Ina Austina Webb – born a long time ago – mid 1930’s – at home on a small mixed dairy farm in Chelton, Prince Edward Island – the sparkling waters of the the Northumberland Strait within view.
Proudly she is the first child of Keith Webb and Margaret Lowther. The first grandchild of Annie Ellice Laird. The first local grandchild of Ernest & Myrtle Webb. First niece of Anne and Edward Lowther, Marion, Anita, Lorraine and Pauline Webb. She is in serious danger of being spoiled rotten. Sadly she would soon seriously require and receive all of their love and support.
We know for sure that her unusual middle name is after her great Uncle Austin Laird of Cavendish, PEI. We think her first name may have originated after an Ina in the Keith family of Havelock New Brunswick where her Grandmother Myrtle McNeill Webb was raised.
One thing we know for sure is – you can’t have an Ina without a Louise – the two go together – like lobster and butter.
Ada Louise Webb therefore arrived as soon as she possibly could. She is named after her great grandmother Ada McNeill Simpson and her Great Aunt Louise Webb.
Ina made sure her sister Louise was well nourished.
Now Ina always claims that her sister Louise is the social butterfly and that she is the shy quiet one. Well, we’ll be the judge of that. As you can see below , both of them are characters -as they entertain their Uncle Charles MacFarlane and their mother’s sister Aunt Anne Lowther MacFarlane. Ina is the one with the cool sunglasses.
The two sisters have a happy life in Chelton surrounded by family and friends. Yes , times are tough, the Great Depression is always in the background and a Great War looms on the horizon. One would think a farm on the Northumberland Strait in PEI would be far removed from the Great War. And it was – but it wasn’t. Summerside PEI just across Bedeque Bay – is where many Canadian Air Force heroes were trained. Ina remembers seeing planes like the one below flying over the farm or the strait – and waving at them!
In the winter of 1940 mother Margaret Lowther Webb is expecting. We know now that she is expecting a baby boy – a brother for Ina and Louise. But it is not to be. Margaret miscarries. It is a stormy snowy night in early December . Despite the desperate efforts of Keith and friends and neighbours it is impossible in the snowy blizzard to get Margaret to the hospital in Summerside in time for help. Tragically the two sisters and their father Keith lose their Mother and the new baby. Anne and Edward lose their precious big sister. Ellice loses her daughter. Margaret is only 28 years of age. Ina is 5 years old, Louise is 4 years old. The photo below is the last one we have of Ina and her mother Margaret together. ( listen to Ina’s recollection of this tragedy in the first Ina Session)
Life carries on with the support of friends neighbours, Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles. And most importantly – the two sisters – learn to support each other. They attend the Little Red Schoolhouse in North Carleton together – and despite the long walk of over two miles uphill there and back – through thick forests populated by grizzly bears – they each win attendance awards in Grade One. ( you can listen to some of their – on the way to school – adventures – in the first Ina Session in a minute)
Their father Keith is having difficulty coping. He decides to pull up roots and make a change in geography. He will join his sisters Marion, Anita and Lorraine all in Ontario. While he is scouting out his future in Ontario his daughters will stay with their Grandparents in Cavendish, P.E.I.