Pearl and Edythe Gidley

This picture was taken during a Taman-Gidley family reunion. All of the people here have personal connections to Blyth, but in this article I want to draw special attention to two sisters: Pearl and Edythe Gidley. Pearl is the second person from the right, and Edythe is the fourth person from the left.

Although these ladies are no longer with us, a portion of their life stories have been depicted on the stage of the Blyth Festival this summer (2010). The title of the play is "Pearl Gidley". The playwright, Gary Kirkham, was intrigued by Pearl's story which we brought to his attention when he was visiting our Repository of Blyth History. Gary has been generous in expressing his thanks to us, but the creation of this marvelous drama is the product of his genius. The production has received rave reviews from many sources including the Globe and Mail and the Kitchener Record.


Without giving away the story, I will only say that it deals with a period of time when the two sisters shared a home in the village, and take in boarders for income. Pearl who had been an accomplished pianist, has stopped playing some years before as the result of a traumatic event in her life. Edythe has given up some of her personal plans in order to look after Pearl.


The above picture is only one item of many that have come to us from relatives of the Gidleys. We have been in touch with William Emigh of Victoria BC for several years, a close relative of theirs. He is intensely interested in Blyth even though he has never lived here, but because his ancestors and relatives lived here, loved the place, and contributed much to the development and well-being of the community, Blyth holds a special place in his heart.


We asked Bill, on behalf of the playwright, for permission to use Pearl's actual name in the play. His response was that "Pearl would be deeply offended if her real name were NOT used!"

That response is very significant. It is part of a complex web of intersecting events, people, places, pictures, and surprising coincidences.

Some time ago, Bill told us about a portrait of John Taman, a Blyth pioneer and Pearl Gidley's grandfather. The portrait was in possession of Peter Fleck who, like Bill, was a descendant of John Taman. It was hanging in Peter's beautiful Jackson's Falls B&B in Prince Edward County, which was up for sale.

Bill and Peter discussed at length what should happen to this historic picture. Bill suggested that since John Taman and his descendants were so involved in the life of Blyth, that it would be appropriate to return the picture to Blyth. He further suggested that it could join the many other family artifacts which he had already sent to Brock and Janis Vodden. Peter agreed completely.

Sadly, soon after Bill conveyed this message to us, Peter was killed in a car crash. His wife, Nancy, very graciously offered to send the picture, deliver it to us, meet us at Stratford, or invite us to Milford to accept it, whatever we preferred. We chose to go to Milford to meet Nancy and receive the generous gift.

Pearl's name comes up frequently in the early Blyth Standard papers. She is either being announced as successfully passing a music examination or as performing as accompanist for some musical event. As a child, she was a prodigy; as an adult, she was a very versatile musician. She played all types of music - classical and popular. We learned that she could pick up any piece of music that she had never seen before and play it as if she had studied it for hours. Her sight reading skills were phenomenal.

Pearl and Edythe's father was a tailor. His shop was in the north half of the building which now houses the administration office of the Blyth Festival. The stage where the Blyth Festival has been presenting the play with her name as title for the past month is the very stage where she had accompanied countless musical programs. Many of these concerts and cantatas were mounted in Blyth and in other communities to raise money to pay off the debt for Blyth Memorial Hall. Pearl would be surprise to know that she was supporting the venue that would tell her story - almost a century later.

Since word got out that this play was in development and then into actual production, we have had many new contacts with relatives of Pearl as well as people who remember her when she lived in Blyth and later when she was a resident of Huronview, a local Home for the Aged.

A rumour going around stated that Pearl lived to be 103. I am afraid that we made the quite unjustified error of believing this with out checking first. The inscription on Pearl's tombstone tells another story. Her years show 1889 - 1986, a span of 97 years.

Last evening we attended the final performance of "Pearl Gidley", the third time we saw this play. It was to me even more moving than the first time, possibly because it was the final performance and the end of another great season of the Blyth Festival.

The consensus of many theatre folks is that this play will be seen on many stages in the future. Although we adore it because of its "localness", it will endure because of its deep, universal themes. In the words from the play, "It's what we do!"

Brock Vodden