Some of the most interesting stories come from our seniors who have life experiences that will never again be seen.
This is a story that began in the 1800s when a young couple left Scotland for the new world, Canada, and which would result in a life for their future generations. Such were Margaret’s grandparents, the McCullochs, who would settle in southwest Ontario where eventually, their daughter and the son of the next door neighbour would marry, have three children and create a thriving farm in Thorndale.
Daughter Margaret and her two brothers grew up on the farm, where she and her older brother worked daily maintaining the 60 milking cattle, 3,000 egg-laying hens, beef cattle and pigs while their father, a tool-and-die maker, worked in a machine shop in London to earn enough money to keep the farm going.
Her father died at 45 years of age, when Margaret was only 16, and she had to drop out of school at the end of grade 10. “I knew I had to eventually have my grade 12 so I went to night school from four in the afternoon until eight at night. I finished my grades 11 and 12 in only ten months as an honour student, through what was called the Futures Program. I worked for the City of Guelph for two years, managed a condo cooperative for 10 years and went to work for a trust company in Port Elgin for 17 years.”
Today, Margaret admits that her Scottish heritage has given her a certain amount of ‘stubbornness’, but it also gave her a legacy … the recipe for her grandmother’s famous Scottish shortbread.
Margaret’s grandmother began the tradition of baking shortbread cookies, not only for her family, but for those who made a difference in her life. It was to become a tradition, and one that she handed down to her own daughter, Margaret’s mother, and in turn, to Margaret who carries on the legacy today.
While it’s a recipe for shortbread, it’s also a recipe for life and for appreciating those who come into a person’s life. “There are a lot of people who touch your life,” says Margaret, now in her eighties, “some you don’t even know.”
With some 17 lbs. of butter, She starts baking at the beginning of November and now has a list of some 50 people that she bakes Christmas shortbread cookies for, and then hand delivers them … and the list keeps growing.
Some of her recipients are well known in the community, from Dr. Don McCulloch (no relation) to Dr. Gord McKay and others.
There are also those who remain a mystery.
“My son, Tracy, was a carpenter who was working on closing in my deck. It was partly done, but he was also working on a subdivision in Dundalk (Ontario) when he died of a massive heart attack at 54 years old. I went away for three weeks and when I came back the deck was finished and enclosed. I never did know who the kind person was but, according to a neighbour, it must be someone on the cookie list so, hopefully, he gets them.”
From sewing and creating costumes for her Aunt’s costume store to baking special cakes in the shapes of elephants, swans, butterflies, fish and more, Margaret’s creativity knows no bounds. “You don’t need special pans to create cakes,” she says with a twinkle in her eye,” it’s all in knowing how to cut the cake.”
Margaret also created an incredible special book of recipes, many handed down through the generations, that are all categorized. She intended to give the book to her daughter when she married, but much to her heartbreak, her daughter was killed by a drunk driver, leaving a three-year-old little girl behind.
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The stories that Margaret has are endless, as is her boundless energy for creating the shortbread recipe of legacy cookies that her grandmother handed down to her daughter, and now to her granddaughter, and that are given in appreciation to those who make a difference in touching someone’s life.
“This is just a little something I like to do,” says Margaret. “People come into your life and make a difference. After my husband died, I didn’t want to leave the house but a special person came into my life and got me out again. My grandmother’s cookies are just my way of saying … thank you.”
