ABOYNE – The Wellington County Archives presenting part two of its local history author’s series, From Archives to Armchairs, with family historian Marion Roes.
The upcoming session will be held on Oct. 27, at 2pm, where Roes will be discussing her recent publication, Mennonite Funeral and Burial Traditions, Interviews and Personal Stories, from Waterloo Region, Oxford, Perth and Wellington Counties.
During the event, Roes hopes to expand the audience’s view of cemeteries as places of tradition, ritual, stories and community.
Roes has lived in Waterloo Region for most of her life, and is from a family that has worked in the undertaking business for four generations.
She has been researching and writing about local Mennonite and family history since the mid 1990s.
In her book, Roes uses interviews and photos to describe what is done within the Mennonite community when there is a death, from arranging for people to assist, to sewing shrouds, to making meals and cleaning, to transporting the deceased to the cemetery, to making grave markers and providing support after the funeral.
Roes is also the self-published author of From a Horse-Drawn Hearse to Studebakers, Packards and Cadillacs: Dreisinger Funeral Vehicles, and Lishman Coach Lines 1916-1980: Elmira, Kitchener and Beyond, with Margaret Gerber.
Copies of her books will be available for sale and signing at the event.
The From Archives to Armchairs series will conclude on Nov. 24 with author, Jim Henderson’s publication, Before Their Endeavours Fade – the story of the names on the Palmerston Cenotaph.
Admission to the event is by donation.
Additional information about the From Archives to Armchairs series and the Wellington County Archives collection can be found at www.wellington.ca/museum.
The Archives are open weekdays from 9:30am to 4:30pm and on Saturday and Sunday from 1pm to 5pm.
The Wellington County Museum and Archives is located on Wellington Road 18 between Fergus and Elora.
