Norah Heinrichs

Norah

Norah was born in 1915 in Clive, Alberta. Her father was a Methodist minister and from him she received a legacy of Christian faith which stayed with her throughout her life.
Norah grew up under difficult circumstances becoming an orphan by the time she was ten years old. Her mother died first, after which she lived for some time with an aunt in California. She returned to live with her father and when he died an aunt in Arthur, Ontario took Norah and her brother in and cared for them until they were on their own. Here she became part of the family. Her aunt had two sons, a few years older, who accepted her as a sister, a relationship which lasted throughout their lives and had a positive influence on Norah.
The fact that Norah became an orphan early in life made a lasting impact on her character. She had a need for security and even when she became well off she still felt insecure. On the other hand, it also made her sympathetic to others who were in difficult situations and willing to help them.

The religious faith she inherited from her father and the feeling of insecurity from her childhood were two important factors in moulding her personality.
The third, and possibly the strongest influence in her life, was her older cousin with whom she grew up. He was a very enterprising and capable civil engineer who went into bridge construction and became one of Canada's leading bridge contractors. He was aggressive in his work and this brought him wealth and also a place in the upper-class society of Toronto. He shared both freely with Norah.

Norah got her Batchelor's degree in Home Economics from the University of Toronto. She worked as a dietician in hospitals: in Essex, England, in Montreal, and in North Bay, Ontario. Her cousin never married. When he became established he needed a housekeeper to entertain the many guests that he brought home. Norah took this position; she was a dietician and had a lot of experience in cooking. He lived in Rosedale, Toronto, and this set the style of living to which Norah became accustomed.

Norah did a lot of travelling, world wide, during her life. Much of it must have been paid for by her cousin. After he died in 1958 {?} Norah took a job with the Department of Agriculture working as a seed analyst, where she remained until we were married in 1976. However, when I got to know her she was only working part time, taking the summer off so she could travel.

I met Norah at Laval University in Quebec where we were both studying French during the summer session. After several summers there we started corresponding and developed a lasting relationship. We got married on April 1st, 1976, while I was teaching with Indian Affairs at Oxford House in Manitoba. I resigned from my job at the end of the school year and never had time to look for another job after that.

The first year we were married we lived in Winnipeg and registered at the University of Manitoba to continue our French Studies. The next year we moved to Paris for a year of studies at the University of Paris. I had already spent a year at the University of Paris before our marriage and Norah had been in France at smaller universities for several summers. After that we settled into her lovely summer home in Bobcaygeon, Ontario, located on Pigeon Lake. Here we stayed for several years. We found small town life a little tame so we moved to Winnipeg for the winter and returned to Bobcaygeon for the summer, a practice that we kept up until Norah's health forced us to stay permanently in Winnipeg.

Travel continued to be a permanent part of our lives. We travelled widely in Ontario, we motored across Canada from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island, we flew to Florida, we visited friends in California a number of times, and we loved to go hiking in the Canadian Rockies. In 1980 we took a tour to China which included the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Japan. The highlight was our trip to the Great Wall of China.

Personally Norah was a modest, unassuming, but confident person. She never used cosmetics, not even lipstick, she never had hairdos, or expensive jewellery. She bought good clothing, but then she wore it instead of continually buying more new clothes. She was not talkative but she was willing to accept responsibility. I did not know that she had become a member of the Church Board at Bobcaygeon until I saw her name listed in the church bulletin. She was generous in giving to charities and to people in need, but she made no fuss about it.

People who knew her from the past respected her highly, but new friends often regarded her as ordinary because of her unassuming character. It's sad that we tend to judge people by their fashionable clothes, their hair permanents, and their jewellery.

Norah taught me a better way of looking at people.

 

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