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Canada votes 2025 ! and Seniors represent over 20% of the vote
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Are Seniors positioned on the bottom of the Trudeau totem pole ?
Nov, 2019 - It seems as though Seniors have been invisible ever since the new Liberal Government was elected in 2015 ? They will finally be getting a break, ( but, there's a catch ) ? Seniors are about to finally receive some welcome relief in the form of a long overdue raise in their Old Age Pension, but a tricky caveat has been installed ? Instead of the normal age 65 rule, Seniors must now be over age 75 to get the raise ? This culling method appears to use ageism as a tool to eliminate over 4000 Seniors from a benefit ? Many legitimate Senior Citizens are feeling forgotten, disrespected, segregated and excluded by this Liberal Government and not looking forward to yet another year under them.
Critical grievances 2020 thru 24 :
1) Most Seniors are now retired, (only 1 in 5 still work full or part-time) and so they do not benefit from, nor qualify for, nor did they use any of the CERB rescue programs designed specifically to provide monetary assistance to large and small businesses and working folks ? A minority of Seniors ( those over age 75 ) had received a one per lifetime 500 dollar Covi crisis payment in 2021 but ( and it seems unconscionable during a health crisis) , the majority of Seniors, (those aged 65 to 74) were excluded from this benefit and didn't get it due to age ? Meanwhile, when many members of our society received 500 dollars each and every week while still allowed to earn a thousand dollars per month, many Seniors were living on less than a thousand per month in pensions and receiving no such assistance ? These emergency Covi-19 welfare measures doled out 210 billion to individuals and companies and created a massive deficit for 20/21 ? But, it is estimated that less than 4 % of these COVI caused deficits were made by Seniors since they didn't create it ? But unfortunately being that Seniors represent 20 % of the total Canadian population, they are responsible for 20 % of this debt even though they created less than 4 % of it ? It's like borrowing 4 dollars and then having to pay back 20 dollars ..,,,,,, aka loan sharking ?
2) A 2019 pre-election promise of a 10% raise in pension starting in July of 2020 was mean-spiritedly held back even though Covi came along in 2020 when this increase was desperately needed by all Seniors, incl those aged 65 and up ? *update* *The promised raise was finally implemented 2 year late in July of 2022. saving the Government billions ? and more billions were saved when the Government disqualified all Seniors age 65 thru 74.
3) A Sept/2019 pre-election promise to raise the Widows' Pension Survivors benefit by 25% was not kept and this benefit appears now as a pre-election falsehood that was only made to get the Senior vote ?
4) Although raking in billions in profits there's been no significant raise in C.P.P. benefits since the Libs first took power back in 2015, other than some loose change once-a-year COL adjustments ? Alberta began threatening to leave it in 2023.
5) A double punishment ? It seems to be discrimination when many of our Senior's spouses who were homemakers and raised children are excluded to CPP because they never had a opportunity to earn this pension, and also excluded from their GST rebate because of the current 1 only per household rules and as thus are left to live out their remaining years well below the minimum livable level ?
6) over 70% of the casualties of Covi were Seniors ? Of the 27,000 Canadians that have died from Covi about 20,000 of them were over 75, ( 75 is also the new minimum age used to qualify for the 10% raise in Old Age Pension) ?
7) After decades of systemic neglect, exploitation, abuse and suffering, the weakest and most vulnerable of all Canadian citizens had to be rescued by their own Army ? Yet no inquiry was ever ordered such as was the case with MMA ? Why was MMA given 100 million dollars for an inquiry but Long Term Care Nursing Home genocide has never been investigated and the families have never been offered such an inquiry or even an apology ?
8) It seems backwards when OAS and CPP are deemed taxable income by the Government but the incredibly generous Liberal child tax benefit is tax free ? Why would you keep taxing those that have already contributed so much and paid taxes for so many years and then let relatively new taxpayers who have not yet paid their fair share totally off the hook with a tax freebee ?
9) Since the Liberals first took power back in 2015, if you were to combine all OAS raises granted from back in 2015 until now in 2021 , ( this includes all Covi months ) the total increase to a pensioners monthly check after 6 years of Liberal governance wouldn't even buy him a daily cup of Hortons tea, ( your monthly check in 2021 is now approx 50 bucks more than it was in 2015 ) ? This seems negligent when considering the pandemic and the hefty cost of living increases ? update july 2022 - 10% raise for those over 75 finally started in july.
