August 15, 1940s

Yes, another tale of the Old Days -

Back in the 1940s, when I was a younger person, August 15th was the day mother used to pack up about 4 dozen fresh sugared doughnuts, put coffee in some large 2 quart canning jars and wrap them in towels, make a bunch of sandwiches - I know a lot of them were egg salad along with a lot of other goodies, throw them in the trunk of our 1935 Plymouth and early in the morning after milking we would head off for Isle La Motte to St. Anne's Shrine. None of us had eaten as back in those days in order for us Catholics to receive Holy Communion, it was necessary to fast from Midnight. We usually got there in time for one of the earlier Masses where many of our other relatives were also in attendance. After Mass, we would go where all of our cars were pretty much parked together and open up the trunk for the coffee and doughnuts. The coffee wasn't terribly hot, but was warm as we didn't have thermos bottles to put it in and as for the doughnuts, the relatives gathered to make sure they got some of Mother's fresh sugared doughnuts.

Now, my grandfather was a very religious man and would make sure when it came time for the next Mass to be said, he would say, Mass is about ready to start, and we all knew that we had best head across the road to the outdoor shrine. I believe we attended about three Masses before noon and in the afternoon they would have the Stations of the Cross that were at that time in a wooded area near the lake.

Now, St. Anne's in Isle La Motte at that time did not have a lot of modern conveniences - The bathrooms were outhouses up on the hill to the left and I am not sure where the running water was, but think it was outside somewhere. I have hunted for some of the photos of the Old St. Anne's Shrine of the 1940 era, but was unable to find one on the Internet. I do have some photos of us having our picnic there along with my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

Now, I have given you an idea what it was like on a sunny day for out picnic, but have to say that not all August 15s were sunny days. I have seen the time when we backed the cars side by side, sat inside the cars in the rain and passed sandwiches and food from one car to the other. Looking back now, it still was a lot of fun and although I should probably be more in tune to the religious significance of the occasion, somehow or other, these other little things are more vivid in my mind - (Particularly Mother's homemade doughnuts).

Over the years, the Feast of the Assumption on August 15th has become just another Holy Day where we attend Mass here at St. Lukes and I doubt that any of my relatives attend St. Anne's Shrine on that day.

Things have changed there too, as they now have a large building with a cafeteria, so you can go and order breakfast or have lunch & dinner. They have the modern bathrooms in that building that are handicapped accessible. In later years, they did have flush toilets in another building with running water to wash, but that building too has now disappeared. I also understand that the old building to the left of the Chapel has been torn down - This was the building where the Holy Cross Seminarians stayed on their summer vacations.

One other thing that has come to mind is the fact that we had an old Peach Apple Tree on our farm on Fairfield Ridge. These were soft yellow apples that were ripe by August 15th, so we always brought some of those, although I have to admit that if I'm going to eat fruit, I prefer it surrounded with a nice crust and call it pie.

To many of you, I suspect Isle La Motte and August 15th has no significance, but I was indeed surprised to learn in later years that my wife and her family also used to go to Isle La Motte, but I did not know the family at that time.

If I can find some of those old photos, I will post them at a later time and thus ends another tale of the past - Must be my age that makes me look back, then feel a strong desire to talk about it.