Arthur Edward Huestis
Born 18 October 1865 at Digby NS, died 5 January 1929 at Toronto. Married Amy Douglas Brown on 28 May 1891 (b. 23 July 1866, at Toronto, d. 19 March 1928, also at Toronto.)
I know even less about Grandpa Ed than I do about his father. He died only a year after his father's death, when I was 3. Since we lived in Montreal then and Grandpa was in Toronto, I don't remember him at all. I know from my father that Grandpa Ed had a beautiful tenor singing voice, and used to sing in church and other singing groups. I believe he was prone to a somewhat earthy sense of humour. Dad told the story that his father was once standing in front of an audience preparing to sing with a small group, when one of his friends leaned over and whispered to him: "Don't look now, Ed, but your fly's unbuttoned." Grandpa Ed was in the insurance business. For quite some years he was secretary of the Canadian Club of Toronto, and a member of the Public Library Board.
I do have a vague memory of my grandma Amy (Amy Douglas Brown). It's a warm, soft feeling about a lovely lady, who always brought presents when she came to visit from Toronto. By all accounts, she was about as sweet a person as ever existed. She never understood things military, and when my dad was in the army in "The Great War" she used to refer to his uniform as his "soldier costume."
The years 1927 to 1929 were bad ones in our family: Great-grandpa Stephen, Grandpa Ed, Grandma Amy, and my other grandmother Elizabeth Hinde all died in those years. And then, of course, the Great Depression hit us all.
- Douglas Huestis