Low Down Articles
In the Hills
Article 13 of 18
This article first appeared in the "In the Hills" column in the July 1, 2009 issue of the The Low Down to Hull and Back News.
Reprinted with permission. Search complete list of Low Down Articles.
o o o
Hills' historians heading to the city
by Catherine Joyce
After 40 years in the Hills Jay and Peggy Atherton are moving to town, leaving behind a community richer for their friendship and dedication. At the time they arrived here in 1968-69, few people were thinking of moving up year round, especially not to Pine Rd with its treacherous turn off the main highway. Not to be daunted, Jay and Peggy created a Frank Lloyd Wright inspired home there that has become an oasis for artists and musicians, nature lovers and gardeners, archivists and historians. Few now can think of the history of the Gatineau without them.
A Canadian History graduate from UBC, Jay came to Ottawa in 1961 in response to an advertisement for a position at the Public Archives under Dominion Archivist, Dr. W.K. Lamb. As a kid who'd grown up happily organizing and listing things, Jay had found his ideal environment.
"It's a state of mind really. I remember walking to work from New Edinburgh - when the Archives were originally housed in the old War Museum next to the Mint - and thinking it's like not having a job when you do exactly what you love."
Thirty-two years later he retired from the highest ranks of the National Archives. Soon Carleton University came calling and Jay found himself setting up their archives, preserving a corporate memory too easily lost in day to day operations.
In 1990 Jay was approached by Ann Chudleigh to edit the newsletter of the Gatineau (Valley) History Society; he went on to serve as its President from 1992-96.
Soon his skills proved invaluable as he anchored the initial efforts of Patrick Evans in creating a much-needed archive for the GVHS, a body of work that has continued to grow under his leadership over the last nineteen years.
Ever generous and modest about his accomplishments, Jay looks back on his contribution to the GVHS as having gathered about him a magnificent team of committed volunteers to preserve the history of the Hills.
Not the least of whom has been his wife, Peggy, a trained librarian who over the last five years has developed the GVHS data base for access online. At the annual AGM of the Historical Society earlier this June both received awards for their efforts: Peggy, a GVHS Award of Honour for her work as librarian, and Jay as Archivist Emeritus.
The vision, energy and creative talents of Peggy have uniquely complemented the skills of her husband; together they have fostered an ecosystem that sustains them both and extends outward to nourish the larger community.
Growing up in Jamaica of a German father and a Canadian mother, Peggy found her passions early in the study of music, art and botany - loves that have informed her life to this day as an accomplished pianist, painter and gardener. A co-founder of Sinfonia Ottawa, a summer string orchestra, Peggy plays double bass and violade-gamba; she also performs in concerts given by the Wakefield Music Society. Over the years the Athertons have celebrated the German tradition of hosting house concerts to showcase the talents of many musicians.
Peggy's skills as a librarian and an artist are equally evident in her publishing company, Castenchel Editions, in which she has preserved the heritage of the Hills and of musical composers virtually unknown in North America. Her delicate watercolours document the lost farms of the Meech Creek Valley and the wildflowers of the area, paintings reproduced on the small cards she creates for friends and local causes.
Everywhere you look in their light - filled home lies evidence of their mutual loves - a rich and diverse world they have shared over 40 years of generous living. We will miss them.