Pamela (Gras) Ryan (1960-2021)

Pamela Gras Ryan (1960-2021) was born on this day, 62 years ago. The following tribute to Pam was written by her sister, Jane (Gras) Heigis. Pam and Jane are the great-great-granddaughters of John Culbert and Mary Ward.

Pamela (Gras) Ryan

 

Pamela Gras was born on February 13, 1960 in Newark, New Jersey, USA.  She was the youngest of four children born to Alfred Edward Gras and Jean (Simonds) Gras.

Baby Pam in 1960 with her family. Clockwise, left to right: Father Alfred Edward Gras; sister Suzanne; sister Jane; mother Jean; baby Pam, and brother Peter.

Gras siblings in 1962. Left to right: Jane, Pam, Peter and Sue.

Gras siblings in 2015. Left to right: Jane, Sue, Peter and Pam.

Pam graduated from the University of Vermont in 1984 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education and went on to Wheelock College in Boston, Massachusetts to earn her Master’s Degree. 

During that time she designed and developed “Pam’s Anatomical Puppets”.  Each soft-sculptured custom hand-sewn life-size (4 year old) puppet was designed to be used in a health care setting for educational and therapeutic play.  The body opened up - via Velcro – to all the major organs, sewn in their proportional size and removable.  The legs even unzipped to reveal the bones.  Her Dad (a medical doctor) took her to see various autopsies so she could get first-hand knowledge of how to make it all anatomically correct.

One of Pam's Anatomical Puppets.

Pam’s nephew Peter Heigis and the puppet have a laugh together.

Pam loved people and made many friends over the years as the #1 salesperson in a local jewelry store. She gave every customer her complete attention and many became good friends.   

Her motto in life was LIVE, LAUGH, and LOVE.  She always had a smile and was keen to try anything.   

Her wedding with Robert "Bob" Ryan of Plattsburg, New York on September 25, 2004 was typical of how she did things.  Because they couldn’t have the ceremony on some exotic island, she chose her family summer property on the shores of Lake Champlain (South Hero, Vermont) to have the ceremony at water’s edge with everyone sporting a Hawaiian lei.  Her dog at the time (one of many Golden Retrievers over the years) was the “ring bearer”.

Pam and Bob's wedding on Lake Champlain, Vermont.

Pam’s dogs over the years were her kids and all got treated to birthday parties and dress-ups on holidays.  One even had a wedding with a friend’s dog. 

Sophie and Denver.

For a number of years after "Sophie" got her therapy dog certification, Pam and Sophie visited nursing homes and made weekly visits to a local elementary school 4^th grade and special education classes for “read to a dog” lessons.  Eventually Pam and Sophie founded the “Northern Adirondack Love-on-a-Leash Therapy Pet” chapter in Plattsburg, New York.  

Pam, Sophie, and Bob.

Pam and Sophie do a "read to a dog" lesson with 4th graders.

In 2010 Pam and her husband Bob organized a Polar Plunge with the goal to raise $100,000 for Special Olympics.  Ten years later and ten very cold quick dashes into the icy waters of Lake Champlain, they had exceeded their goal and raised $114,000.

Polar Plunge fund raising.

Breast cancer hit Pam in 2011 and she battled it for 10 years with surgeries and chemotherapy.  She changed her motto to “Live, Laugh, Love and Thrive”.  But when it metastasized she was determined to follow her dream of living the RV Life.  She and Bob sold their house, bought a beautiful large motorhome, outfitted it with a trailer to carry their car and Harley motorcycles, and took off to experience the USA.  Unfortunately she lost her battle on October 11, 2021, but she did get to live out that dream for a couple of months.

 

Thank you, Jane, for writing this tribute to your sister. In closing, here is a photo from my collection...

Mary Jane Culbert of Canada (me, on the left) with my 2nd cousin, Pam Gras, fishing on Lake Champlain in Vermont, USA, c1967. Pam and I shared the same set of great-grandparents, Richard Culbert and Jane Fairhall.

Pamela (Gras) Ryan’s Family Tree:

Ancestors:

John Culbert & Mary Ward (great-great-grandparents)

Richard Culbert & Jane Eleanor Fairhall (great-grandparents)

Ethel Gertrude Culbert & Norman Scott Brien Gras (grandparents)

Alfred Edward Gras & Jean Simonds (parents)

Pamela (Gras) Ryan 

No Descendants.

The Six Sons of Myron Manford Culbert and Effie Pearl Taylor

A new family photo has surfaced! Jane (Gras) Heigis found this gem while sorting through the photo collection of her late father, Alfred Edward Gras.

The six sons of Myron and Effie Culbert. Back row, left to right: Cliff and Ken; Centre row, left to right: Ivan and Mel; Front row, left to right: Mert and Earl. Photo taken at Poplar Farm near Lucan, Ontario, Canada c1932. Click photo to enlarge it.

This photo is a treasure because there are few photos of the six boys all together. Earl, the youngest, wasn't born until 1929 so photos of the boys from the 1920s are usually missing Earl. Photos from 1939-1945 often are missing the sons who served in World War Two, especially Ivan who served overseas during the entirety of the war. Photos taken after 1958 are missing Mel who died in July of that year. So to find a photo of the six boys all together is special, indeed. Thank you for sending this photo to us, Jane!

You've seen the following photo before but I'm including it because it shows the six boys as adults, together with their parents, Myron and Effie...

Myron & Effie Culbert with their six sons, c1950. Back row, left to right: Ken, Mel, Mert, and Earl. Front row, left to right: Cliff, Myron, Effie, Ivan.

