Carolyn Bennett
AUDIO INTERVIEW
SUMMARY
December 16, 2014
00:30 LIFE OF CHILD: Carolyn grew up just north of the St Clair West neighbourhood. Some of her earliest memories involve visiting her grandmother’s flower shop at St Clair and Yonge.
00:40 MEMORABLE PEOPLE: Memories of spending a lot of time on Grimthorpe with her aunt’s best friend Betty Britton and her father Mr Britton who worked at Eaton’s all his life.
01:35 LIFE OF CHILD: This would have been in the 50s and early 60s.
01:45 SHOPS: Her grandmother opened two flower shops in Toronto beginning in the 1930s, which evolved into her mother being the owner of Eunice Denby Flowers, which served the St Clair West neighbourhood. Her husband was a house painter but people at the time couldn’t afford to have their houses painted so her grandmother, Caroline Denby, understood that people still needed flowers for weddings, funerals, christenings so she opened a store at St Clair and Yonge. She chose this location because her friend, who owned Fran’s Restaurant, was opening another location there. Carolyn’s grandmother at the time lived downtown.
02:50 SHOPS / NEIGHBOURHOOD STREET LIFE: The flower store opened up across from a funeral home — that bond between the businesses became important.
03:06 SHOPS: She recalls hearing stories of how her grandmother built her flower business — she would put cut flowers in the shop window with an address tag for the Granite Club — it was a marketing strategy, no flowers had been ordered.
04:00 Her grandmother opened another branch of The Violet Flower Shop at Mt. Pleasant and Eglinton, putting Carolyn’s mother (who was 16) in charge of it. Her mother eventually had her own flower business called Eunice Denby Flowers.
04:35 Carolyn’s grandmother taught Carolyn and her mother the importance of kindness, of making people feel loved when they visited the shop. Carolyn describes her grandmother’s and mother’s pricing system.
05:19 SHOPS / MEMORABLE PEOPLE: She recounts a story that Michele Landsberg likes to tell about Carolyn’s mother’s pricing system.
05:50 COMMUNITY GROUPS: Her mother and grandmother were Soroptimists. They were part of The Venture Club — the younger sister of the Soroptimists. It was filled with many women, like Carolyn’s mum, who were unmarried during WWII. Carolyn grew-up surrounded by these professional women. Most of them never married She mentions how they started Homecare in Toronto at Lambert Lodge (Christie Gardens).
07:10 COMMUNITY GROUPS: The Soroptimists were a service club - an international movement of business and professional women.
07:25 MEMORABLE PEOPLE / COMMUNITY GROUPS: Because of her association with the Dean of Food Sciences at UofT, Carolyn was able to use the industrial kitchen in the Food Sciences Building to make fudge. Carolyn and her sister would take the fudge down to the Canadian Room at the Royal York where the room would be filled with women playing bridge. They would sell their fudge to them from a little tea wagon. She still has the tea wagon at the cottage.
08:35 SHOPS / LIFE OF CHILD / NEIGHBOURHOOD STREET LIFE: They would get to know the chauffeur and staff who would pick up flowers for the events being hosted in Forest Hill.
09:07 MEMORABLE PEOPLE: She remembers doing a decoration for a party at Oscar Peterson’s.
09:25 SHOPS / WORK: While growing up she was involved in the flower store, helping with everything.
10:20 MEMORABLE PEOPLE: She remembers serving Loretta Rogers in the store on Eglinton because the Christmas orders were lengthy and her job was to copy down all the names and addresses.
10:40 WORK: When she earned her driver’s licence her job was to drive her mother to the weddings in June and September.
11:00 LIFE OF CHILD / TRANSIT: She shares her memories of the St Clair streetcar and Yonge Subway when she was learning to become independent.
11:30 Her sister was 18m younger and they got around to all their activities on the streetcar and the subway.
