History greets you at every turn. Use the guide to see our Heritage Moments.
History greets you at every turn. Use the guide to see our Heritage Moments.
These are memories of Grey Owl, Anahareo, and Shirley Dawn written by family friend Margaret Winters in 1999. For the first part of this memoir, please see Grey Owl & Anahareo in the menu. The photos included are from Margaret's scrapbook.
Dawn stayed with us, and went to school from our home. She was one of our family, and like a sister to me. When she was a teenager, she developed diabetes, and had to have two injections a day. She was very good about keeping up with her diet. She went to Business College, and worked in an Office in Prince Albert. She was in Saskatoon for awhile too. She married, and had two children, Glaze and Sandra Dean. But she had a bad time with her eyes, and had to have surgery, and her heart, and then her kidneys.
She travelled around keeping up the stories of her Dad and telling all he did for Conservation. She visited schools in Ontario, and Quebec. We were living in Ottawa, and she would stay with us whenever she was in the area, and her husband travelled with her. We went to see them in their home in Kamloops. While we were there we also visited Anahareo, who lived there with another daughter. We had a nice time visiting with her, as it had been a long time since we had seen her.
In 1970 Margaret (Winters) Charko and her husband Ron with Stanley Winters and his wife travelled to where they had spent the summer of 1936. This is the sign they saw when they arrived at Beaver Lodge.
Stan Winters sat on the bench outside Beaver Lodge just like he had with Grey Owl thirty-four years before.
Margaret looked out the window of the upper cabin just like she did when she was typing Grey Owl's manuscript Tales of an Empty Cabin.
Margaret and her husband Ron Charko posed by Grey Owl's grave at Ajawaan Lake.
On this photograph from Margaret's scrapbook, she wrote the years each family member passed away on their respective cairn: Grey Owl in 1938, Shirley Dawn in 1984, and Anahareo in 1986.
Anahareo was named a Member of the Order of Canada by Governor General Edward Schreyer, pictured above with Mrs. Schreyer at the ceremony in Kamloops in 1983.
Grey Owl wrote four books, that were published in 12 languages, and are still in circulation. They are:
The Men of the Last Frontier,
Pilgrims of the Wild,
Sajo and her Beaver People,
and Tales of an Empty Cabin, the book I typed.
He gave me a copy of Tales of an Empty Cabin, and in the front of it has written:
Always remember, be kind to all animals, for they are defenseless. Be good to all people, kindness is never lost. As you are kind to others, so you will receive consideration. Fair play is a religion all by itself. (Signed) Your friend, Grey Owl
Tourists are still making trips to his cabins in both Riding Mountain Park and at Ajawaan, in the Prince Albert National Park.
There is a Society that has been started in Hastings England, called the Grey Owl Society, and the members are from all over the world. They have made me an Honorary Member. I was very delighted to visit Hastings in September, 1998, and the Grey Owl Society had a barbecue in my honor. My daughter was with me, and we were made most welcome. We toured all around Hastings to where he was born and went to school. They have a museum with a lot of his things collected there.
Margaret, secon posed with members of the Grey Owl Society in Hastings, England in September, 1998.
Men of the Last Frontier (1931) by Grey Owl, autographed on the title page.
Actor Pierce Brosnan is pictured in the centre of the adjacent photo with Rick Gralewski on the right, and an unidentified on the left.
Sir Richard Attenborough, director of the movie pictured in the adjacent photo with Rick Galewski
I will end all this with the same way Grey Owl ended his lectures:
"Remember, you belong to nature, not it to you"
Margaret (Winters) Charko. November 1, 1999.
The Winters family and especially Margaret stayed in touch with Anahareo and Shirley Dawn until their deaths. Margaret collected clippings and articles about Grey Owl all her life. She researched Grey Owl in Archives Canada. She was in touch with the Grey Owl Society in England and was consulted in the making of films about him. She travelled back to Beaver Lodge several times after Grey Owl's death.
Many thanks to the Winters/Charko family for donating Margaret's memorabilia to the Waskesiu
Heritage Museum. It can be viewed on display at the Museum during July and August.
All photos are property of the Waskesiu Heritage Museum and may not be used without permission.
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