PORTRA I T • PROF I LE
Once a plower, always a plower
later years,” he added. But, the highlight of that trip was a stop at Queen’s University in Kingston. “It was the rst time I’d ever seen a football game,” he admitted. Although it was thought he would even- tually farm alongside Roy, on half of their great-grand father John Shaver’s United Empire Loyalist land grant, it didn’t turn out that way. e Great Depression overshadowed the halcyon days of the autumn plowingmatch. During the 1930s, Fay worked for a time building houses and taking correspondence courses from the Cornwall Business College. Most of his professional life was spent as an industrial accountant at the Nestle Plant in Chesterville. Cousin Roy Shaver continued to compete, became an accomplished plowman and served as president of the Ontario Plowmen’s Association in 1950. Fay was long o¦ the farm when the 1958 IPMwas held in Crysler. He didn’t compete that year but did attend as a plowing coach. From a horse-drawn walking plow to Google and Microsoft, Fay Shaver has not just witnessed but experienced the techno- logical advances of a century. He bought his rst computer in 1995 while caring for his wife. He is remarkably procient and uses emails and the Internet most days. And, be- cause his eyesight isn’t what it used to be, he nds the computer screen easier to read than books and newspapers. From time to time he has also used his computer skills to help sta¦ at the Maxville Manor, the care facility he has been living in for several years now.
FRANCIS RACINE francis.racine@eap.on.ca
At 100 years of age, Fay Shaver of Maxville could very well be the oldest plowman in the province. Raised on a one hundred-acre farm at the north end of old Osnabruck Township, Stormont County, he recalls the autumn landscape and what was surely the impetus for the plowing match tradition. “After the farmers had harvested their crops and plowed their elds, it was a pan- oramic vista of plowed land throughout the country,” he remembered. “A drive through the countryside showed various degrees of good plowing, some excellent andmany not so good.” “ey were good plowmen”, he said of his neighbours in Sandtown, a dimin- ished hamlet barely recognizable today on the Sandtown Road. ‘‘ey were competi- tive, many trying to out-plow each other. In the fall it was a pic- ture to see.” Contemporary plowmen compete locally at county matches but in the early days, when Fay was a young man, the province was divided into provincial districts with townships also holding their ownmatches, he explained. In their teens and twenties, Fay and cousin Roy Shaver tore up the roads, back in the 1930s, attending a half dozen or more plowingmatches each fall, mostly in the ve Eastern Counties.ey were good plowmen, qualifying often for international and re- gional matches. When thematches were too far fromhome for their own horses, Roy and himwould haul their plows by trailer behind the car and compete with teams provided by
Fay Shaver, aged 100, recalls participating in the International Plowing match in 1936, when he was 22 and newly married.
local farmers. Fay plowed with an 8 ½ inch narrow plow and Roy used a 10 inch jointer
class won trips to plowing matches in Scot- land. “I qualied at our local plowingmatch, plowed in the Salada Tea Class at the IPM and placed twelfth in a class of over sixty plowmen,” he said. Roy also qualied for an IPMnear Guelph and Fay travelled up with him. “Personally, I learned many lessons that helped me in
plow. “Our coulters were sharp enough to cut meat,” he boasted. Similar plows com- pete in the horse and walking-plow classes at plowing matches today. He was 22 years old and newly mar-
“They were good plowmen”, he said of his neighbours in Sandtown, a diminished hamlet barely recognizable today on the Sandtown Road.
Best Western donates $2,500
ried to his bride Orlean when he drove his own team to D.L. MacLennan’s farm for the 1936 International PlowingMatch (IPM), on the South Branch Road, north of Cornwall. It was an advantage to compete with his own teamand possible only because there was a family connection and he was able to board themat theMacLennan farm. He can’t recall how he placed at the 1936 match. But, he does recall plowing with Roy at the 1939 Leeds &Grenville IPM. It was held near Brockville, at the Ontario Hospital and adjoining farms. Like many institutions of that era, the facility for the mentally ill in- cluded its own farm. e Salada Tea Com- pany sponsored classes at local matches and the winners could go on to compete at the IPM. e top two plowmen in that
More cases of domestic abuse in the city A 35-year-old Cornwall woman was arrested on July 3 after it was alleged that, while in an intoxi- cated state, she yelled at her boyfriend then proceeded to punch him repeatedly. Her son observed the altercation and intervened. She then proceeded to punch him too in the face. Both men exited the residence and were subsequently locked out by the woman. Police were contacted and an investigation was conducted. The woman was charged with Domestic Assault and Assault. She was released to appear in court on August 18. One of the men sustained minor injuries as a result of the assaults. And on July 4, a 17-year-old Cornwall youth was arrested after it was alleged he engaged in a verbal argument with his common-law girlfriend at their residence. He then grabbed her by the hair, pushing her and punching her. He was charged with domestic abuse. The woman sustained minor injuries as a result of the assault. – Francis Racine
e Cornwall Best Western Plus Parkway Inn and Conference Centre applied for to the Best Western - BetterWorld Fund for the Agap è Centre. ey succeeded in accumulating $2,500, which they promptly donated to Agap è Center. e funds will be used to buy food for the food bank. Pictured are Paul Lefebvre, general manager at Best Western, Alyssa Blais, Agap è Centre›s executive director, Adam Caskanette, director of sales and marketing and Anne Drouin, assistant general manager.
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