Judy Milley was born in Creemore, Ontario, in a World War II medical centre that still stands on Main Street. After her arrival Judy (Arnold) was taken home to the family farm near Dunedin. All her early memories revolve around the farm, extended family and Knox Presbyterian Church where the Arnolds had been members since the late 19th Century.
“It was a rural community and the church was our social life. I was related to almost everybody there,” recalls Judy. “I also remember there were times when we went to the church in a horse and cutter. Bad weather and impassable roads were no excuse for staying away.”
In Judy’s childhood children sat, in church, as quiet as church mice not daring to fidget ,no matter how long the sermon. By age 11 Judy was playing the piano, at Sunday school, and also teaching Bible stories to children not much younger than herself.
An anticipated event, in her young life, was the church’s annual Strawberry Supper, held each June.
Judy describes her mother, Bessie Arnold, as an award winning cook and baker. Bessie always provided huge mounds of potato salad with her own dressing. (Her people, the Tuplings, were from Honeywood, an area known for its potatoes.) She also made the 1950s classics – cabbage coleslaw, crisp pickles and jelly salads. Along with the strawberries and cream, straight from the local cows, there were “loads” of cakes. There was a constant competition amongst the women for the best cakes. Although Bessie’s specialty was an angel cake with boiled frosting, Judy’s favourite was a banana cake with butter cream frosting, made by Daisy, a local teacher.
“It was a very busy time because haying just started. Never-the-less, afterwards there was always a men’s baseball game. We had to cross the river behind the church to get to it,”says Judy, adding that her father, Crawford Brinkman Arnold, participated and it seemed that all the other players were her cousins and uncles.
(Judy comments that everything she has done in her life has been influenced by her wonderful extended farming family and the joy and positive experiences of her church-centered childhood.)
Bessie had attended Normal School and was teaching at Nottawasaga S.S.#16, a one-room school house, when Judy started school. Today this building is a beautiful brick residence that Judy, recently, saw advertised for over $1 million.
Judy went to high school in Collingwood and, like her mother, went on to teacher’s college and taught elementary school. Judy’s adult life became peripatetic and she lived in the United States for a long time. Back in Canada, Judy and her husband, Ken Milley, were living in Midhurst (outskirts of Barrie) when Bessie began to fail. By this time, Judy’s parents had long left the farm and farm and moved into Collingwood. (Brink pre-deceased Bessie.) Bessie loved her in-town house and rose garden and when she was dying, she carried on “like a broken record” about Judy taking on the house. Finally, when the house went on the market, the Milleys gave in and bought it, from the estate, in 2000.
“It’s the best move I ever made. I’m surrounded by family antiques and one of my sons moved back to Collingwood, so both sons are here now. I did not plan this. I stepped out of the way and God did it,” says Judy, who describes herself as a “recovering controloholic.”
Once established in Collingwood, Judy and Ken joined First Presbyterian Church where Judy found herself surrounded by relatives. She had come full circle. Judy volunteered to oversee the church library, a post that turned out to be a perfect fit, and Ken is a past Clerk-of-Session and currently an elder.
Judy is also a devoted grandmother who has introduced her grandchildren to the pleasures of Bessie’s boiled marshmallowy frosting. “Everyone in our family gets a traditional angel cake, with coins inside, and boiled frosting. The money scenario always leads to much fun and silliness,” Judy says.
BESSIE’S BOILED FROSTING
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup water
1 tsp white vinegar
2 egg whites
3/4 tsp vanilla
METHOD
Pre-beat egg whites until stiff.
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, boil sugar, water, vinegar together until syrup thins.When it comes to a boil, dip in a spoon and hold it up. As soon as there is a long thread, take the pot off the heat. (Alternatively, 238 degrees on a candy thermometer.)
Gradually add hot syrup to the egg whites, beating constantly until the frosting holds its shape (peaks).
Stir in vanilla. Ice cake immediately.
