By Mike Baker – TheHighlander – February 6, 2025

Peering out across Head Lake from the window of her new fourth-floor apartment at the Gardens of Haliburton retirement residence, Anna English said decades of magical memories come flooding back from her time teaching at Haliburton Highlands Secondary School.

The eldest daughter of Clayton Hodgson, six-term Member of Parliament for the former Victoria riding and patriarch of the Hodgson clan, English moved into the facility Jan. 6 – joining her younger sister, Margaret Downey, and sister-inlaw, Barb Hodgson-Medd, at the Gardens.

Born and raised in the County, English graduated from the old Haliburton Secondary School, which once stood where her new home sits today. She went to university in Toronto – a big deal in those days – before returning home in 1953, after the opening of the new high school on the other side of the lake.

She spent 26 years teaching at the school, helping students to learn shorthand, typewriting, and business practices. Her late husband, Vance, owned and operated the Shell service station for many years.

“Lots of good memories made here,” English told The Highlander during a Jan. 17 interview.

The past couple of weeks have been a constant trip down memory lane for the 96-year-old; she points to the Gardens’ dining room, once a tennis court and playground, and reminisces about the hours spent playing with her classmates. A main floor hallway leading to recreation rooms sits on roughly the same spot as English’s Grade 12 classroom.

There’ve been reconnections with familiar faces too – on more than one occasion, she’s heard calls of “hi Mrs. English” from other Gardens’ residents, people she taught decades ago. One of the kitchen staff she’s taken a liking to said she was good friends with English’s granddaughter, Crystal, who still lives in the community.

“I pretty quickly remembered what a close community Haliburton is. The people here know one another – that’s what I like about it,” English said.

Return 70 years in the making

Downey, 91, has been back in the County for four years, moving home in 2020 after a lifetime living in the Ottawa Valley.

With her late husband, Don, requiring long-term care, Downey – also a teacher during her working days – said Haliburton Extendicare was the first facility out of dozens she contacted to offer him a spot. So, the pair moved, with Downey renting an apartment in the downtown. It was a homecoming decades in the making.

When the first phase of the Gardens project opened in 2021, Downey was one of the facility’s first residents. She was soon followed by Hodgson-Medd, who arrived that Thanksgiving. Downey said it was strange returning after more than 70 years away.

“Everything had changed so much. It really didn’t seem like my hometown – the community has grown tremendously,” Downey said. “I didn’t know anybody – the only names I recognized were Lenny Salvatori and Curry Bishop.”

Having her sister-in-law, who was married to John Douglas Hodgson – the man the local elementary school is named after, helped her settle.

“It was wonderful for me to have Barb come – I really felt like an outsider. I’d been away for so long,” Downey said. “Now to have Anna here too…” she trails off, holding her emotions. “Again, it’s wonderful. We have not lived in the same community for a long time and not had too much contact. There has been a lot of catching up.”

That’s usually done over a game of euchre or bingo – popular games among the Gardens’ residents. Downey also enjoys the weekly musical groups and performances on Fridays. In fact, she was counting down the minutes to an afternoon jam later that day with Trina West and Albert Saxby.

There are regular outings too – Downey recalls a trip to Sir Sam’s, where she took a ski lift to the top of the hill to enjoy the views of nearby Eagle Lake. There have also been excursions to Casino Rama and Peterborough for shopping, while staff make routine trips into Haliburton village to pickup any needed supplies.

“This place has really fitted my needs and what I was looking for. My life was pretty dreary after my husband passed, but I’ve really been quite happy here. To have this chance to reconnect with family – it’s been a gift,” Downey said.

A lifetime of memories

For 87-year-old Hodgson-Medd, most of her adult life has revolved around Haliburton County. After meeting Doug during her teenage years, the pair wed after she graduated from high school. They moved around a bit during their early years of marriage – first to Stratford and then Millbrook, where he scored his first principal job.

There were frequent calls to return home, Barb recalls. They eventually did in 1963, with Doug becoming principal at HHSS. He went on to serve as the school board’s director of education before retiring in 1984. The pair lived in Haliburton together until Doug’s death in 1997.

Together they had four children – Chris, the former reeve of Dysart township and three-term MPP for HaliburtonVictoria-Brock, Andrew, longtime realtor and former owner of Century 21, John and Katherine, who have both passed.

While her remaining sons stayed in Haliburton, Hodgson-Medd remarried in 2001 and split her time between her home community and Pontypool. She spent winters in the small village for about 20 years, returning to her roots permanently in 2021 following the death of her second husband.

She reconnected with figures from her past instantly.

“The first day I came in here, I saw a group of girls playing a game of cards and one of them was Jeanne Egan – she lived two doors down from me while growing up; I served tea at her wedding,” Hodgson-Medd said.

Salvatori was another – Barb said she and Doug traveled all over North America with Lenny and his wife, Betty. “We’ve had some laughs about the places we’d been and the things we got up to… I remember one event, Angela Lansbury (actress, known mostly for starring in Murder, She Wrote) was the speaker. She was so, so beautiful.”

Hodgson-Medd said it’s a blessing to be home, close to her family. Her cousin, Carol Chadwick, is also a resident of the Gardens.

“I’m glad this place was built – it’s given people like me a chance to come back home, which has helped my family with not having to worry. That’s the connection a lot of people have here – either family works here, or kids have retired to the cottage and moved their parents up to be close to them,” Barb said.

“It’s a nice home for us, back here in our hometown,” English added.