What if all your precious memories were lost? Now is the time to educate yourself about Alzheimer Disease.

If you are in your late twenties or early thirties, at this stage of your life, you could be building a career, or raising a family. You are possibly saving for and making long-term plans for retirement. You have causes you believe in, you volunteer, but perhaps not at the Alzheimer Society because after all, Alzheimer Disease is a condition only older people need to be concerned about. Or is it?

Sadly, this is not true.

According to the study Rising Tides – The Impact of Dementia on Canadian Society (October 2009), “within a generation (25 years), the number of people living with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia could reach between 1 million and 1.3 million.”

This means your generation. Consider the memories you are collecting now and how precious they are to you. This could mean a far different retirement scenario than the one you are planning.

The reality of this disease is frightening. Currently, 25,000 new cases of Alzheimer Disease are diagnosed yearly. Statistics gathered in the 2009 study show “aapproximately 500,000 Canadians are living with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia. Of the 500,000 people affected, more than 71,000 of them are under the age of 65, and approximately 50,000 of them are under the age of 60. One in eleven people over the age of 65 currently have Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia. Women make up 72 percent of Canadians with Alzheimer’s disease. Within just five years, an additional 250,000 Canadians could develop Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia.”

At this stage there is no cure. Researchers stress lifestyle changes to reduce the risk. Education is vital, as is support for persons and families affected by dementia. The Alzheimer Society plans education seminars and fundraisers throughout the year to provide vital information and support.

Don’t wait. Begin now to plan a healthy future by educating yourself about this disease to protect your memories. Participate in the Walk for Memories on Sunday, May 27, 2012 at the Royal Canadian Legion (#3 Chatham) from 12-4 pm. For every 100 dollars you raise, your name will be included for a great prize. Even if you can’t walk- just fill in pledge sheet and return to the Alzheimer’s office and you will be entered.

Bring your family to enjoy refreshments, a BBQ, door prizes, games. Music will be provided by the Miramichi Fiddlers and Joanne Lynch.

For pledge sheets, contact Mary Jane Hickey, Fundraising Co-ordinator Alzheimer Society at (506)773-7093 and (506)778-8202.

Send your Father's Day submissions to Bread 'n Molasses today!

Father’s Day is coming right up on June 17th and Bread ‘n Molasses is gearing up to explore our relationships with those special men in our lives —fathers!

Have you written a short piece of fiction that celebrates fatherhood or perhaps explores the complex relationship between a father and child? Or maybe you have some funny memories or your father that you’ve jotted down in a personal memoir or poem? Has being a father influenced your singing and song writing?  Perhaps you’ve recorded a song or brief video that you’d like to share? Or created a painting or series of photographs?

We’re currently accepting submissions of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, images, audio or video around the theme of “Father”. Submissions can be light and funny, complex and dark, or anywhere in between as long as they involve a father in some way. We’ll showcase a slew of your submissions on our website this Father’s Day, Sunday June 17th.

Submissions will be considered until June 14th and may be emailed to editor@breadnmolasses.com or uploaded using our online submission form.

Fiction or non-fiction stories should be no longer than 1500 words and 100 lines maximum for poems. Please include a brief author bio and photo. We will consider simultaneous submissions and reprints. Indicate that the work is being considered elsewhere or tell us where it was previously published. Copyright remains with all authors, photographers and artists.

Join us online at Bread ‘n Molasses this Father’s Day!

Election Results for Miramichi

City of Miramichi
Gerry Cormier Mayor
Lisa Harris Deputy mayor
Nancy Lordon
Brian King
Joan Cripps
Billy Fleiger
John Foran
Shelly Williams
Peggy McLean

Blackville
Hal Muck Mayor
Mathew Sturgeon
Christopher Hennessey
Cindy Ross

Doaktown
Bev Gaston Mayor
Tanya Robichaud
Paul Gillespie
Jeff Porter
Wayne Fowler

Upper Miramichi
Douglas Munn Mayor
Keith Clowater Ward 1
Grant Ross ward 2
Chad Davis Ward 3
Dustin Munn Ward 4

Neguac
Georges Rheal Savoie Mayor
Lucie Breau
Albertine Savoie
Giselle Breau
Marcel Cyr
Eymard Savoie

For the rest of the election results go to http://www.gnb.ca/elections/12mun/12may14/12may14results-e.asp

Donald J Peters

Horizon Health Network is pleased to announce Donald J. Peters, President and CEO was honored last week for the third consecutive year by Atlantic Business Magazine as one of Atlantic Canada’s most accomplished leaders.

The Top 50 CEOs in Atlantic Canada award is based on the nominee’s corporate, community and industry involvement; their company’s growth in recent years; and their responses to various managerial challenges. Peters received his award at the Atlantic Business Magazine’s Award Gala in Halifax on May 9.

“We are very proud of Donn’s accomplishment of receiving this important award,” said David Ferguson, Chair of the Board of Directors for Horizon Health Network. “The recognition is a testament to his ability to successfully lead Atlantic Canada’s largest health-care organization and his commitment to maintain the high-quality standards of health-care delivery to patients in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and northern Nova Scotia.”