The six sons of Myron Manford Culbert and Effie Pearl Taylor were raised on Poplar Farm, the Culbert homestead, at Lot 19, Concession 2 (the Coursey Line) near Lucan, Ontario.

The six Culbert brothers are the great-grandsons of John Culbert and Mary Ward who settled on the property in 1840 from Ireland.

To read biographies about four of the six boys, click on their names, as  follows:

Clifford Burton Culbert (1912-1991).

Kenneth Arthur Culbert (1916-2000).

Ivan Hector Culbert (1918-1979).

Milward Taylor "Mel" Culbert (1920-1958).

Merton Manford Culbert (1926-1998). No biography yet but a story about him is here.

William Earl Culbert (1929-1994). No biography yet.

FAMILY TREE FOR THE SIX SONS OF MYRON AND EFFIE CULBERT:

Ancestors:

John Culbert & Mary Ward (great-grandparents)

Richard Culbert & Jane Eleanor Fairhall (grandparents)

Myron Manford Culbert & Effie Pearl Taylor (parents).

Molasses Mischief

Today's Poplar Farm story comes to us from Terrence Patrick "Terry" Culbert who grew up in Lucan, Ontario, Canada. Terry, son of Mel Culbert and Mary Patrick, is the great-great-grandson of John Culbert and Mary Ward.

Terry with his father, Mel Culbert at Poplar Farm, 1944.

This story concerns the six sons of Myron Manford Culbert and Effie Pearl Taylor at Poplar Farm on the Coursey Road near Lucan.

Five of the six sons of Myron Manford Culbert and Effie Pearl Taylor, circa 1927. Left to right: Mel, Ken, Cliff, Ivan, and baby Mert. Missing is their brother, Earl who wasn't born until 1929.

Take it away, Terry!...

It was told to me many years ago that our wee father [Mel] and his five brothers [Cliff, Ken, Ivan, Mert and Earl] would raid Effie Pearl's pantry just off the kitchen and steal soda biscuits whenever they were made aware that a new barrel of molasses had been delivered to Myron and Effie's barn.

The barn at Poplar Farm. Photo from the collection of Hulda May (Culbert) Carscallen, courtesy of her granddaughter, Wendy (Gowland) Boole.

 

Now Myron and Effie, parents of those six naughty boys, had a herd of dairy cattle and a few pigs. The molasses was used primarily for the iron within, to be mixed with the cattle feed. The six brothers knew that the rich, fantastic taste from the new barrel was to be had as soon as the lid was removed. As days passed and scoops were inserted into the barrel, cow dung would get into that glorious liquid, and by all accounts would probably taste like shite and give them all the "green apple scoots."

My father introduced me to molasses as a very young child and as I
approach the ripe young age of 80, I still absolutely love it. In our
Prince Edward County pantry this very day, Barb and I have a 675g
container of Crosby's Fancy Molasses, no preservatives, gluten-free from St. John, New Brunswick.

Happy New Year from Poplar Farm

Let's travel back to New Year 1928 on Poplar Farm. Join the family of Myron and Effie Culbert at Poplar Farm, the Culbert homestead near Lucan, Ontario, Canada....

Left to right: Milward Taylor "Mel" Culbert; Ivan Hector Culbert; mother Effie Pearl (Taylor) Culbert holding Merton Manford Culbert; Kenneth Arthur Culbert; and Clifford Burton Culbert. Father Myron Manford Culbert is missing from the photo and is probably behind the camera. Their sixth and youngest son, William Earl Culbert was born the next year.

Same photo as above from a distance. Poplar Farm was located on Lot 19, Concession 2 (the Coursey Line) in Biddulph Township between McGillivray Drive & Mooresville Drive (closer to McGillivray Drive). Although the house is no longer in the Culbert family, it still stands today (minus the front veranda) and now uses the address 34851 Coursey Line, Lucan. This house was built by Richard Culbert, son of John Culbert and Mary Ward. The first house on the property was a log cabin built by John Culbert when he settled on the land in 1840 after leaving Ireland with his wife, Mary Ward and their children.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Have a Merry Culbert Christmas!

Mel Culbert, the great-grandson of John Culbert and Mary Ward.

Milward Taylor "Mel" Culbert (son of Myron Manford Culbert & Effie Pearl Taylor) was a young man when this photo was taken circa 1939.

Mel (1920-1958) and his brother, Ivan Culbert (1918-1979) grew up on Poplar Farm near Lucan, Ontario, Canada. The two young brothers worked at Cossey's Dry Goods store (above) at 225-227 Dundas Street in London, Ontario. Later, they opened their own side-by-side stores on the Main Street of Lucan. 

To read about Cossey's Dry Goods store and the Culbert Brothers, see this previous post. The post includes the original photograph before the reindeer and other festive touches were added.

County FM Wins Award

Congratulations to 99.3 County FM, the runner up for the 2021 Community Radio Station of the year award. County FM was chosen as the second best station of more than 180 community and campus radio stations thoughout Canada. You might recognize one of County FM's hosts...

Terrence Patrick "Terry" Culbert, the great-great-grandson of John Culbert and Mary Ward.

Terry Culbert's Morning Show broadcasts live from Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada every Friday from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. EST on 99.3 County FM. You can listen to it live from anywhere in the world.

You can read the full story about County FM's win here in the Picton Gazette. And if you haven't already read Terry's bio on the Culbert Family History blog, click here.