(submitted by Maxine Toffelmire)
In October 1969, Milton (Milt) and Maxine Toffelmire of Anderdon Twp., Essex County, bought Monkbreton Farm, Lot 14, Con.1 NER and moved to Warwick Twp. with five of their children: Laurie, Marna, Holly, Cheryl, and Kelvin. Their oldest daughter Brenda was at school in Toronto.
The former owner of the farm, Betty Day, made arrangements at the Warwick Public School for four of the children and Laurie went off to the high school in Watford.
Milt returned to the Essex County farm on weekends and stayed with his mother Hattie until all the crops were off. Then his mother joined the family in Warwick. They also moved all of their farm machinery to the new property at this time. Milt has mentioned that it was interesting driving his combine all the way from Amherstburg.
The family filled all the bedrooms in the old farmhouse. Renovations began in 1971. Many interesting things were found during these renovations — items such as dentures and one old high top shoe. The electricity was also upgraded, replacing the original wiring which had been installed in 1929.
Milt’s mother enjoyed the new farm. She spent a lot of time gathering apples, pears, hickory nuts and walnuts each fall. There were so many new noises in the house that some of the family thought it was haunted. The large amount of truck traffic that passed by before Hwy 402 was constructed made the house vibrate.
In addition to Monkbreton Farm, the family rented two other properties. Milt and Maxine worked together to get crops in and to harvest the crops.
The Toffelmire family lived in Warwick Twp. for 20 years. They were active in the Warwick United Church. Maxine was also very involved with the Warwick Women’s Institute. Then, the children having grown up, Milt and Maxine retired to Port Franks.
Laurie married Joe McCormick, son of Doris and Don of Confederation Line in Warwick Twp. They built their home just east of the farmhouse. Joe and Laurie have raised three children — Tim, Theresa, and Andrew. Tim is a landscape architect working in Kitchener; Theresa is working on her Ph.D. in Chemistry at Queen’s University in Kingston; and Andrew is an Engineering graduate from Queen’s University.
Laurie’s siblings have all married and moved away from Warwick Township — Brenda to London, Marna to Woodstock, Holly to Sarnia, Cheryl to Uxbridge, and Kelvin to Wyoming.
Chapter 24 of 25 - Toffelmire Family
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