Reflecting on Edward

 When I met Edward one of the first items that he mentioned to me was his quest to learn more about his father. Edward's father was Lorne Bernice Kipp and he was the son of William Henry Kipp who was the son of Benjamin Kipp who was the son of Isaac Kipp. Edward knew all of that from his uncle Howard Leslie Kipp. He also knew that his father had been treasurer at Princeton United Church and had sung in the Choir if I remember all of that correctly. Lorne was a farmer and his farm was just across Highway 2 facing the Village of Princeton, Ontario. So Edward had some ambitions in life including going to university and studying Chemistry and going all the way to do his PhD, he wanted to have a family and he wanted to be treasurer at the United Church and to sing in the Choir. He achieved all of those desires in his life and was quite content. The genealogy took him down paths that were appealing to me - we did a lot of traveling in the United States searching for his Kipp particularly ancestral line and our first trip was to Northeast Town in Dutchess County. We knew that Isaac and his wife Hannah (Mead) Kipp had come to Canada in October 1800 as settlers looking for land and over time he discovered a connection with Thomas Hornor that he hoped might give him more insight into the Kip family of New York/New Jersey. After yDNA testing he knew that his Kipp line was descendant of Hendrick Hendricksen Kip of New Amsterdam. The exact name of those ancestors eluded him but he collected as much information as he could with the thought that others would utilize it and find that name connection. It was a difficult time 1 Nov 1764 when Isaac was born/baptized. The Family Bible did not specify whether this was baptism or birth although was on the birth page. 

Jobs were difficult to come by when he finished his PhD in 1970 and he went on to do a PostDoc in Chemical Engineering but still jobs had been quickly taken up by American draft dodgers coming to Canadian Universities in particular so the new graduates had to settle for teaching High School or industry if they could find it or do another degree which Edward did; he finished his Masters in Library Science in 1975 and that did get him a job at the National Research Council in Ottawa. He was thrilled when his eldest did her PhD in Library and Information Science and from his Alma Mater. He was equally thrilled when his youngest did her Masters in Biology and then an MD. 

He had planned so many trips still to do but COVID came into our lives and changed so much around him. 

But we sat thinking about our 54 years of marriage and it was the anniversary of that which is just two days away that got us thinking. He was happy that all the things that he had talked about all those years ago had come to fruition. He had walked in his father's steps with his love of gardening, with his love of the United Church and following again his father's time as treasurer and in the choir, and his own ambition to do his PhD in Chemistry and be a scientist. A little earlier in the summer our eldest had brought him a List of Citations of his work that she had collected and it was a long list actually with a number in the period after he wrote his Thesis (his work was initial work in the field) and then a huge interest again in the early 1980s extending up into the 2000s. He was thrilled with the collection of citations. Edward was only two years old when his father died in a farming accident. His father had epilepsy and had been home schooled and then managed the farm for the family. He had a fall in the barn that was fatal as his head hit cement I understand from what Edward said. 

As our Anniversary comes once again I will make two donations I think with one to the Branch Library of the Ottawa Branch of Ontario Ancestors as usual (a group that he joined in the early 1980s when he went with Gordon Riddle, his cousin, to the first meeting he ever attended (I was not interested in going when we lived in the London area and that interest didn't come at this time in the Ottawa area either (it would take a while for me to take up the mantle of genealogy like 2003)). He loved the group and spent the next close to fourty years as part of it in so many ways (and he volunteered me for items he wanted done (I always think he was trying to keep me at home as the psychiatrist had told him I needed a lot of rest and quiet)). However all that volunteering involved my going out or people calling me on the telephone or having to call people on the telephone (his United Church, the OGS, Treasurer at Camp Bitobi and so many items except World Day of Prayer which I volunteered to do)! And I did go back to work as soon as I could actually although at home for over fifteen years for the bulk of that work and then back into the working world.  

The other donation I am contemplating picking up once again was his donation to his Alma Mater (and mine actually Western University was the University of Western Ontario). I shall investigate that as I would want to do that in his memory. 

I have continued most of the donations that he was doing along with the ones that I was doing. All societies need donations to organizations in order to provide that activity or need to continue being met as they are a social need for many many people. When money concentrates in one small group then life does not flow as equally or well as God meant it to.  

September finally

 The second day of cleaning and it will be the basement. Glad that it is September and the children are back in school so my food shopping days can begin again. I always stock up in mid-August to last until on into September. I actually have quite a bit on hand still. Moving does sound so delightful actually. I will probably just order my groceries delivered though. That actually works very well. 