10) Seniors group treated like merchandise as hundreds of millions said to be designated for Seniors are never given directly to them but instead indirectly dispersed to many different individuals and organizations making a living off of Senior citizens and from related Government grants and funding ? And there is also the Minister of Seniors and her staff as well as an 11-member advisory board that must be paid ?
11) Seniors are not all brain dead and toothless ? Mental health assistance and Dentistry are expensive and many face a dental crisis as they age with no national dental plan or any help available ? update to 2024 - A limited dental plan is now available from the Government ?
12) Many Seniors are going hungry and cannot absorb massive rent increases ? A One bedroom in Halifax has risen from pre covi 800 up to 2100 in 2024 (more than their CPP and OAS combined) and still, no legislated guaranteed Monthly 'livable' inflation-adjusted income for each and every senior over the age of 65 ?
Since first elected in 2015, the Liberals have shown favoritism and unusual generosity towards their Canada Child tax credit benefit (baby bonus) but conversely have shown mean-spiritless and a frugal attitude towards Seniors ?
2015 Monthly OAP check to Seniors under Harper = $569.95
2021 current Seniors OAP check under Liberals - 626.49 (a total raise over 6 yrs of time of 56.54 or approx 10 % since Liberals took over )
And :
Baby Bonus or Child Tax Credit under Harper 2015 Monthly baby bonus check = approx 100.00 .
Baby Bonus or Child Tax Credit under Liberals - now over 600.00 ? This monthly increase in the baby bonus check is approx 500.00 more than Harper, or an increase of approx 600 % since Liberals took over ?
* note * The Justin Trudeau Liberals have renamed the baby bonus and given it a 600 % RAISE to lure middle class votes in the 2015 election !
it worked !
Sept 2019 - A pre election announcement . In a televised news conference delivered by the P.M. a new 10% raise is to be granted on Seniors pensions starting July of 2020. Unfortunately, ( in a first of its kind ), a highly unusual caveat is to be placed on the raise whereby the majority or 57 % of Seniors, (all those aged 65 to 74 ) are excluded and as such will not be allowed this Government benefit even though they have all earned their rightful place in Canada as Seniors ?
While claiming to be the party of systemic history cleansing and a party based on equality,inclusion, and diversity, the Liberals seem hypocritical when it comes to senior citizens after they appear to use division, ageism, discrimination, segregation, separation and exclusion in the first substantial raise to the Seniors old age pension since they assumed Government ? For the first time ever, many previously eligible Senior citizens will loose their right to receive a Senior's benefit ? An umbrellaed universality has always applied to any Canadian citizen who successfully reaches the age of 65 ? But the liberals have divided Seniors by splitting them into two separate and distinct entities based on age ? This culling maneuver serves to disqualify those Seniors aged 65 to 74 ( or approx 57 % of the current Senior population) from their entitlement because of their age ?
This new Liberal policy of separation and segregation could save the Government approx 4 million X 630 dollars per year. or at least 2,520,000,000.00 dollars.
July 2020 - Covi has arrived, and there will be no budget in this horrible year - There seems to be plenty of pandemic help for everyone else, but the 10% raise in OAS for Seniors has been withheld and not rolled out in July/2020 as promised, nor will it be rolled out for all of 2020, although the unreleased and held-back raise is often referred to as a current benefit given to help Seniors with their expenses during the pandemic year 2020 even though the raise was never released to them during the entire year and most can't use it and even if ever released as it only applies to 43 % of Seniors ?
^ UPDATE * Liberal Budget year 2021 -
Apr 2021 - Budget 2021 - It seems that the 10% raise in Seniors old age pension that was first promised to Seniors back in 2019 and that was suppose to start in July 2020, is now being described and represented here in budget 2021 as the major new benefit given directly to Seniors as their part of federal Budget 2021 (even though the raise is still withheld and will remain unreleased for the rest of 2021 ) ? Although described as a 'Seniors' benefit, it can't benefit all Seniors as implied, but can only help 43 % of the Canadian Seniors population if ever released ? Unfortunately politicians continue to refer to the raise as if it is already released and as if it is already being used and enjoyed by all Canadian Seniors which is misleading ?
