Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
A trio of local authors was among the 150 ladies to have their short stories included in the Federated Women’s Institutes of Ontario’s book, titled Ordinary to Extraordinary.
The book, which was published as part of last year’s Canada 150 celebrations, called on women from WI chapters across the province to submit a short story. The top ones were selected and published.
Valerie Smith, Gwen Kimmett and Cathy Freemond (Taylor) were the locals whose stories appear in the collection. On Wednesday members the Grandview Women’s Institute donated a copy of the book to the Napanee branch of the County of Lennox and Addington Libraries, where its now available for anyone to read.
“They invited every Women’s Institution member across the province to contribute a story,” explains Smith. “They got 300 but they could publish only 150 so I feel very privileged that my story got accepted, and Gwen’s and Cathy’s in this area alone.”
“They’re all different,” Kimmett says of the 150 stories in the book. “Whatever fits your own fancy. There’s nothing you had to write. You could make up a story. My story was true.”
For her submission, Kimmett dug out a story she had written decades ago about her childhood during the height of the Second World War.
“I went to Newburgh High School in the ‘40s,” she recalled. “They divided 110 kids into three groups. For no money, no treats, no prizes, they wanted to see who could sell the most war bonds. There was a very tight competition at the end but my dad, I called him in the last half hour and he gave me the $200 needed to win.”
For Smith she too harkened back to her childhood for her submission, recalling the trouble she’d get up to with her twin brother.
“We were eight and we jumped off the garage roof with our umbrellas,” recalled Smith.
Her second part of the story talks of going to the big city as a teen.
“When we were 15 we went to Toronto to my older brother’s wedding and we went on the subway,” Smith said. “We didn’t know how to get across (the station) without having to pay for another token. So we ended up on the divider and climbed down to the other side. My cousin told me the next day we could have been electrocuted.”
Fortunately she escaped unharmed and can look back and laugh about it now.
Freemond’s story tells her perspective of attending an extravagant Ukrainian wedding.
The other 147 stories from authors around the province range from all subject matters, from sentimental to humourous.
Along with the Napanee library, a copy has also been donated to the NDSS library as well.