Remember Sandra

Sandra was born in Toronto Grace Hospital on May 6th, 1940. The second daughter of May Wilson (nee Stevens) and Arthur Sydney Wilson. The new sister to 18 month old Barbara Ann Wilson.

Her parents had become sweethearts when May and her Sister Ivy, and their Mom moved into the house next door to the Wilson family home on Scarboro Crescent. Syd took one look at May when he saw her for the first time and announced, “I am gonna marry that girl.”
After getting to know each other socializing weekly at the dance hall at the bottom of the street, which was on top of the Scarborough Bluffs, Syd and May tied the knot.
In 1938 Barbara was born, then in 1940 Sandra was born; and in that year of 1940 the world began to change.
The free spirited time of the ‘30s was washed away by World War II. Syd went off toward Canadian Air force Service. Canada ran out of planes to train folks on and Syd was asked not to switch to the British Air force, but to consider changing his affiliation unit. When he had left for the war he had been a local embalmer at a Funeral Home close by, so the Air force figured that he would not be squeamish about seeing injured bodies, and they could use him in the medic corps.
So he committed as a Canadian Medical Corps and set off for Europe to do his part.
He wrote his daughters and wife wonderful letters and they heard the stories he penned when their Mom read the notes.
Once he sent them each a pair of wooden shoes from Holland. Both Girls saved those shoes for life.
The girls were very young and for Sandra, soon her father was just words on a paper and he wasn’t a person she knew.
By the time her father came home after the war she didn’t know who he was. She was frightened by the tanned man who always wanted to teach her about plants and animals.
It took some time for the shy child to build that relationship with her Daddy. Once she did, she enjoyed all of his interests-Science and nature. The outdoors, bird watching and flowers. She would sit for hours watching him pin butterfly and moth collections. They would repel climb the bluffs bird watching and nest watching, and playing piano.
Sandra was not the perfect student. She excelled in art, and she loved being a Canadian Girl In Training( CGIT). Mom had artistic talent like her Mom. Her Mom was a Wedding and Trousseau designer. During the war May made wedding cakes, design wedding dresses and bridesmaid dresses, hats and gloves in her free time after working in the GECO Bomb Factory.
May and the Girls lived on Ludi Avenue. But being able to work outside the home allowed May to be an independent woman (while Syd was away at War) and she bought a house.
Sandra was 4 when they moved into the big White house with the wrap-around porch at 171 Midland at Kingston Road, right across the street from The Historic “Halfway House” Inn. Their home had been the sister house to The Halfway House. It was the general mercantile and butcher shop.
The girls learned to be very independent as they watched their Mom grow in her independence each day. The war made folks grow in ways they could not imagine. Sandra was not so interested in being a good baker, and she really didn’t want to learn (like she saw her Mom learn) how to sew to perfection. She really wanted to learn how to paint and wallpaper a room. She wanted to fix an electrical lamp or stoke the fires of the wood and coal furnace instead. She felt she was a tom boy. She liked cutting wood and doing crafts. All because her Mom and her worked on it together.
When she was a teen her best friend Doreen had to come and live at the Wilson house because of a terrible tragedy. At that moment Sandra gained another sister. She was happy to have a roommate of her best friend.
Summers were spent up at Lake Muskoka staying with the Rambo family.
Sandra loved crafts. She liked Piano, and she loved figure skating. She excelled at the sport. When she was in her late teens she had to make some hard choices. She had to decide to finish High School, or go to work to pay for her ice time to practice figures.
Around this time in her life she took notice of a boy from her High School, R.H. King Collegiate. She noticed the jock at school. But she really met him at the rink. Every day she would rent her ice time to practice figures. Right after her ice time was the time for Richard Lundy’s hockey team to practice or play.
It was at around this same time that Richard and his buddy John Wales noticed Sandra at the rink too.
Now rumour has it John asked Sandra out first and the first date was a double date with Richard and a gal….and somehow they ended up switching dates. So everyone here can put Richard and John on the spot and find out if the rumour is true or not.
Well I guess the switch clicked for Richard and Sandra because they were inseparable.
Richard’s Parents moved away to BC for Business, so Richard had to make a decision to go with his Parents or stay in Toronto and settle into a life with Sandra.
He decided Sandra was the glue that would keep him in Toronto. Soon after that he joined the Metro Toronto Police Department.
Next, they went bowling at an alley on Yonge Street and Richard proposed.
The wedding was planned for, and May designed the whole wedding. And we believe May’s sister Ivy designed the bouquets and floral arrangements.
