MANITOULIN—Bea Arnill has written a book. She’s done many, many other things besides, but in 2025 her book, ‘Something to hold on to,’ was published and she’s quite proud of this accomplishment. Before achieving this goal, Ms. Arnill raised four children, was an elementary school teacher for decades, then became a United Church minister for decades, and she’s been a writer through it all.
Some might recall Ms. Arnill from her early days of marriage when she and her husband lived in Manitowaning, eventually keeping a camp at Bay Estates where she remains a summer resident.
When her father came to live with her in Sudbury, at the age of 89, it was an adjustment for the two of them. Her father arrived in Canada from Finland at the age of 17, knowing not a word of English. He was a man set in the ways of the old country, and Ms. Arnill tells the story of their time together delicately, tinged with a mix of humour and frustration. The title is a clever play on words, as the memoir is a legacy for her family, something to hold on to, but it’s also a phrase her father used often. “Something to hold on to,” he’d say, when he’d build things, like the banister for the steps at Ms. Arnill’s Bay Estates camp.
When asked how long it took to write this memoir, Ms. Arnill replied, “Well, how about nine years?” In her own defense, she quickly went on to explain, “I retired twice from ministry.” When she retired the first time, in 2002, her dad moved with her to an apartment in Barrie. He was 96 at that point, and lived another two years, dying shortly after his 98th birthday. “Then I lived alone for four years, before I got called to move back up north to do ministry. I was only going to go back for a year, not even a year, I was going to fill in at the church I grew up in. I went there and before I left, Massey called me for a year, that ended up being two years and then they moved me to St. Mark’s in Sudbury to fill in for six months…I ended up being there for five years,” she said. “I had the four years in Barrie, on my own, that’s when I wrote a good part of it, but then, when I went back to ministry, it (the writing) was only an hour here or there. I didn’t do much writing when I went back. I mean, I wrote sermons, but that’s more a performance art, more than a written art. It was not easy, and I’m not fast, so it took a while. I have a big family, and you have to live,” Ms. Arnill said, but really, she did not have to defend the length of time if took her to write her book.
She was and continues to be a busy woman, with four grown children, 14 grandchildren and one great-grandchild, how could she not be? The Barrie Writers’ Club, of which she’s a member, was instrumental in bringing her dream of getting her memoir written to fruition. “I’ve been retired now for 12 years,” she adds, “but I don’t know where all the time has gone,” and she laughs.
She was asked her age, with the promise of not revealing it, “Well, anyone can do the math when they hear all the things I’ve done,” she said, laughing again. She admits 2025 was a difficult year health wise, but one would never guess, speaking with Ms. Arnill over the phone, that she, herself, is now a nonagenarian. As she pointed out, longevity is in her family. Health problems began when she entered her 90s. “But mostly it’s my own fault, because I still keep thinking in my head, ‘I’m 35, you know, and that I can do all the things I did then,’ but it doesn’t work. If I keep within reasonable boundaries, I’m all right,” she said.
Ms. Arnill continues to live in Barrie for seven months of the year, but she’s had her camp on Manitoulin Island for decades and she’ll be heading back to it in the spring, hopefully bringing a pile of books with her. “I was having some health problems when the book came out. It’s all settled now, but I didn’t have time to do any marketing.” She was too timid, she said, to ask at The Expositor office about dropping some of her books off to sell there, but she will when she comes back up to the Island. Meanwhile, ‘Something to hold on to,’ can be purchased through Amazon, for $9.99.
Anyone who has lived with an older parent for any length of time, can relate to this beautiful story, told with humour, compassion and love. It’s a quick and enjoyable read written by a delightful author.
by Margery Frisch
