When Star gift boxes held porcelain dolls
November 20, 2009
Mike Funston
STAFF REPORTER
Shirley Anning fondly remembers the French porcelain doll that brought much happiness to her life as a 5-year-old at Christmas during the Great Depression.
The doll was among the gifts she received from the Star Santa Claus Fund in 1938. The family had moved to Toronto from Cobalt in northern Ontario following the death of her 37-year-old father from pneumonia.
Mother Marcelle Myers had rented a single room in a house on Boon Ave. in the Dufferin St.-St. Clair Ave. area, where she raised Shirley and her sister, Raymonde, who was two years younger, on social assistance.
"Truthfully, I don't know how she managed it," said Anning (her married name), who always sends a donation to the Santa Fund as her way of saying thanks.
"It was very tough. She probably would have given us some smallish things for Christmas, but that was all. So the Star box was an important part of Christmas for us for two or three years until she was able to get some work. She became the manager of a Honey Dew (a once popular, now long-gone restaurant chain) on Bloor near Bay."
"We were thrilled to be getting something for Christmas," Anning said of the Santa Fund boxes.
This year 45,000 will be distributed to needy children in the GTA, thanks to the generosity of Star readers such as Anning.
She remembers the doll and a wicker doll cradle as being "very special" to her, and she often wonders what happened to them.
"That doll was so gorgeous," she said. "As we got older, I think it was probably handed down to someone younger."
She also remembers receiving scarves and mittens in the Star boxes. Those came in handy walking to Earlscourt Public School every day during the winter.
Raymonde, who passed away a few years ago, also used to make an annual donation to the Santa Fund.
Their mother died of stroke in 1960, at age 56.
Anning also worked part-time at Honey Dew outlets, including one that opened during the Canadian National Exhibition, while a student at Western Technical School, and she later worked at the head office. She married, had two children and has lived in Guelph for the past 48 years.
If you have been touched by the Santa Fund or have a story to tell, please email: santaclausfund@thestar.ca.
Toronto Star