say “I’m
going to jump out the window. I’m going to run to the CNR station and I’m going
to say Jasper Park!”"
At this time Gordon would have been about 4 my Mom about 6 and Helen about 11.
When I asked Helen what she remembered about her Aunt Marion, my Grandmother, she told another story from the same time period.
"I can remember Aunt Marion sewing. She was a great seamstress. She could make anything! She made these Hudson Bay
coats. Aunt Hilda and Aunt B each bought
a Hudson Bay blanket and Aunt Marion made coats for them. Theirs were that camel color with the black
stripe around the bottom.
Then Grandma bought the white Hudson Bay blanket
with all the candy stripes you know, the red and the green and the gold and Aunt Marion made me a coat. And the way she cut it she got a coat for
Margaret too. Margaret and I both had a coat out of that blanket."
Her is a picture of my grandmother, Marion
Here is my Grandparents wedding picture
The baby in the picture below is my Mom with her parents.
Helen and I talked for about 45 minutes and I got some great family history stories and information.
Marion's Blog 