Peters has been President and CEO of Horizon Health Network since its development in 2008. He previously held the position of President and CEO of the South-East Regional Health Authority based in Moncton, NB since 2000. Peters has a Bachelor of Science degree and a Diploma in Engineering from St. Mary’s University and a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering degree from Technical University of Nova Scotia. He holds a Diploma in Health Care Organization and Management from the Canadian Hospital Association and is a member of the Canadian College of Health Leaders.

Horizon Health Network is the largest health-care organization in Atlantic Canada, operating 12 hospitals and more than 100 medical facilities, clinics and offices providing medical services ranging from acute care to community based health services to New Brunswick, northern Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. With 1,000 physicians, an annual budget exceeding $1 billion and approximately 13,000 employees, Horizon Health Network’s strategic vision focuses on research, innovation and education.

My mother standing on the road with my dog as her five grandchildren walk to greet her on the Barnettville Road.

A mother and her first born
share a unique bond
formed early in the child’s life
and strengthened through time.

From the day of birth
ignorance is an overwhelming challenge
struggles happen daily
and victories are small and mostly silent.

It’s a time of learning
a time of firsts
the first feeding and dirty diaper
the first spanking and separation.

Mothers and daughters share a special bond
an unconditional love, trust and friendship
no friend or lover no matter how true
can ever duplicate or replace.

Daughters learn by example
and advice from their mothers
how to become strong
independent and kind women.

You may feel sometimes
that you’ve failed
you could have and should have
done more or done differently.

But Mom, never doubt this
by your example and
through your teaching
I have learned and grown.

You have raised your daughters
and they are strong
able to cope with life’s challenges
and survive life’s disappointments.

Your daughters are unafraid
to forge their own way in the world
alone if necessary
or beside a supportive man.

Your daughters have independent voices
and are strong enough to defend their views
even if and when it means
challenging and disagreeing with you.

Your daughters are open-minded enough
to listen and accept different opinions
and even if they don’t agree
to respect and learn and grow from them.

Your daughters are kind and unbiased enough
to give everyone equal opportunity
to prove themselves as friends
regardless of race and background.

You are my mother
I am your daughter
and also your first born
together we share both these bonds.

You and I, alone and together
share memories of true firsts
of tiny adventures
before there was anyone else.

And while I sometimes feel sorry
the others don’t have special memories
of having you all to themselves
I’m so happy that I do.

– Kellie Underhill, Miramichi NB

A grainy memory from one of the first Coughlan family reunions in Gray Rapids, NB.

Grammie’s Back
by Kellie Underhill

When I was a kid I would often go and stay all night or even a week at my grandparent’s house in Gray Rapids. This was my exotic summer vacation on the farm. The kitchen seemed really big to me then, though it must have only seemed that way because I was so small. This was before all the renovations, before any additional pieces were built-on. Back in the days of collies and outhouses.

I see Grammie at the sink doing dishes, looking out the window at the river and the cars passing on the road. I see her at the counter kneading a big pile of dough, her hands covered in flour to her elbows, her arms so strong as she whipped the bread into the pans. I see her at the refrigerator in the corner getting me a glass of milk from a bottle that Grandad and I walked to the bottom of the hill to pick up earlier that morning. I see her at the wood stove, adding a stick to the fire, heating the kettle, cooking the supper, baking the bread. I see her moving across the floor with a straw broom, sweeping vigorously, banishing the dirt to the outside.

I spent a lot of the time sitting in the kitchen, at the table waiting for meals to be laid, or on the cot by the window pretending to take a nap, staying out of Grammie’s way and watching her work. How many days have I spent staring at Grammie’s back? I see the back of a housedress, the kind you slip over your head with one button at the neck. I see broad shoulders, thickness through the hips and thighs, ankles that look swollen, apron strings tied in a big bow with ends dangling down her backside.

I remember sitting at the back of the kitchen table next to the wall in a seat not reserved for the people who lived there. That was important to me, not to steal Preston, Danny, or Marilyn’s favourite seat. My uncles and aunt, still children themselves, teens and tweens. Although the boys probably wouldn’t have cared where I sat, Marilyn might have teased me or invented terrible stories to scare me. She could be very creative when she was bored, once telling me that the black soot on our chimney meant the house was on fire and my parents would surely burn up. Meanwhile Preston coddled me and Danny pretty much stayed to himself. Nevertheless I would sit in a seat at the kitchen table that in my mind was reserved for guests.

I see Grammie setting the table. Plates, cutlery, glasses, mugs for tea … something my mother never did. At home we pulled the plates out of the cupboard, served the food at the stove and then delivered the steaming plates to the table. But Grammie always set the table, filling the centre with some of the best food I’ve ever eaten. Stacks of sliced home-made bread, cold roast sliced thick, serving bowls filled with warmed-up potatoes, turnips and hot meat fried with onions.

There would also be plates filled with sugar cookies or slices of molasses cake or even a whole blueberry pie. Something sweet was an essential ending to any meal. I see a feast on the table and it’s only lunchtime, the same meal where at home I might have a peanut butter and jam sandwich with a glass of cherry kool-aid.

