EDITOR’S NOTE: This week marks the volume change for this paper, spotted just below The Expositor’s front page signature flag, making it volume 146, number 1 and meaning that this newspaper has completed 146 full years of keeping the people of Manitoulin Island informed, maintaining the historical record of the events and goings on in the communities and being an all-around cornerstone for connecting the people and places of the largest freshwater Island in the world, and the people who love it. The Manitoulin Expositor is also the oldest continuously published newspaper in Northern Ontario.
TEHKUMMAH—Before there was Google and Bing (yes even that Crosby guy) The Manitoulin Expositor was here, making connections and providing answers to queries and fulfilling services not readily found even in this modern age through social media or artificial intelligence. A recent letter arrived in the mail from a former Island resident, Elgin Bock, now living in Kingston and soon to be approaching 94 years old. The letter was addressed to this newspaper’s associate editor and was requesting assistance in locating relatives of a late Second World War veteran.
Contained within the envelope was another letter, its paper brittle and faded with the passage of time, the salutation at the top recording a date of October 13, 1944. Written in cursive script and addressed to the late Melvin Bock, a former principal of the school in Little Current, the ancient missive was from a former student of the school, Sergeant Major Norm Patterson, then serving his country overseas in Belgium.
The request being made of The Expositor was to seek out the descendants of Mr. Patterson and to transmit this little piece of personal family history to them. Mr. Bock explained he had come across the letter while clearing up things. Mr. Bock wrote that he had grown up on Robinson Street in Little Current during the 1930s and 40s.
“I recently found the enclosed letter my dad received from former students who were overseas with the Canadian Army,” he explained. “Perhaps The Expositor could locate relative/descendants of the letter writers.” Mr. Bock offered to cover any costs involved as he was not comfortable with discarding the letters.
Within a day of The Expositor posting his request, a response came over the transom identifying one Eileen Williamson (nee Patterson) of Tehkummah as being the daughter of SGM. Patterson. A connection was soon made and the letter delivered into Ms. Williamson’s hands shortly thereafter.
In another echo of the norms of yesteryear, a kind note came in a thank you card from Ms. Williamson.
“Many thanks to The Expositor office and Mike Erskine for helping Elgin Bock find relatives of Norm Patterson, now that’s a mouthful,” read the note. “I am Eileen Williamson, nee Patterson. Elgin was trying to return letters that my father sent his father from WWII. Without everyone’s help, I would not have the letters. My dad died on June 2, 1971 so it’s been a long time since I have seen his handwriting. Thanks again.”
Shortly afterward, another kind note arrived in the mail, this one again from Mr. Bock, thanking The Expositor for its efforts and noting that he had received a “heartwarming thank you letter” from Ms. Williamson.
The new letter contained another, even more fragile, this time from a Thomas Boyter and mentioning the exploits of a fellow Islander, Keith Patterson, a pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force who had recently been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his areal exploits.
“My father told me that Keith was one of the smartest students he had taught,” wrote Mr. Bock.
So, once again, The Expositor is the custodian of a piece of personal family history, words written in cursive hand and relaying small talk from a homesick lad serving his country thousands of miles from home.
These days we have become accustomed to instantaneous or near-instantaneous communications from those halfway around the world—but the precariousness of communication during the Second World War is illustrated in the words of Mr. Patterson. “I wrote you a letter several months ago, but I suppose it is somewhere in the Atlantic like many more.”
In his note, Mr. Patterson relates how he is “getting plenty of work, eat and sleep quite regular, so it is much like a rest after Falaise and Caen. There we worked day and night, filthy with sweat and dust, and meals were few and far between.”
The Falaise pocket or battle of the Falaise pocket was the decisive engagement of the Battle of Normandy in the Second World War and in the battle for Caen British and Canadian forces captured the area of Caen north of the Orne during Operation Charnwood (8–9 July), while the suburbs south of the river were captured by the Second Canadian Corps during Operation Atlantic (18–20 July). The fighting was mutually costly and greatly deprived the Germans of the means to reinforce the western part of the invasion front—these were some of the hardest fought engagements of the war in Europe.
Mr. Patterson went on to note that he had run into “Bert Caldwell once in the Maple Leaf Club in London and Herman Lockyear in Ottley near Leeds in England” and goes on to mention seeing Andy Hannah in Dover and again on the road in France, and Herbert Fowler “over a Jerry fortification on the coast of France.” He also mentions seeing Charles Beaudin twice, once in Belgium, but didn’t get a chance to speak with him. The final “hometown boy” he had seen in the past year.
Mr. Patterson goes on to relay how beautiful Northern France was, “just as nice as the advertisements.” One wonders if that might have been a bit of a tongue in cheek reference to recruiting posters. Along with descriptions of the local farms, the doughboy relates his interaction with a French liquor (Calvados handprinted over that line in different ink). He describes it as “much like straight alcohol, one drink and your throat is scarred for a week.” The more sensible approach taken by the locals was to pour a small amount into their coffee, which made for a “very pleasant drink.”
The Manitoulin Expositor is a family-run, owned and operated, business—formerly since the 1970s by Rick and Julia McCutcheon and now for several years by their daughter Alicia McCutcheon. This newspaper continues to see itself, humbly, as a “cornerstone of the Island,” even as it moves with the times.
“Within our pages and on our sites (exploremanitoulin.com and Manitoulin.com) you find interesting people doing interesting things, event advertising, product and service advertising and information about the goings on in all our communities,” said Mr. McCutcheon. “Where else can you find all that and more in one neat package, delivered right to your mailbox (or inbox)?”
As times have changed, so has the paper, with a bi-weekly TikTok reveal of the headlines from the frontpage (Wednesday) and Page 3 (Thursday), as well as a Friday newsletter. The paper can also be accessed from just about anywhere in the world as an e-edition at Manitoulin.com (where you can also subscribe to the newsletter).
Those articles contained within The Expositor’s pages continue to receive awards within the newspaper industry, most recently for Best Front Page, Best Freelance/Guest Column and a third place for Best Spot News Photo. Bringing our readers the best in news and event reporting remains our greatest reward.
The Expositor bookstore in our Little Current office features the finest collection of Manitoulin Island-related novels and non-fiction, including many written about Indigenous issues and reconciliation—well worth a stop by to peruse.
The phones in our offices are still answered by live human beings (during office hours) and our staff continues to respond to questions posed to us by phone and email as best as we are able—for not everything can be found on Google. For over 146 years The Expositor has been proud to serve Manitoulin’s many communities—here is to the next century and a half of doing the same!