The day was great and the wedding party looked very dapper. But as all positive things go……..Sandra’s Dad Syd had promised to take the Wedding photos, and he forgot to put film in the camera.
All the friends and family gave copies of their own photos to Richard and Sandra. So they ended up with a wedding album that has varied sized and coloured photos. It really ended up a more personal album because the point of the view of the doting guest or proud family member was captured in the pictures.
Richard and Sandra married at St. Krispen’s Anglican Church on Friday August 25, 1961. Their reception was at The Studio in The Guild Inn. They honeymooned in Bala at close friend’s cottage.
As Richard and Sandra settled themselves into married life, they certainly moved a lot. They lived in apartments all over Scarborough, as they kept upgrading slowly while they saved money to buy a house.
On June 28th, 1963, Lynn was born at Scarborough General Hospital.
In those days Scarborough General Hospital was run by nuns. No one was allowed in the delivery room, and no one except infant’s Father, and the parents and siblings of the mother were allowed to visit in the room . So John Wales decided as of the day Lynn was born that he was Sandra’s brother.
Lynn grew up fast, before their eyes. Every year the holiday was camping and fishing.
From the early 60’s to the mid ‘70’s The Lundy Family camped along-side the The Duncan Family. In the beginning Forbes and Marie had the same number of children. The Lundy’s with a girl and The Duncan’s with a girl named Sharon. Lynn and Sharon are a year apart in age. The girls were inseparable while they travelled around on vacations.
1968 to 1971 Richard Sandra and Lynn moved into the basement apartment of The Vanden Eynde’s home, at 12 Kidbrook Crescent. The arrangement was great. Reduced rent if Sandra would babysit Andrea and Marcel’s Daughter Annette. This would help Richard and Sandra save up for a house. Annette was 3 years older than Lynn. The girls were raised like sisters. It was like a family that had two Moms and Two Dads and Three of them worked full time and one stayed home with the kids. The best life in the world. When kids have two sets of parents they have four adults to learn from. To this day Annette is referred to as, “Our other daughter”.
In 1971 The Lundy’s went on a short holiday in Temagami. On the trip they met another family that would influence their life in a profound way- The Patterson’s. Wayne and Lorraine and their children Timmy and Cindy.
The Pattersons had a lot in common with the Lundy’s too. Hunting and fishing and camping. And soon began the search for the best fishing lakes in Ontario.
The hunt was on. The Duncan’s and The Lundy’s and the Patterson’s would corral at places together at the beginning. Plus the Patterson’s and the Lundy’s began to plan sporting events together, other than camping and fishing. Sept 23rd weekend (on average) was the Duck Hunting event. March break was The Sportsman Show event. Long May weekend was mud pout and frogs legs event. Then the year had come full circle for the search of the grand fishing hotspot.
At that point Sandra’s Mom and Dad wanted to join the event. So became the wagon train of camping and fishing which took them all to the great north of Ontario. 55miles north of Chapleau, up a dirt logging road is Missinnabi Provincial park. It was a wilderness only park. There were no fancy showers or flush toilets. The bears walked through the camp regularly. And besides the awesome Walleye fishing there was the most amazing chance to observe wildlife all around you.
At this time the Duncan Family was still growing. Graham and Colin came along, and Forbes and Marie branched away some years to check out other camping places when The Lundy’s started to make Missinnabi their camp of choice. The camping with the families was dynamic year to year.
The connection was tight with everyone.
The years at Missinnabi were like no other time. Rugged living where each camper came for the fishing and portaging up the long Missinnabi River up to toward or to James Bay.
The campers made a community feeding area. Each day huge fish chowder was made, and fillets were also baked or fried. Salads and potatoes would be cooked for the whole camp and everyone joined together for a huge fire, stories and food.
One night Sandra quietly spoke to everyone, “Whatever you all do.. Do not make any sudden moves toward me. If you do, I am gonna get it.” Everyone did as she said, then suddenly we noticed why. A skunk had joined her and was eating some wayward potato chips that had fallen under Sandra’s chair.
Those times and those stories will out live us all.
The Lundy’s made two big road trips to Western Canada and the US west. Once in 1971 and once in 1979. Both trips were amazing. Seeing the US and Canada badlands, The Rocky Mountains and the Black Hills, seeing Mount Rushmore and Yellowstone. Heading through the upper and lower passes of the Canadian rockies. Enjoying Jasper and Banff, plus Lake Louis, and Rogers Pass. Looking for the Ogopogo Monster in Kelona BC, collecting dinosaur bones and teeth in Drumheller Alberta, and driving through the flat flat Prairies. Riding along the vast Great Lakes through the northern Ontario rock cuts across the Canadian Sheild.