Grammie delivered the food to the table and I would be too shy to eat even though everything smelled so good and I was so hungry. Grandad would help me, transferring a little of this and a little of that to my plate, even as I blush and hang my head. Sometimes there’s company for dinner and sometimes it’s just the three of us — me, Grammie and Grandad. Regardless of who is there, the table is set properly.

Grandad and I eat. Grammie must eat too of course, sometime, but I can’t ever remember seeing her sit down at the table with us to do it. She never joined the table, never sat still, didn’t even speak much but quietly continued the business of the kitchen — cooking, tending the fire, baking, cleaning, keeping her family sustained.

The kitchen was the centre of that house, the heart of the universe as far as I was concerned, and she the source of its strength.

My grandmother, Grammie Coughlan, passed away on Sunday June 19th, Father’s Day. I’ll never be even half the woman she was in the kitchen or the force she was in her home.

Originally written June 24, 2005.

Kellie Underhill has been the Editor of Bread ‘n Molasses magazine since its launch in February of 2003. A member and former Board of Director of the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick, her essays and fiction short stories have been published in numerous newspapers, magazines and reviews in Canada and Ireland.

Pauline's parents, Arthur and Nora Coughlan at Anne of Green Gables home in PEI before they became ill and needed home care.

By Pauline Underhill

One Saturday night in early July 2004 I went over to stay with Mom and Dad. It was a beautiful summer evening and I remember how bad I felt having to spend it inside instead of home on the deck (just a little of the guilt I feel now).

Anyway, for about the first hour or so Mom did nothing but complain about her loose tooth. She kept saying, “I don’t know how you expect me to eat anything with this old tooth!” It was really the only bottom tooth she had left and she kept trying to pull it out with her fingers.

Finally Dad said, “Do you want me to pull it?” Now Dad had been near death in April and I couldn’t imagine that he would have the strength to do much of anything, but when Mom said, “Yes, pull the damn thing!” he wasted no time getting to the kitchen.

I followed along behind him because he was unsteady on his feet and we were afraid he would fall. He went to the junk drawer in the kitchen and pulled out the pliers. I said, “Dad, you’re not really going to pull the tooth, are you?” He just nodded his head and smiled as he headed back to the big La-Z-boy chair where Mom was sitting.

I’m telling you, I was like an expectant father pacing around the kitchen.

He planted his feet on the floor and pulled. Mom screamed and moaned … and I paced. Mom’s protest must have got to Dad because he stopped and took the pliers out of her mouth. He handed her a Kleenex and she wiped at her face.

“Look at the blood! I know I’m going to bleed to death right here tonight!” she said.

“Well, do you want me to stop?” Dad asked.

“No, no, just pull the damn thing,” was her reply.

He started to pull on the tooth again and I started my pacing. Visions of the ambulance arriving to take Mom to the hospital ran through my mind. What kind of a caregiver would allow someone to use pliers to pull their own mother’s tooth? Not to mention what my sisters Donna and Valerie would say if anything happened.

Dad must have got his second wind because he gave one good pull and out came the pliers–tooth and all. I can still see the tiny roots that tooth had.

I said to Mom, “Quick! Pack it with Kleenex to stop the blood from running down your chin.”

Dad just scuffled along out to the garbage can and dropped the tooth. Then he scuffled along back in to his La-Z-boy and pushed it back to relax. He said to Mom, “Stop complaining now. It would have cost us a hundred dollars to have that done at the dentist office.”

I laughed and said, “The old guy still has it in him.”

About three weeks later I went back to do my Saturday night time again. We were sitting watching Lawrence Welk on TV when Mom said, “You know, one of Arthur’s teeth fell out this week.”

It gave new meaning to the Bible saying, “A tooth for a tooth.”

Written in the wee hours of the morning on June 18, 2005, while sitting with Mom at Miramichi Hospital. My mother, Nora Coughlan passed away on June 19, 2005.

Pauline Underhill of Barnettville, NB is the mother of four (Kellie, Sherry, Jennifer and Lee) and the grandmother of five (Paulina, Samuel, Jules, Abby and Anna). Both her parents, Arthur and Nora Coughlan of Gray Rapids, NB have passed away.

Sherry Sturgeon's mother, Pauline Underhill, surrounded by her five grandchildren (from left to right: Anna & Paulina Sturgeon; Abby, Jules & Samuel Keenan.)

She is …

Caring & compassionate. Generous & giving.
There in a heartbeat. No questions asked.

Strong & powerful. Influential & admired.
Best advice given … with or without words.

Creative & imaginative. Storyteller & secret keeper.
True friend to all who are blessed to know her.

Baker & doughnut fryer. Cook & cake maker.
Proud moments when everyone is full.

Babysitter & taxi-driver. Nurse & therapist.
Next generation’s “go-to-gal”.

Volunteer & fundraiser. Organizer & supporter.
Takes on the cause with all her heart.

Spiritual & open. Believer & faithful.
Sees & hears the whispers from beyond.

Daughter & sister. Aunt & cousin.
Proud grandmother of a wonderful five.

She is all of these … & so much more.
With pride I describe her as … Mom.

– Sherry Sturgeon, Barnettville NB