Family Tree

Florence Jollimore Harrison

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Florence Jollimore Harrison of Terence Bay was born on Feb. 9th 1935. Her great grandfather moved from Sambro to Terence Bay to fish where he met his wife to be Jeanette, commonly called Jenny,married and had one child, William Leander Smith, Flo's grandfather. Her Great Grandfather Warren Smith, a champion oarsman died around 1886.

Flo's father who had attended a Catholic Boys School in Halifax before moving to Terence Bay fished everyday and she remembers eating a lot of fish. Her mother died of tuberculosis at the age of 42 when Flo was just 10 years old and her father and older sister Jessie took care of Flo, did the cooking and cleaning, and all other work delegated to women. Brother Willie who had been involved with the crafts shop run by the Sisters of Charity, went into the military . She had two other sisters. One was Bernice, who left home when she was 16 to work in Halifax, and the other was Myrna, the youngest in the family.

She remembers skating down in Sandy Cove, concerts at the church hall, and going to Buddy's Canteen to hang out with friends. Her girlfriends were Joan Drew, Marie Bartlett, Marie Slaunwhite, Colleen Hartlen, Mildred Shubley and Ruby Slaunwhite. She talked about the travelling cinema that came to the village. They would come with a projector and screen to the Star of the Sea Hall and show Tom Mix and Roy Rogers movies about once a week. This was when Flo was around 13 or 14 years old. Admission to each showing cost 10 cents.

Flo loved school and remembers teachers Mrs. Boudreau and Sister Veronica Marie, a very good teacher. Flo kept in contact with Sister Veronica even after the teacher left Terence Bay to go to Mount St. Vincent's in Bedford. until she passed away in 2002.

Flo's father was a very good singer with a big baritone voice who entertained the children at home and sang in church. The family attended Saint Paul's Church and were Anglican because her mother had been an Anglican and her father converted from Catholicism when they were married.

At age 15 Flo met George Harrison who lived in Fairview, her husband-to-be. At the time she was staying during a school break in Halifax with Dolly Eld helping with housework and babysitting. Dolly lived on Yale Street just off Quinpool Road in a big old house with a grocery store downstairs. After Flo and George married in 1955, they stayed in Terence Bay and eventually had four children. Dale was born in 1956, Brad in 1957, Dawn in 1958 and Darren in 1960. George worked for Burgess Transfer and Storage for 28 years before spending 17 years as a government employee, managing a warehouse.

Flo starred in a couple of local dinner theatre productions, one depicting her Great Great Aunt Isadore who was a spinster who lived on Sandy Cove Road. She ran a grocery store there and sold homemade brew. She also advertised for a husband and attracted an Englishman named Cohen to the area who married her. The other production was about the local fishery. Flo spends her time working with the church and has been involved on the local home and school committee as treasurer.

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