12:00 SHOPS: She recalls going to Betty Britton’s and Mr Britton’s to visit stores with Italian breads and cookies. She remembers that it seemed so rich and European and “exciting.”
12:45 COMMUNITY GROUPS: Her aunt and Betty were active volunteers with the Red Cross so they helped with the Hungarian refugees coming into port in downtown Toronto.
13:15 MEMORABLE EVENTS: Her aunt and Betty contributed to efforts around Hurricane Hazel.
14:15 NEIGHBOURHOOD STREET LIFE: Remembering about the St. Clair West neighbourhood in the 60s and 70s – it was a place where she went with her aunt to see Betty and Betty’s dad. She remembers it being filled with people who were passionate about things, who were activists. It recalls that it had a vibrancy and energy that was “contagious.”
15:00 She remembers it as being a magical place The area where she lived in North Toronto seemed pretty “sterile” in comparison.
15:30 RECREATION: From 1968-74 she was in pre-med and medical school and didn’t “come up for air “other than playing hockey and field hockey.
15:50 WORK: When she set up practice with Jean Marmoreo at Bathurst and Barton (1977) she began doing house calls in the St. Clair west area.
16:35 ACTIVISM: Stopping the Spadina Expressway was a focus of many of the patients. Everything from childcare to the Dunlop Workers was an issue.
17:18 She thinks the diversity and the welcoming inclusive nature of the area encouraged activists to live and be active in the neighbourhood. She believes that sense of community and people coming together is what it takes to create change. It was the kind of culture that Joe Mihevc stands for today. The neighbourhood has maintained culture.
18:30 NEIGHBOURHOOD STREET LIFE / SCHOOLS: She remembers always being in the Santa Claus Parade because of their connection to Eatons. If they were really lucky they would end up on a float near the Oakwood (Collegiate) band - they knew how to play and were “really good.” It seemed that Oakwood was a magnet for the kind of teachers who wanted to teach music and art and the kids found their talents other than the 3Rs. She believes that Oakwood was a very special place.
19:30 DEMOGRAPHICS / NEIGHBOURHOOD STREET LIFE / ACTIVISM: She talks about being a Member of Parliament for the area. She recalls that when working as a family doctor she felt that every patient was passionate about something. She still finds that behind every door is a person passionate about something.The area still attracts amazing people she “learns from everyday.”
20:15 She believes it’s about knowing that the solutions are in the community and that her job is to listen and put them into action
20:20 WYCHWOOD BARNS: Her Saturday mornings at the Barns is when she learns what’s going on in the neighbourhood and what’s important to people. This is where she takes the pulse of the community.
21:05 NEIGHBOURHOOD STREET LIFE: Carolyn believes that this is the place where community feels the richest in the riding. If Toronto is a city of neighbourhoods then St Clair West is a place where you know neighbourhoods matter. She refers to the Helena Street Fair.
21:30 NEIGHBOURHOOD STREET LIFE: There’s a huge respect for diversity and celebration of talent behind every door.
22:10 COMMUNITY GROUPS / WYCHWOOD BARNS: She talks about a community that wants to ensure we are looking after everyone better – looking after the planet better. These are two large issues that come up on Saturdays at the Barns.
23:00 COMMUNITY GROUPS / ACTIVISM: People in the community are doing their part (like the solar panels in the neighbourhood) and expecting the public policy to match their priorities.
23:50 WYCHWOOD BARNS / ACTIVISM / DEMOGRAPHICS: She refers to a fall bus tour of Toronto’s indigenous sites and mentions Na-me-Res, the Pow Wow and Sagatay. She expresses her thoughts on Indigenous issues: she wishes we could do more to be in touch with the history and the culture of the First Peoples. and believes that this neighbourhood is the community that might be capable of accomplishing this break-through. She sees The (Wychwood) Barns and the Gallery as a place where this could happen.
25:10 She mentions that she was at Sagatay the night before. She would be at Na-Me-Res that night.