Edward was so attached to his property here but I never was except at the very beginning when we first  moved here. It was so lovely and quiet. We knew our friends over on the street behind us. We could just spend all our time  on our projects including our daughter. She was so into reading but gradually she made a couple of friends that she played with mostly on the climbers in our back yard as we came with three in total which we set up for her to play on as she had had them at the house in South Ottawa which we were renting. But she loved to read and was starting to write little stories to send to her grandparents. Then she was off to four year old kindergarten in the Fall at Convent Glen Catholic as a tuition student since Edward had listed us as public school supporters but they had a spot for her in their four year old programme (no four year old kindergarten in the public school system then) which was great. I would have kept her going there but Edward preferred she be at the public school. Her best friend was just two doors up and they were best friends until he moved away. Her other friends were close by which was nice. 

I remember being out for a walk with our eldest daughter just after we moved here (eight years older than her younger sister) and some children called her over to play on a climber but she said no she was going for a walk with her parents. It was cute. She was like that although she did feel sorry for a couple that dropped by our house with their dog and they were saying they didn't have any children to her. But I told her they will have children eventually. He was our family doctor actually and she did like him at first until she started getting her allergy shots and then she did not like him anymore but she was only five. When we went to Edward's Church the first time she ran away when he came over to speak to us. Edward stayed and chatted with him; they did work on their in common Kipp genealogy as they both came from the same area (I think it was on Gordon's maternal side but no ideas on that). I avoided all such conversations so do not know  much about it. I think he might have been younger than Edward though; no idea on that. When I was checking the Tillsonburg Kipp family as one of the people in Edward's Kipp yDNA study had asked a question. I discovered that he was from that Kipp family so they were about fourth cousins or greater actually as the common ancestor in this family is unknown - Edward descends from Isaac Kipp (Northeast Town, Dutchess County, New York) and John Kipp was a Quaker who had come up from somewhere in New York State to the Niagara area before moving on to Tillsonburg, Ontario. I think Gordon thought he was descendant of Richard Titus Kipp (brother to Edward's Benjamin Kipp (Edward's great grandfather)) but Edward had placed him in the Tillsonburg Kipp family at some point. His last name was Riddle though so on his mother's side perhaps or could be his father's mother's side. 

Reading Nehemiah and the last couple of chapters and then will  move on to Tobit since this is a Catholic  Bible that I have. The King James Version does not have Tobit and Judith but I will read them both. Then it is Esther followed by two more Books that are not in the King James Version 1st and 2nd Maccabees. Then Job, Psalms and Proverbs and then are a few more additional books in the Old Testament Catholic Bible. Always remembering why I started to reread the Bible from the beginning as I understand better my thoughts on resolving all of our differences and moving to that uplifted plain of peace that would give the world so much happiness. I always felt that Armageddon had come during the Second World War and we had survived by our ingenuity and the hard fight that was fought against evil and we had moved through Revelations to a peaceful existence. God very much in our minds and hearts but the second coming did not happen then and is perhaps way into the future because God loves humanity and wants them to survive much longer. It is something that I have felt for a long time and I wonder why I think it now.  Perhaps the Bible will reveal that to me; no ideas on that. Millions of people have read the Bible but one has a different look when one is in their 80s I think as one reads the Bible. Although with the Russians throwing around the idea of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine human life might not be as long as it could be. What does one do with such evil people?

Today it is cleaning day and I will do the top floor after all; I was going to do the basement but first I will vacuum the basement. Generally I wash the floor because 3/4s of it is cement and the rest area rugs. Washing the cement keeps the dust down.  We only use the one end of it as a TV room/exercise area. The rest of it used to be packed full of tools and all sorts of stuff most of it went to Salvation Army or the Tool Library and some to neighbours except for what my son in law wanted - he got first choice. We kept enough tools to do repairs that we can do ourselves. It still surprises me to see how empty it is. 

Another beautiful day in God's world. Success for the Liberals they won all three of the ridings in the by-elections. Although I do not necessarily support the Liberals in all of the things that they do I feel very strongly that the idea of diversification of trade is our most important step including our huge investments in the military along with getting these pipelines built to tidewater. The Eastern pipeline is also very important to Ontario/Quebec. I just do not think we will be giving up oil anytime soon in terms of cars although EVs are certainly interesting. We buy so many cars in Canada and we did have a Canadian car industry which was bought out; perhaps a new one will appear in the near future. There have been so many surprises. 

So cleaning today and then work on the genealogical tables and mostly quiet work once I finish the cleaning. I am still getting back my energy after a very busy summer. There is a lot of yard work but I shall soon begin my one hour per day cleaning up the yards. It will take a few weeks but that is fine. 

Solitaire puzzles are next. 

Prayers continuing for the souls of those who lost their lives in the glacial flooding in Nepal and Tibet. Prayers for the rescue of the thousands still buried in the mud in tunnels under the earth. The Chinese military are doing a fantastic job of helping in the rescue there. They have been on the job since it happened.