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Edna herself
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My mother,
Edna Vail, celebrated her 88th birthday on April 28th/2013. Mother has had many trials and tribulations,
as well as some serious illnesses, so it is even more rewarding that she is
bright and cheery as she celebrates this day.
Or as Edna would say “I’m just peachy”!
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Ena, Frank, Barney, Edna
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Eighty eight
years ago in the hamlet of Fielding, New Brunswick there was an event; twin
girls were born to Nelson and Lottie Rogers.
They were named Edna Mary and Ena Marie. The birth was notable as the Rogers had
seven boys and one girl to welcome the babies.
The twins were identical so at birth a pink ribbon was tied to the wrist
of one and a blue for the other. As
Mama was on bed rest (and well deserved I am sure), Papa and brother Earle
took charge of the twins. In a day when
many babies did not survive, these full term girls weighted a total of 15 lbs.
and were destined to thrive.
I do not
have many stories before they went to school, I am sure they were busy
sisters. I know they were christened the
“twinzies” by their siblings. Edna’s
first memories were of them making mud pies.
It was a serious event, deserving neighbour children would be summoned,
the mud procured and the pies formed.
The mud pies would be left to bake until the next day when the tea would
be held. The twins would serve their guests the mud pies with cups of imaginary
tea. Edna can still remember breaking off a piece of the pie and pretending to
eat it.
One pie
making day was particularly sunny and the twins looked for a prime spot to bake
their pies. Then their eyes feel on the lumber pile. Papa had just added some brand new lumber;
they laid their pies out on its pristine surace. When their father came in for supper he
inquired why they had dirtied up his new lumber. “But they are fresh mud pies, they would not
dirty anything”, was the Ena’s reply.
But they were told to clean off the pies and sweep the boards.
The mud pies
were a factor in a near tragedy. The
best source for mud was from along the brook than ran by the main road. Ena was the “harvester” and loaded up her
implement then brought it to the waiting pie makers. On one trip Ena was so engrossed in her play
that she popped up from the brook and out and onto the road. A big lumber truck was coming, the driver tried to
stop but to no avail. The bumper hit Ena, she fell down, and the truck ran over
her. By the time the truck stopped Ena
had been hit by the axle, (she was lying vertically between the wheels). The driver, Harold McDougall from Bristol,
gathered her up and took her to the house.
He told Mrs. Rogers to call the doctor. She informed the truck driver
that they were not on the phone and they did not get Doctors; they believed in
God for healing. The truck driver
responded that it was his responsibility and he would get the doctor; which he
did.
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Ena, Mother Lottie,
Rodney and Edna 1932 |
The doctor examined six year old Ena and could find no visible breaks and only a few abrasions; however he diagnosed a concussion and put her on bed rest. And in a few days they were back to normal. Edna says the matching dresses they are wearing in this photo was one of the few times they ever dressed alike. Their family was very poor and most garments were made from hand me down adult wear.
The twins were so alike that the
school teacher could only tell them apart by their clothes and were they were
seated. Imagine their delight when at
lunch time they scurried to the facilities and changed their dresses. Each became the other!
The Sunday School teacher realized that Edna had a dimple which showed up if she smiled ; so the teacher would tickle the twins (which they hated). Then Edna could be identified by her dimple.
The year’s
sped by. The first real difference was
at the end of grade four; Edna passed into grade five but Ena was held
back. This did not dampen their spirits,
they continued teasing their big brothers, helping with their little brothers
Rodney and Sam, attending church and Sunday school and helping Mama. Edna says the Ena was a better helper, a
kinder person while she Edna was a whiner and complainer. Their brother Earle
told me that the girls had two personalities and they traded them at will, just
as they switched their dresses.
Days rolled
into weeks, weeks to months and months to years and the twinzies grew and
flourished. Then one day Ena became ill
with flu like symptoms and went to Mama’s bed.
That night Edna slept alone for the first time in her life. The next
day, in October 1935, Ena Marie Rogers drew her last breath: she was ten years
old. Edna has grieved for her twin these
seventy eight years.
At the time neighbours felt Ena had died of a
ruptured appendix. Others said a knot
in the bowel. Or had she been damaged
internally when the truck ran over her? There
was no doctor, no autopsy. Fifty years
after the fact a local doctor, whose father had been the doctor who covered
Fielding told me this. “I will never
forget the night the Roger's twin died. My father came home and held his head in his hands and cried like a baby. He was
so angry with the Rogers that their faith healing would deny medical help for
their child.”
My Rogers
grandparents died in the 1960’s. After
their death a neighbour shared this; Grampy was so distraught with the death
that the night of the funeral he went to Ena’s grave and prayed for God to
raise her. He pleaded and reminded God
that they had followed his faith healing edict; Grampy said, “ God you raised
Lazarus, now raise our twin!” The
neighbour continued that Grampy prayed all night and as dawn broke he felt that
God said, “I will raise her one day, but not right now”.
There were years when cleaning fiddleheads was a spring pastime; in a pillowcase, in the clothesdryer, hosed down between two screens – removing the brown covering seemed next to impossible. My friend Graydon Shaw had such a system.