In the early 70’s another family joined the Lundy’s circle. The Laforet’s. Jack and Lil and their children became a staple in the Lundy’s life.
The creative family was extremely well educated. Jack and Lil had two adult children and then three young kids. Jack and Lil helped Richard with course papers for college courses he took through the Police Department. But it didn’t stop there. They cottaged together, and socialized though out the year.
Once Lynn was a late teen the family vacations were more scarce. Part time jobs got in the way for Lynn.
Time flew by so quickly. Meeting families like the Gillams and the Taylors added to this quite large extended family.
At about this time, Richard finally followed in his Uncle Hank’s footsteps and Joined the Masonic Lodge. The friendships they amassed through their time in lodge to this day are many. Dances and dinners, BBQ’s and charity events. Special feature nights for the guys and gals, card parties and dinner theatre.
Fun times had by all in the Masonic Lodge, Grand Lodge and The Eastern Star. Reflected here today. Too many to name them all, but Tucker, Scott, Rankin, McClaren, Hughs, Gibson, Clayton and some and groups like The Mystics and Builders.
The largest extended family was the Metro Toronto Police. Also reflected here today. Adding new friends to camp or cottage with or cross visit with like Taylor, Huggett, Oulette, Fordom, Duncan, Gillam, Helson, Caisse, Couch, Braund, Burke, and so many more to be mentioned. Some of those families now having second generations on The Force.
Pretty much every day a cop would take his lunch hour at The Lundy home, nestled in 41 division. Sandra was always prepared for lunch or dinner visitors with no warning. The cops were allowed to keep their boots on, so they were ready to go on the fly.
During Christmas and New Years Hundreds of cops would come by to The Lundy’s Open House morning to dawn Christmas and New years parties. A cold buffet and something to drink was awaiting all who came.
Sandra was a well known brownie leader, girl guide helper an CGIT leader in the community. Many girls in Scarborough were trained by Sandra, or had her as their camp leader.
Sandra was on a women’s bowling league with her Mom for years and years. It was at the East Town plaza.
She also was into ceramics. She even cast her own pieces. She excelled at lace draping and dry brush techniques and hand making porcelain or ceramic flowers and leaves.
Lynn Married Carl Tucker in 1984. Carl was Richard’s buddy at the time, so Lynn always tells folks she married her Dad’s best friend.
In 1986 Lynn gave birth to Sandra and Richard’s first grandchild Alexander Steven Tucker who was born on July 8th, 1986. Next came Cameron Patrick Tucker born 1988. As soon as the boys were walking they were fishing and golfing with their Grandfather and Grandmother.
Once Richard Retired it was time for a new stage in their life. Sandra and Richard started a Salmon Fishing Charter Boat Business from Richard’s ages of 49 to 62. Those were Sandra’s favourite times. She studied radio navigation and sonar. She became the first woman captain licensed to navigate Toronto Harbour. She piloted the boat and shot video for every customer who came on the Lundy’s Charters boat.
Hundreds of people stepped upon their boat for a life-changing day. Alex and Cameron became their competition crew mates. Every Charter Boat fishing competition had the Lundy Grandchildren team competing against adult anglers. They won many many years in a row. Causing some heads to turn as to wee boys of 4 and 6 yrs old would walk up the podium for trophies bigger than they were.
They watched Alex and Cameron grow up so fast. From diapers to drivers licenses in two blinks. Alex went off to the army reserves and Cam became an indie heavy metal singer in a band that challenged other bands for the top spot in Ontario.
From concerts to army events, the family’s life was full in those Grand kids’ teen years.
The boys went off to University and College. Alex taking computer science at Trent, and Cameron heading to Seneca College for Corporate Media Production and then Television.
The boys are the pride and joy of their life.
About 8 years ago Sandra’s breathing began to deteriorate. A long time asthmatic was struggling with her health. Life slowed down.
Sandra was determined to not let her world break down, but her condition worsened. About 3yrs ago she ended up having to take oxygen maintenance at home. Even that (even though it shut her in) did not stop her from trying to be fit. She would ride a stationary bike every day.
It was a shock when she passed. She had been on a real positive swing the last two months, but the lung problems caught up to her. She passed with her faculties, in her sleep, at home, with dignity- while being doted upon by Richard 24/7.
We can rejoice in her passing as it was the best kind of passing. Fast and pain free.
Plus we all have her with us every day instead of having to wait for one of her “good” days to visit.