Janet Baldry McIver         

Birth to 1955 “the Walton Years”
Janet was born in St Boniface, Manitoba, Canada.  After the war years the family moved to Quincy, MA where she attended kindergarten with Miss Pickle!! The family moved to Reed’s Ferry NH where Janet went to a two room school grades 1-4, temporary schooling in the Town Hall for grade five, and a new school in Merrimack for grade six.  Janet’s father, George, was a GP who made house calls every evening; her mother, Jeannette, ran the largest 4-H group in the state; Janet had an older sister, Kathy, and a younger brother Geo.  Together the family had 2000 Rhode Island Red chickens whose eggs were gathered, candled, cleaned, and crated daily, several dogs, numerous cats and a pig named “Oink.”

1955 - 1961  “Happy Days”
In 1955 the family moved to Florida where Janet attended Kinloch Park Jr High, grades 7 and 8.  And then when the family moved from Miami to Coral Gables she attended Ponce de Leon for grade 9.  These were the days of drive-in movies; drive in diners, typewriters, 25-cent burgers, and 5-cent cokes.  Can you remember getting your learners permit at 14?.... What were they thinking!!  There we were driving down Dixie Highway like we owned the world.

After having survived the culture shock of moving to Florida it was time to enter high school.  This was a whole new world.

No more coddling we were told, this is the real world.  We had to think for ourselves.  No give away grades, no easy A’s, no squeaking by, we had no calculators, no Internet, no texting but we had a well-stocked library and great teachers.  There were rules.  No pants, no shorts, no culottes so the girls wore skirts and dresses!!  Madras and Capezio’s, button down shirts, and hand made sandals made by the shoemaker at the Bus Station.  There was a crinoline count. There was a “knee measure” length standard. There was a double standard,  gracious southern hospitality and intolerance. 

There were two new states. Alan Shepard makes first US space flight and we listened to the countdown on the PA system. Unrest in Columbia and Castro in Cuba changed the face of our school.  We didn’t start the fire!!  We were children of the fifties with pep rallies, football, basketball, one hour of phys ed daily, and dancing with the boys in the gym when it rained.

We heard, we saw, we read: Elvis, Anka, Belefonte, Como, Fisher, Boone, Cole, Sinatra, the “Sound of Music”, “Dr Zivago”, “Gypsy”“,”To Kill a Mockingbird”, Fleming, Hitchcock, Roth, Mitchener, Updike, Shute, Faulkner, Kerr, Stone, Steinbeck, Heller and Salinger.

Detergent in the fountains, horns beating clique tunes, having fun with our friends after dark, without supervision, ours was an idyllic, ignorant bliss.

We had lots of friends, there were so many kids we had old friends, new friends, “see ya at school” friends, gym friends, home room buddies, classmates, sports friends, club friends, party friends, go to the beach friends and giggle all night at a slumber party friends.  It sure was fun and we actually learned things too!!

1961-1993  “Little house on the Prairies”
After graduating from CCSHS Janet returned to Winnipeg, MB, Canada and took her nurses training at the Winnipeg General Hospital School of Nursing.  As an RN she worked in Intensive Care, men’s medicine and mixed medicine.

There she met Keith McIver a 2^nd year medical student at the University of Manitoba and they were married on 26 December 1964.  They had three children, Greg 1967, Michael 1969-1991 and Margot 1973.

In 1968 the small family moved to Dauphin, MB, population 8,000.  Keith was in Family Practice with the Dauphin Clinic.

He was a curler, a hockey player, a golfer, and a Lion.  Janet was involved in various capacities in the Manitoba Red Cross; YMCA Tri- instructor (Red Cross, YMCA, Royal Canadian Life Saving Society) and Course conductor for swimming instructors; she served on Dauphin Town Council, and was an active member in the Manitoba Genealogical Society; a curler, a golfer, a sailor and a Lionelle.

Both Janet and Keith coached the children’s sports as they were growing up.  Both were involved in the Dauphin Legion Pipe Band and Highland Dancers.  Greg plays the pipes and Margot was a dancer.

1993-2011 “Penticton a place to stay forever… the Napa Valley of the north”
Keith is now a General Surgeon (RCPSC Specialty) and Janet is a synchronized swimming coach and provincial judge. She is also a member of the Angelus Handbell Ringers and has served as a board member with the BCGEHR.  Family tree research is still a priority.  Janet is a continuing Spanish student….. vowels are the bane of my existence.  I had the pleasure of being a full time “Gran” for our three wonderful grandsons from their baby years until they started school full time.  They are now 11,10 and 7.  They are into hockey, soccer, swimming, acting, and hip-hop.  A very active family.  Our daughter, also a nurse, is happily married to our wonderful son in law.  Our oldest, Greg, is presently immersing himself in French, is in the film industry doing most of his work with Disney in LA.

A wonderful life full of love, hard work, and fun.  Wish you all the same.  Fifty years WOW…. Good for us!!

Best to you and yours. 2011