^ UPDATE * Liberal Budget 2022 -
Apr 7th, 2022 - Nothing much new in this budget for Seniors ? But noticed an opportunity taken to go back in time to remember the lowering of the OAP age limit from 67 to 65 some 7 years ago ? This history is true but can it really be included as something new for Seniors in a new budget 7 years later ?
It seems that the still unreleased 10% raise in Seniors old age pension as first announced back in 2019 and scheduled to start in July 2020,, is once again being called upon in 2022 to represent the highlight and major benefit given to Seniors as their part of Budget 2022 ? This raise that has already been presented and used as part of last years 2021 budget hasn't even started yet ? It's difficult to understand how a Senior's benefit from last year, (and the year before), keeps on being repeated or duplicated over and over again like this, and repeat credit being taken for it on multiple occasions ? Shouldn't a brand new budget contain only fresh and brand-new original benefits and not old ones resurrected from past years that are just being repeated and re-used ? Surely it would be inappropriate to resurrect a past benefit already given out to Seniors in a past budget 2021 and already given the credit for, and to then take the credit for it all over again in 2022 ?
And not to be remiss, there was another promise made 3 years ago that would benefit many needy Seniors in the form of a 25 % raise in Widows' Pension Survivors benefits ? But after 3 years this pre-election promise is once again totally missing from yet another budget ? And so this promise looks to be totally forgotten about now that the election is over ?
**** NEW UPDATE June 2022 *******
June 23, 2022 news item - " Seniors, renters and low-income workers to get a boost from a new plan to help fight inflation "
Thursday June 23, 2022 - Deputy prime minister and the minister of finance Chrystia Freeland has announced a new $8.9 billion plan that will help Canadians deal with this year's record-breaking inflation. It seems that the still unreleased 10% raise in Seniors old age pension is once again being resurrected and is called upon to represent Senior citizens share and will be the all Seniors part of her new 8.9 billion dollar Affordability Plan even though it leaves out all seniors aged 65 thru 74 ? www.thestar.com/business/seniors-renters-and-low-income-w...
Thursday June 23, 2022 - The new, 'affordability plan' ?
Chrystia Freeland announces new $8.9 billion in aid to help Canadians deal with record-breaking inflation.. The (still unreleased) Seniors 10 % raise in OAS will serve as their part. But, but, now wait just a minute here,, how can this be ? When the 10% raise was originally promised to Seniors back in 2019 it was described simply by the PM to be a 10% raise in OAS for Seniors to start in July 2020 ? No one said anything about it being attached to, or a part of, or a share of, anything else ? This was strictly a private and independent matter made solely between the Seniors and the Government ? There was no mention of anything or anyone else, or any package deal, or that it would ever represent a portion or a share of any other different matter, nor any mention of it being aid given out to seniors in inflationary times, nor anything about any new 8.9 billion dollar Affordability Plan ?
This newly announced Affordability Plan is a separate and non-related outside issue to the original Seniors raise, and so unfortunately this means that the original promise that was made to Seniors back in 2019 is drastically changed now and is being used differently with a new and different definition ? The original 2019 raise was presented to Seniors in a private, straightforward, and unencumbered way, but it appears now that it has become connected to, or attached to, or bound up within issues that were never mentioned to Seniors back in 2019 ? And so, the original understanding held by Seniors in 2019 that it was a private benefit to be given to them only, has instead now changed and it has become a part of a different larger more multi-party social benefit matter in which Seniors are included, (and we presume that when this new Plan refers to 'Seniors', it includes all Seniors in the all-inclusive 65 + sense ?)
July 18, 2022, "Announcing 'new' support for Seniors"
July 21 st, 2022 - Minister of Seniors Kamal Khera proudly announces what she calls 'new' support for Seniors in a Facebook meeting ? She says this 'new' support is to be in the form of a 10% raise in the Seniors OAS monthly payments for those over 75 ? But, but, wait just a minute ? This is the same raise that was announced back in Sept of 2019 and was suppose to begin in July 2020 ? And this is just the same raise that we've all been waiting for ever since that time ? And so it is difficult to understand how the Minister can call anything that is 3 years old and has been 2 years late starting, as something that is new ? It's also hard to understand how anyone would consider this as 'new' support for "Seniors" with an 's' when this raise only applies to a small percentage of Seniors, ( only those over age 75) and it will exclude the majority of seniors (all those aged 65 to 74 )? Nevertheless, although it is 2 years late arriving , this announcement is most welcome and will certainly provide comfort to the 43% of eligible Seniors who qualify for the raise especially after many had given up all hope after waiting 2 years ?
