Person:Alice Burnett (6)

Alice was an amazing woman. I have never seen anyone who can overcome almost any obstacle with a smile. In looking back over events in her life I can't help wondering how she did it! As a young girl, Alice discovered that she had very poor eyesight.I think Alice was one of the earliest eye transplant recipients in Ontario and had the unusual distinction of receiving two transplants in each eye because the problem resurfaced...something that was so rare that I think Alice's case is still the subject of several medical encyclopedias. I don't remember the name of the condition but do remember Alice saying that the doctors were mystified that the corneas of her transplants were growing cone shaped..the same as the corneas that had been replaced.Despite this Alice was an avid reader. Alice found herself in the unenviable position of being nurse and caretaker to three senior citizens...namely her Aunt Aggie, and her mother and father.All three passed away in the space of three weeks. Aunt Aggie died first and then two weeks later,her parents died within 12 hours of each other and had a double funeral.I cannot imagine how she managed to get through that time yet she did so....gracefully. Alice also lost her husband in a tragic accident. Alice accompanied Wilfrid in the truck the night he had the accident that took his life and was seriously hurt. She could not attend his funeral and spent the best part of a year following the accident in a body cast.As a result of the accident, she had one of her hips fused and had a noticeable limp. "The accident" was a major pivot point in her life, and Alice often dated events as being "before the accident" or after the accident" She was rarely wrong.....but regardless, she and Agnes Hilson would argue the point anyway! Alice was close to the Hilson family and in particular, to the Shiell's. Marlene and Glen Shiell owned Alice's parents home. Alice always took a keen interest in any renovations they did and often had an interesting story about how and when the house was built. I can remember as a very young child going to visit Alice in Ingersoll and becoming VERY upset when I discovered that the little oven that I considered to be my very own working EASY BAKE oven was in her basement.I was too little to know that, in fact the oven actually belonged to Alice's parents but thought Alice had stolen MY oven. That was not the only piece of furniture that Mom and Dad sort of inherited with the house...I still have my eye on the one of a kind stereo cabinet that came from Tom Burnett originally...I might have a fight on my hands though...I've already scored big by "adopting" the big black trunk that was reputed to have come from Scotland. Somehow it seemed appropriate for Alice to end her life there for she was visiting Mom and Dad when she suffered the stroke that ultimately ended her life..I can't help hoping that the last memory Alice had was of the house where we all grew up....She was the "house historian" and each of us Shiell kids have stories about Alice..... One of my favorites is when my sister graduated from University in Ottawa, Alice and I were to take a bus from the hotel to the campus. It started to rain a bit as we were leaving the hotel so Alice hailed a taxi. We were there in lots of time....Mom and Dad almost missed it. They drove. Alice had a share in a cottage near Southampton and used to invite us up. I think I will always remember those fantastic sunsets and the bonfires on the beach and I will never forget the sight of Harold Mighton(a friend of Wilfrid and Alice's) swinging from the rafters in his nightshirt....Mere words cannot describe it...that was a situation where you definitely had to be there to appreciate it...

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Ada Jane Shearer and The Shearer Historians. Shearer Family History. (Created in Elma Township in 1938 and maintained by Shearer Reunion Historians. Information was reported by knowledgeable family members and was well maintained in the early years.).
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Isa Cleland. Information that Isa researched on the Shearers. (This information was gathered by Isa until her death in 1999. Most is copied from the Shearer Family Tree.).