Freda Kelly

Freda Kelly holding son Robert, March 1961

Freda’s father was the legendary local blacksmith Dick Bulmer, a man whom practically everyone in Fenelon Falls knew. In the era before television, this trickster entertained his many visitors with his practical jokes. Throughout her life, Freda enjoyed remembering her father. She liked to tell stories about how she tobogganed down the big hill on Clifton Street. Her son, Robert, would relive the experience in a red wagon that Dick made. Some others couldn’t help but think of the cliffs at the foot of Clifton Street, but the Kellys made sure that the wild ride was a safe one. Freda was always someone who could find the positive in life.

As a youngster, Freda inherited her father’s love of fishing, and she would enjoy it throughout her life. In her 70s, she caught an 18lb musky in Cameron Lake. Freda graduated from Fenelon Falls Continuation School (later FFSS) in 1939, just as the Second World War was beginning. She became a school teacher, instructing at local schools (it was still the era of one-room schools) and briefly in Scarborough.

At age 40, Freda married Milburn Kelly, who was 17 years older. Milburn had been widowed for many years, and Freda had been through the ordeal of being married to someone who was gay (back then, many people thought that gay people should just marry someone of the opposite gender and make the best of things), leading to the marriage being annulled. In keeping with social expectations of the times, Freda retired from teaching to serve customers and keep the books at Foster Kelly’s plumbing and heating business, where her husband worked. At age 43, she became a mom, which in that era was treated like a medical emergency. "She was overjoyed, because she had never thought that she would have a child.”

Milburn retired at age 67, when Freda was 50 years old. Later in life, she could say that she had been retired for 50 years. Because they both loved outdoor recreation, they bought a camper and a 4-door Dodge pickup and started travelling the country. Everywhere they went, they were very engaged, journeying to every province and both territories, staying at campgrounds, road sides and gravel pits. Faith was very important to Freda, who was the bookkeeper at Immanuel Baptist Church for 48 years, until she was nearly 90. She kept the records by hand in tall ledger books. With her blue, black and red pens, she did it all manually, and wouldn’t touch a calculator, “because it would slow her down…. And she never lost a penny.”

Freda was very athletic and participated in many sports in her younger years. She loved to listen to Blue Jays games and enjoyed curling. In her 80s, she was skating on Cameron Lake; her last trip was to Cranberry Bay. She loved to work in her vegetable garden. She gardened on the ground until she was 97, then in a raised bed, where she got in her lettuce and onions at the age of 100. At the age of 98, she still carted her groceries across the bridge in her walker—how many people in their twenties would go grocery shopping without taking the car? Both her family and Milburn’s had a rich history, and she became a special carrier of the village’s heritage. Milburn’s family was instrumental in setting up Maryboro Lodge as the community’s museum—his aunts had previously operated it as a tourist lodge. She would walk over to attend tea right up until the pandemic.

When someone came to visit, Freda made the effort to prepare a full meal, even when the guest showed up unannounced. She loved to bake biscuits and muffins and shared them with her many friends around town. Freda had the unusual experience of living to 100, in her own home right to the end, and remaining mentally sharp. Freda lived a life of kindness, and she was always thankful for what she had. In so many ways, Freda lived a remarkably good life, inspiring many for a century.