July 27th, 2022 - The long awaited big Day has finally arrived ! The 43 % of eligible Canadian old age pensioners are today reporting that the very first-ever 10 % increase in payment in their pension checks that was promised to them some 3 years ago back in Sept 2019 has finally arrived.
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Nov 3rd, 2022,'the Fall Economic Statement'
In a press conference, the Government has announced its new 'Fall Economic Statement' in the form of a November mini-budget. Seniors are not mentioned in the announcement ? When queried about this omission the reply was that seniors over 75 will receive a 10 % raise in OAS ? Although seniors were expecting some much-needed new assistance in this new mini budget, unfortunately, there was just another repeat usage of the 10% Seniors OAS (stuck record) raise, (that unfortunately excludes seniors age 65 thru 74) ? Incredibly, this will be the 3rd consecutive budget that will use the same 10% Seniors raise in OAS as the Seniors share ?
"Surely never before in the field of Government benefits, has a benefit been used in so many different ways and in so many different matters and by so many different Liberal politicians on so many different occasions over so many different years. "
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news clippings,,
Trudeau in Kitchener Monday, Sept. 16, 2019 : New 10 % OAS raise to seniors will begin in July 2020,
www.cbc.ca/news/politics/liberals-trudeau-seniors-electio...
2019-09-18 Trudeau promises Seniors that he will boost the CPP survivor's benefit by 25%
www.bing.com/videos/search?q=liberals+promise+to+raise+se...
August 10, 2020 - Trudeau seeks advice from Mark Carney on economic recovery plan,,
www.ctvnews.ca/politics/article/trudeau-seeks-advice-from...
COVID-19 update: genocide ? Canada now closing in on 50,000 known cases. Nursing homes account for 79% of deaths to date ? Call for an inquiry into long care nursing-home similar to the Liberals 100 million dollar MMA inquiry which ended up ruled as genocide ?
nationalpost.com/news/canada/covid-19-trudeau-says-in-man...
Ontario’ genocide ? Losses in the COVID-19 deaths is more than 5,000 Ontario nursing-home residents,
calgaryherald.com/news/covid-deaths-lawsuit-against-ontar...
In 2020, the consolidated Canadian general government (CGG), posted a historic deficit in the order of $325.5 billion.
www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/211122/dq211122a-...
Since coming to office in 2015, the Liberals have increased federal spending from $281 billion to $497 billion. The national population has increased 21%.
www.msn.com/en-ca/news/other/gunter-liberal-achievements-...
Canada’s auditor general says a “minimum” of $27.4 billion in suspicious COVID-19 benefit payments needs investigated ? CRA announced they will not investigate $30 billion in suspicious CERB payments because “it wouldn’t be worth the effort"
nationalpost.com/news/politics/auditor-general-27-billion...
Seniors must endure al frustrating 2 year long waiting period after the Liberals hold back a promised 10 % raise for 2 years while they use it over and over again in a litany of different non-related Government financial matters that were never said to be part of the raise ?
www.flickr.com/photos/74039487@N02/52226068212/in/album-7...
2022 budget ? The withheld 10 % raise in old age pension that had already been given to Seniors in last years 2021 Liberal budget and not released, is resurrected and once again re-given to Seniors in a new different Federal budget in another year ? www.ctvnews.ca/politics/what-the-2022-federal-budget-has-...
Jun, 2022 - disguising the Seniors share ? Liberal minister of finance Chrystia Freeland misrepresents 57 % of Seniors when announcing an $8.9 billion plan to help Canadians deal with record-breaking inflation.www.thestar.com/business/2022/06/16/seniors-renters-and-l...
