Person:Douglas Shiell (1)

Unfortunately, I was only four when Doug died and have no real memory of him. Most of what I know comes from stories Mom would tell us. According to Mom, her father Ernie knew she'd had a boy when he returned from a fishing trip and found a bottle of rye on the dining room table. It was the first time her mother Agnes had ever bought a bottle. I never asked what the booby prize might have been if Mom had had another girl. Mom says that Doug had never walked more than a few steps and had not walked from one room to another before he died. According to Mom, watching Doug and his cousin Lincoln Nesbitt get along was really funny. Lincoln was nine months younger than Doug. He could walk but,(with sincere apologies to Lincoln!) the best description of him is one of an energizer bunny...set him down on two legs and he just kept going and going and going... Lincoln never did learn how to crawl or how to pull himself up on furniture and Doug knew it... Lincoln would often pat Doug on the top of the head on one of his many circuits at their grandparents place. Doug would invariably grab onto Lincoln's pantleg on the second or third pass after that ....to knock him down crying...and stranded till an adult started him up again.... Doug would crawl off to another part of the room with a satisfied look on his face. Doug didn't get mad..he got even! Mom also recalled the time that Doug got his first haircut. A Fuller brush man had come by in the morning and had said what a pretty girl Doug was.That afternoon, when Doug got up from his nap, Dad took him out to get a haircut. Doug HATED it with a passion...and Mom still laughs at the memory of glowering looks Doug gave Dad over the supper table that night. If looks could kill............ I asked Mom about the circumstances of Doug's death. She says that they had taken Doug to the hospital through the night because he was ill. After Dad had left for work in the morning, the hospital called and asked Mom to come to the hospital as soon as possible because Doug was asking for her. Mom arrived as soon as she could, and with Aunt Myrtle at her side, received the news that Doug had died through the night. Mom said later that she knew that Doug could not talk and would not have "asked for her"....but it didn't occur to her when she answered the phone.Mom says that she cannot explain why she had not anticipated anything and did not question the caller. The news came as a big shock. Many family members have said that Doug's funeral was the hardest one that they had ever attended. When I asked Mom about it, she said that probably the worst part was that a friend of the family ...Jack Douglas ...had attended.Mom and Dad were trying very hard to keep it together(likely for my sister and I and everyone else) and Jack was crying and making a real ruckus. Mom says that at the time, she'd wished he'd just stayed home... I don't have any memories of it but I think I have an understanding of the reason for Jack Douglas's behaviour. Doug's death occurred just a little over two years after the arena disaster in Listowel..in which Jack's grandson and seven others were killed. It was the probably the first funeral of a child that Jack had attended since losing his grandson..and ...as my parents can attest, losing a child is never easy.

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.).
3. ↑ His obituary states he was buried in Fairview Cemetery although he is actually buried at Elma Centre.