Members Stories

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“Some of us remember when there was no 12 Mile Bay Road. No telephone service. No marina. But, there was the fun of all converging on the big dock attached to Shawanaga Island to greet the thrilling arrival of the “88” boat, with guests coming down the gangplank, the mailbag being thrown down, and our mailbag being carried up. Groceries (ordered two days earlier) being hefted down, and all the kids boarding to buy ice cream cones or candy. If it was your birthday, be braced for the word to get out, and you’d be thrown in, just as the big boat moved off. The real adventurers would dive off the stern.

These were the times for the exchange of gossip and helpful info. There was little concern about “planning issues”, and it never entered our heads (at least, not mine) that we cottagers could exert any political power.”

Submitted by Muriel Beatty

By the beginning of the 1980s, when the community was beginning to grow, there was also rising awareness of the need to ensure the interests of this special community were being stewarded. Wah Wah Taysee community leader Doug Alexander remembers a first discussion in his cottage dining room that summer with Wah Wah Taysee neighbors about forming a cottagers’ association. Muriel Beatty recalls a dinner in Toronto, the following winter of 1981.

“We all had phone calls from Jim and Brenda McCutcheon inviting us to dinner at their Toronto home. After a delicious meal, Jim challenged us to form a Wah Wah Taysee Association, in order to protect and preserve our beloved Georgian Bay. His initiative had our hearty response. In June, 1982, meeting at the home of Amy Brough/Beament, we formed a board, and nominated Fraser Hale as our President. The first few AGM’s were held at our cottage,” Minoyah”, and later moved on to other cottages.

We have been saddened by the deaths of Fraser and Bev Hale, and, recently, Jim McCutcheon. We owe a lot to all those who have served and are now serving as our representatives. I bumped into Jim last summer at the marina, and tried to express our appreciation for his and Brenda’s role in the forming of our association. Characteristically, the changed the subject! As this is the 30th anniversary of the Association, Geoff and I have been thinking that it would be appropriate to pause and recognize our beginnings.

Thank you, Friends.”

Submitted by Muriel Beatty

Living with the Local Neighbors

“I remember one sunny afternoon my kids and their friends running down the steps to go swimming. As each child approached the last step in sequence they’d take a great leap off the step to land several feet down the path. I went down the stairs behind them at a more adult pace, and discovered a good-sized rattler tucked in against the riser of the last step. He was slightly irritated by the recent commotion over his head, but slithered off amicably as I approached.  That same summer I also remember waking from a nap in the cottage, and a few feet from the end of my bed, at the edge of our deck was the big round head of a mother bear, and the smaller twin heads of a couple of cubs, watching me. I decided to nap a little longer…”