TEMPERANCEVILLE

Mrs C Beynon, Mrs Fred Hare, Mrs Nelson Thompson, Mrs Stewart Paxton, Mrs Don Chalk and Mrs Chas Henshaw admire a quilt.

These ladies from Temperanceville WI won two prizes in 1958 for a book of 15 sample quilt blocks; they won a prize of $8 at the area convention in Newmarket and went on to win an Honorable Mention and $10 at a province-wide competition at the Royal York
Hotel. In addition to quilt blocks made to traditional designs, Mrs
Don Chalk’s square used Mr Fred Hare’s store as the theme for her design.

Charter members of Temperanceville WI include: Mrs N Thompson, Miss A Ferguson, Mrs H Jennings, Mrs F Wilkins, Mrs H Clarke and Mrs J Jennings The King Archives contains a description, written for the 15th Anniversary (June 15, 1949) of the founding meeting. It is a story of a group of women who were honored by a speech by the amazing Laura Rose Stephen, who was 83 years old by this time. Laura Rose spent much time in the early part of the century, visiting various places in Ontario to encourage the ladies to form Women’s Institutes. In fact, the badge/crest was designed by her and she created the motto, “For Home and Country”. This information has been preserved in WI Tweedsmuir books and when it was discovered in preparation for this article, a copy was sent to the
headquarters, FWIO, in Guelph and the reaction was amazement.