Milne Family Tree

 

Isabel Beatrice Milne

Isabel Beatrice Milne was born Feb. 16, 1903 to Charles Alexander Milne and Ella Belle Scott.

Ella Belle Scott was the daughter of George Scott, who was born in England, but who emigrated to Ontario, Canada and worked as a yard master. Ella Belle's husband Charles was the son of George Bannerman Milne, of whom my family still has an oil painting. In that painting, George is proudly wearing his weathered Gordon kilt. At this time, I do not have a scanned image of that oil painting.
However, George's history can be found here.

Isabel grew up in Detroit, Michigan, and she attended an all-girl's boarding school.
Isabel graduated the Chaffee-Noble School of Expression in 1923.

Isabel went on to teach English and pantomime, and also put on shows with marionettes.

In 1939, Isabel married Joseph Daniel Zawada, and together they had two children - my father Gerald and his brother Carl.

They lived in Livonia, Michigan, on a several-acre lot. Joseph cared for fruit trees on the property and worked for the Department of Defense. I am told that he was a harsh man "with hands the size of sherman tanks", and that he would "crack [my father's and uncle's] heads together like melons" when they misbehaved.

In 1967, while at home, Joseph had a heart attack. Either shortly before or during the attack, he scribbled out notes to Isabel on where to find the storm windows and how to install them. Then, he collapsed under the kitchen table and died.

In the 1970's, Isabel moved to Tuscon, Arizona, where the climate was more gentle to her arthritis. But in the early 1980's, she fell and broke her hip, so her sons brought her back to Michigan.

I remember being at my uncle's house in either the late 1970's or the early 1980's, and we were looking through boxes of family stuff, including framed pictures.
My father and his brother giggled, then handed me a framed picture and asked, "Do you know who that is?"
I replied that I couldn't ever remember having that picture taken of me before.
They laughed and told me that picture was of my grandmother, Isabel. I stared at the picture in awe. We all felt that I looked SO much like her.

Grandma always mailed audio cassettes to my brother and I, telling us bedtime stories like Peter Rabbit. She also sent educational material to us, with pictures cut out of National Geographic. Where my nephews have National Geo for Kids to view today, my grandmother created her own version of National Geo for Kids for my brother and I back in the 1970's.
I remember going to grandma's apartment in a high-rise. I had expressed interest in a tiny dry-pressed flower in a frame, as well as a National Geographic book called The Powers of Nature; my favourite story in there being about Volcanoes and the city of Pompeii.
Grandma saw my interest and gave me those two items. She was always generous like that.

I kept the dry-pressed flower until it fell apart (the backing of the frame was always weak), and I still have the National Geographic Powers of Nature book.

Isabel passed away in a nursing home in February, 1985. To this day I still have trouble accepting why she ever had to be put in a nursing home, as it was clear that she rapidly deteriorated once there.

Isabel had a full life, but I still miss her dearly.


Isabel as a child.

Where Isabel graduated.

Isabel modeling her wedding dress in 1939.



Isabel and friend Gerry Kolis
with marionettes.

Isabel and Joe, backstage.



Me as a child.

Isabel as a child.

Me as a child.



Joe and Isabel Wades, 1960's



My father Jerry and his mother Isabel, 1970's

Isabel, 1979



Isabel, 1984

 

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