Jim Spicer

240 Sydenham Street

 

When Sir Adam Beck drove his sleigh down Sydenham Street, sometimes he would acquire some hangers-on. The neighbourhood kids living on Sydenham Street, including Lenore Fowler, would jump on the runners of his sleigh and catch a ride. Later in life she would work at the Beck Sanatorium.

Transcript

The house on the north east corner of Sydenham and Richmond streets is a replica of Sir Adam Beck’s former home once known as Headley. Beck was the pioneer who brought electricity to Ontario. In the following story, Jim Spicer tells the story of his mother Lenore Fowler and her encounter with Beck when she was growing up at 141 Sydenham Street.

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She would also say that Sir Adam Beck, who was probably just Adam Beck at the time would go up their street in the winter time and the kids would go run out and jump on the on the runners of his sleigh as he would. As you may go up the street to Headley at the corner of Sydenham and Richmond Street. So we’re talking you know she was born in 1911 so we’re talking early you know early 19th early 1900’s so we say she was later a stenographer at the Beck sanatorium. Little did she know when she was riding on the back of his of his sleigh that they would be involved later on shall we say.

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If you’d like to hear more stories from the Great Talbot area walk west along Sydenham Street and look for another Hear, Here sign near the middle of the block on the north side.

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