Anne Grenfell | 1910

Jessie Luther | St. Anthony, May 10th, 1910

Our comfortable sense of isolation is over. An uneasy anticipation of impending change is in the air. The general upheaval will begin with the arrival of the Prospero, which is expected to bring a part of the summer contingent. We hear rumors of hordes: collegians, volunteers, nurses, medical students. There will also be an exodus. Mr. Evans will leave us and is already inspecting locks on his trunk and suitcase. His feeling savors of emancipation. Mrs. Grenfell plans to go home for a visit and return in late June with visitors for the summer. Miss Kennedy, after long and devoted service, is going home for a much-needed vacation. Mrs. Manager departs with her baby in June, and Mr. Manager will travel from place to place on the schooners to oversee business affairs at little settlements connected with the Mission. The Doctor will stay here but plans to go north on the Strathcona after Dr. Little returns in June with one of his sisters.

An interesting arrival will be Mr. Jesse Halsey, a Presbyterian minister who after an intensive course in plumbing and kindred practical crafts is to serve the Mission by superintending drainage installation. He will arrive with his bride in June to stay for a year, probably located at the Guest House. Also in June, Dr. Wakefield will reappear with his bride, and still another reappearance will be Dr. Grenfell’s cousin, Mr. Spencer, who is returning to direct agricultural development and enlist enthusiastic co-operation from the students if anyone can. He has the personality to bring results. The semi-annual kaleidoscopic shift of personnel is beginning. It will be interesting to see how the pieces fall into place and what the ultimate picture will be.”

from Jessie Luther at the Grenfell Mission, an annotated edition of a travel journal that Luther wrote from 1906 to 1910, edited by Ronald Rompkey (2001)

Jessie Luther | Providence, R.I., 1916

In Retrospect

Another important event for all of us is associated with that year [1911]. This was romance, the marriage of Dr. Little and Ruth Keese after three years of happy association. They were married by Mr. Jesse Halsey at the assistant doctor’s house, and the union of two persons so beloved by everyone was hailed with joy. The wedding was one of the simplest and most beautiful I ever witnessed, just a small gathering of friends brought together informally in the little room decorated with spruce boughs and yellow-leaved birch branches. Ruth Keese, in her familiar blue linen gown, and Dr. Little, in well known tweeds, entered the house together and after chatting with guests came forward with joined hands to stand before Mr. Halsey when he entered in his clerical gown to perform the short ceremony. In the dining room Mrs. Grenfell had prepared a beautiful table for the wedding feast, to which all members of the staff contributed. Then, after congratulations and best wishes to the newlyweds, we left them.

Each of these four summers would in detail be a story in itself, not only because of incidents but personalities closely interwoven with them. In addition to those who already made the background, there were others. Mr. Jesse Halsey, only briefly mentioned at the end of my second year, was a Presbyterian minister who came for a year of volunteer service not only to give spiritual guidance but to install plumbing, a shining example of practical Christianity who dressed in overalls for emergencies and donned his clerical down when occasion required.

from Jessie Luther at the Grenfell Mission, an annotated edition of a travel journal that Luther wrote from 1906 to 1910, edited by Ronald Rompkey (2001)