Thursday, July 27, 2023
To me, she was my "Auntie Honey"
When she was small and would visit my parents in Hamilton. Even back then, she would creep into the kitchen in the night for a snack. She was lovingly referred to by my father as, "our little mouse". What a character she was, we found out, as family tales were recounted over the years. A glint in her eye, a smile, that bit of mischief that set her apart in ways, that, looking back brought smiles to many of us. My mom, her sister Dorothy, liked to tell the story about Honey and sister Joannie.... something like this. The small girls living on the Hanaka tobacco farm would be anxious to included in the excitement of going along when the adults were planning a day of fun. Apparently, Honey would tease Joannie. When Honey bragged about going out, Joannie, in her little rocking chair quietly responded, Are ya Honey? Honey would excitedly say, Yup, I am, because you're good and I bad, so they can't leave me!
She and Paul married very young, and settled down in the store in Elizabethville. For several years they raised me. I was still quite young when I heard that Honey and Paul had burned their mortgage..... not sure what that meant at the time, but they managed that hurdle. Honey laughed whenever she told the story of having the store, and putting one of her beautiful roses on the counter in a vase. She giggled waiting for customers to compliment her on the beautiful rose she had grown. She urged them to smell it, waiting for them to react to the clove of garlic she had hidden within. I'm sure that General Store was never the same after they sold it. Who else would let their 8 year old niece put on her wedding gown, making her into a beautiful bride top to botton, find her a groom, cousin Timmy, age 4, put us in the back of her car, and drive us through Elizabethville, passing St. John Bosco school, honking the horn to our squeals of delight? Auntie Honey.....
She loved making her house a home, she loved her Polish heritage, she loved her loyal friends, that shared their lives with hers right until the end. Most of all, she loved her family. We were all welcome any time, and every time, she had something "brewing and stewing" as she'd say, or something incredible in the oven baking. Since she loved pranks. I would call her after recently moving to BC, when baking using her bread cookbook she had given me. She would answer and I'd ask, "Is this the 1-800 Cobourg Fococia help line? or bread making, chocolate cake, butter cream icing, or meatloaf making hotline???? She would pause, and then came her great laugh. She loved to share her expertise. She claimed that she'd fed the squirrels a lot over the years, urging me not to give up, to just start again. We spent so much time going through her recipes. Even after macular degeneration took so much away from her, she still managed to make everything she made something special, and presented so proudly, and uniquely. She was an artist that way.
Honey loved the waterfront in Cobourg, a cup of coffee from McDonalds, and a waterside bench was one spot we enjoyed often.
Auntie Honey's outgoing nature and life's path, took her down some hard roads that most of us will never travel. She always had time for me, and helped me through the blackest time of my life, with her love and wisdom. She took on life whole heartedly, no matter what she was dealt, keeping a brave face, holding everyone else up- right until the end. She is my hero
