The Hartford (Connecticut) Courant of 11 April 1937 printed a photo and story about her on the first page of their features section. Under the headline Traveling 5000 Miles a Year By Bike, Blithe Saleswoman Is 'Always Hungry', the article pointed out that the "attractive, brown-haired widow has 'been on the road' for the past 14 years... Six years ago, when her daughter was ready for higher and more expensive education, Mrs Allen decided she could save more money if she rode a bicycle... In those six years she has put her daughter, now 22 years old, through college and has worn out four bicycles... Mrs Allen ships her suitcase ahead from city to city, staying at hotels in places where she has several days of calls to make." Jane commented that all that biking stirred up a good appetite.

Once retired (times had changed and LePage's respectfully encouraged her departure), she returned to Avondale, renovated The Maples extensively and travelled frequently. She bought herself an Oldsmobile, of which she was very proud because one of her favourite songs went "Come along with me Lucille, in my merry Oldsmobile..." She often played that song on her piano for me and would talk of her lovely automobile.

After Lottie Barter's death in 1957, she devoted herself to caring for Sam but he turned out to be too much for her to handle alone and he eventually went to live with his daughter Florence and her husband Reg in Hartland. Jane remarried in 1966?? to Roy Kellerman, an old flame from some time back. They enjoyed Avondale and loved to travel in New England but he died only about a year after they were married. About to embark on a journey with his wife, he suffered a fatal heart attack.

One of my own favourite memories of my grandmother was a time in the mid-1970s when I drove down to Avondale in my first car -- a spiffy two-seater Triumph TR6. At that time, Florence was living at The Maples as well. We three would pile into the little convertible sports car, Florence in the little space behind the front seats, and tear around the countryside, top down. Florence loved it and so did my grandmother.

Another time while visiting in the early 1970s, I got up earlier than expected and surprised my grandmother in the summer kitchen. She shooed me away explaining that she wasn't yet presentable as she hadn't finished putting on her make-up. At that time, she was in her 80s and still a good-looking woman. (I hope she's reading this.)

Margaret Norene Allen Reynolds

Daughter of William Lewis Allen (1877-1936, b Fredericton NB) and Jane Barter Allen-Kellerman (1892-1983), "little Norene," as her grandfather referred to her, was born 15 June 1914 at Moncton NB. Living with her grandparents at The Maples from about 1915 following her parent's separation, she went to school in Avondale but eventually moved to New Glasgow NS to live with her Aunt Sue (Barter) and Uncle Herman Morrison while she went to high school. Peggy graduated 1935 with a BA from Dalhousie University, Halifax NS, and received a Bachelor of Library Science from McGill University, Montreal, in 1938. This was a real achievement during the Depression when few families could afford to pay for a university education.

Peggy's first job was assistant librarian at the Royal Bank of Canada head office (St James Street, Montreal) 1939-1942. During this time she met Edward Aylmer Charles Reynolds; they married in Toronto on 2 November 1941 and she often joked about having to get the Bank's permission beforehand. The marriage itself made the Toronto newspapers as a novelty item: Ted, an army officer, was in the hospital and the ceremony was conducted bedside with cousins Marge and Jack Kyle from Montreal as witnesses. Unfortunately, she was disowned by her mother shortly after the marriage as Jane disapproved of Ted. The mother-daughter relationship had always been tense but that sealed it.

As a librarian with the Canadian Legion Educational Services, Peggy worked in Ottawa 1942-1944, then in London England 1944-1946. Returning to Halifax, she worked for the Canadian Council for Reconstruction (UNESCO) and then as Director of the Canada Book Centre until it closed in 1950.

Separated from Ted, she moved to Ottawa in 1950 where she worked as Chief Librarian, Canada Department of Agriculture until her retirement in 1975. An archive collection in the Sir John Carling Building, Ottawa was dedicated to her memory in 1996. ????

My mother was very attached to her New Brunswick family and as a child we travelled every summer to the Maritimes, often in a second-hand Studebaker. Good-looking cars (my mother had a fine eye for design) but unreliable. The car trip was endless for a youngster and visiting relatives was just plain boring. We would stay with Aunt Betty who owned a general store in Lakeville NB, visit Granny and Grampy Barter at The Maples (Jane was rarely around), touch base with all of Sam's surviving brothers in Hartland, try to catch up with Aunt Tre who lived in Grand Lake Stream ME, visit Susie and her family in Woodstock, stop to see Florence and Reg in their rather spookey (as I recall) house in Hartland and always visit Uncle Charlie (my godfather after whom I was named) and Aunt Muriel (Morehouse) in Truro NS. Because she grew up with them, my mother's aunts and uncles were more like siblings to her.

After Ted's death in 1970, she officially became a widow (much to her surprise) after the divorce was annulled by the Judge Advocate General. Her new widow's pension provided my living expenses while I was at college.

Following a stroke in 1990, which paralyzed the right side of her body and affected her speech, she lived at St Vincent's Hospital (in Ottawa) which she didn't particularly enjoy although she kept her spirits up mostly and was affectionately known to almost all the staff and patients. Peggy was a fun-loving, gregarious person who made friends easily.

On the night she died, 21 March 1997, there was an unusually bright comet in the sky and the moon was full. She had been ill for about a week.

She was survived by her son Charles Edward Allen Reynolds (b 1948) and a grand-daughter Molly Margaret (b 1984).

Edward Aylmer Charles Reynolds

Ted Reynolds (1908-1971) was born in Hendon (near London) England and came to Clinton Ontario in 1923 as a teenager with his brother under the British Homechild program. His brother (Archibald??? b 1906??? 1910??) died a few years after arrival and my father always seemed greatly troubled by this.