Nov 2022 - Some MP rapid rhetoric, Kamal Kould Khera less Minister of Seniors is questioned in the House of Commons ,
www.flickr.com/photos/74039487@N02/52508005196
July 18 2022 - How can a benefit first described as 'new' 3 years ago in 2019, and then described again as 'new' as help given to Seniors in the Covi pandemic 2020, and then described as 'new' again when given as a benefit for Seniors in federal budget 2021, and then described as 'new' once again when used as a 'new' benefit for Seniors in federal budget 2022, and then also described once again as a 'new' benefit for Seniors in a Liberal 9 billion dollar Affordability Plan, and then again as a 'new' benefit for Seniors in the Liberal Fall mini budget, ever be described as something 'new' by Kamal Khera when announcing, "Today we are announcing 'new' support for Seniors " ?? What's ??? It's like a stuck record playing over and over again ? www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=35310363329969&set=a.237...
March 31, 2023 - Seniors on fixed incomes, and rentering apartments desperately need urgent help now ? Rent for a 1 bedroom in Halifax goes from pre-Covi 750.oo in 2019, up to 2100.oo in 2024 ? Liberals offer help but place severe restrictions and strict limitations on yearly income allowable that are almost impossible to overcome on their one time only $500 rental assistance benefit ?
www.canada.ca/en/services/taxes/child-and-family-benefits...
Years of unimaginable abuse to Senior Citizens in Long Care Nursing Homes - Manitoba to disband office created to protect Seniors in long term care following a scathing report ? quote "What the report revealed, specifically as it relates to abuse of elderly, is sickening and repulsive," Relatives call for inquiry similar to MMA inquiry into decades of systemic abuse and the genocide of totally vulnerable and helpless Senior citizens ?
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-auditor-general-...
Oct 18 2023 - Bill C-319 - Minister of Finance, the PM and both Ministers of Seniors vote No to allowing Seniors aged 65 thru 74 the right to receive the same 10% raise in OAS as other Seniors currently enjoy ? But the Bill passes first reading anyway without them ?
www.ourcommons.ca/Members/en/votes/44/1/422
Oct 22 2023 House of Commons - Many Seniors are also veterans . Questions to the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs - Why is this Liberal Government banning Christian prayers such as the Lords Prayer on Remembrance Day ? In many cases these were the last words ever spoken to a dying soldier on the battlefield .
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B1fXX5gQMk
Why are Halifax Councillors tricking the poor, the sick and the most elderly by manipulating HRM transit fares in a way that makes vulnerable Seniors pay out of pocket for free-loaders to ride the HRM transit system ?
www.flickr.com/photos/74039487@N02/48602924896/in/album-7...
Many Senior citizens enjoy the occasional recreational tobacco, however a small indulgence is now unaffordable for many Seniors due to punishing Government over taxation,
www.flickr.com/photos/74039487@N02/53088887466/in/datepos...
www.flickr.com/photos/74039487@N02/9344935900
CBC Apr 21 2024 - Are they blaming Seniors for the housing crisis ? Treasury Board President Anita Anand implies budgets have favored Seniors and this unfair budgetary imbalance may have cost the younger generation ?
www.flickr.com/photos/74039487@N02/53679216053/in/album-7...
CRA taxation year 2023 - While many Senior citizens struggle with the increasing cost of living, Liberals raise personal income taxes of low and mid-income Seniors ?
www.flickr.com/photos/74039487@N02/53679216053/in/album-7...
Some struggling seniors soon to shiver ? The Nova Scotia Tim Houston Government is apparently unawares of the cost of living struggle and rental crisis in Nova Scotia and they've decided to cut this years home heating rebate downwards to almost half of what it was last year ? The rebate is reduced to 600 dollars for winter 2024-25 ?
ca.news.yahoo.com/province-considered-multiple-options-he...
Jul 19th, 2024 - As Seniors old age pensions are being downsized the Canada Child Benefit has been up sized by 4.7% ?
www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canadian-families-will-receive-more...
In a groundbreaking move, CBC introduces gambling into their coverage of the Olympic games for the first time ever ?
2024 Paris Olympics - It appears that CBC has partnered with one particular online Casino company and BetRivers is running sports betting ads during its telecasting of Olympic events ? Is the inclusion of a Casino and Sports betting parlor running gambling ads during thr Olympic events appropriate to the principles and high moral standards exemplified by the Olympic Games ?
frontofficesports.com/ins-and-outs-of-betting-on-paris-ol...
Dec 07, 2024 , Department in charge of Old Age Security auditor doesn't know if the current payments are enough,
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/canada-old-age-se...
Jan 06, 2025 - Trudeau resigns as the prime minister,, Prorogues Parliament until March 24 2025,,
www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-news-conferen
Sept 9th 2025 - Seniors Protest planned to help seniors in the Okanagan,,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac4eqfv6CzE
October 23, 2025 - Seniors living in fear . Premier Doug Ford proposes a new set of changes that will strip away key tenant protections, fast-track evictions, and open the door to ending rent control ! This is nothing short of a disaster for Senior citizen tenants who are barely making it on fixed incomes who are currently paying grandfathered rents ?
Co. H, 78th OH. Infantry
From A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, written and compiled by William E. Connelley, Secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, copyright 1918
LEVI F. JOHNSON. As it was only about sixty years ago that the first permanent settlements were made in Kansas, there are a number of the real pioneers still alive, men who can recount their experiences when the plains were covered with buffaloes, when Indians made camp along the creeks, when the prairie fires raged across the high grass, and when the woods were filled with game, the creeks with fish, and when everything was new and primitive.
Now living retired at a comfortable home in Winfield Levi F. Johnson had his share in the early making of Kansas, particularly of Cowley County. He made his first trip to Kansas in 1860 when he bought eighty acres of wild land near Frankfort, Marshall County. The unsettled conditions of the frontier made a permanent residence at that time undesirable, and it was not until after the war in which he fought bravely and gallantly as a Union soldier that he returned to Kansas, then a state, and entered upon his real work as a builder and homemaker. Mr. Johnson recalls many trips which he made years ago with parties to hunt buffalo, which could be still found in large herds. He had many exciting experiences on such expeditions, and he is one of the comparatively few men who can recall the actual taste of buffalo steak and the methods of hunting an animal which is now all but extinct.
Levi F. Johnson was born in Harrison County, Ohio, October 28, 1837, and has lived almost fourscore years. His parents were Aaron and Hannah (Feaster) Johnson. His father was born in Harrison County, Ohio, and died at Marion, Kansas, at the age of sixty-three. The mother's parents were Pennsylvania Dutch people. Levi F. Johnson was one of five children, the others being Rhoda, Daniel, Samuel and Mary. Of these Samuel and Levi are the only survivors. All the sons served in the Civil war. Daniel was killed at the battle of Chickamauga while fighting with the Fifty-first Ohio. Samuel was a member of the Forty-first Ohio Regiment.
Reared and educated in his native county, Levi F. Johnson after his first trip to Kansas and his return to his native state, was aroused by the news of the disaster at Bull Run, and hastened to enlist to defend the Union. He became a member of the Seventy-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and his early service was under General Grant. He participated in the capture of Fort Donelson, in the battle of Shiloh, at Corinth, and was in many of those battles leading up to the siege and capture of Vicksburg. He fought at Jackson, Champion Hill, and spent many days in the slow and steady approach to the Mississippi stronghold. Mr. Johnson says that during the siege of Vicksburg and contrary to the orders of the officers he and his Union comrades frequently visited with the rebels and traded tobacco and other supplies, and however bitterly they fought when time for battle arrived they were friends during the lulls of fighting. About the time Vicksburg fell Mr. Johnson was detailed to service in the Freedman's Bureau. He was placed in charge of a camp of refugee negroes at the Joe Davis plantation twenty-eight miles below Vicksburg. There efforts were made to render the negroes self-supporting. They were trained to grow cotton, and Mr. Johnson had the task of allotting lands, maintaining a general supervision over the former slaves, and distributing rations and mules supplied by the bureau. While in that work he received a discharge from the army, but was kept in his position until after the close of the war. During part of the time he had the management of about 2,000 negroes.
For three years after the war he remained in the South and was engaged in cotton growing. In a short time the price of cotton fell so that the growing of the staple became unprofitable, and after realizing only a few hundred dollars from his venture he returned to Kansas in 1868.
The next three years he spent on his eighty acres of land in Marshall County. Selling that to advantage in the spring of 1871 he sought what was reported as government land on the Osage Indian strip in what is now Cowley County. He paid the regular government price of $1.25 per acre and received his deed from President Grant. His purchase was in Beaver Township, west of the Arkansas River and six miles south and six miles west of Winfield. It was mostly bottom lands. Mr. Johnson had driven a span of horses and at once set to work to break up the ground, which he planted in corn. After the planting was made his crop received no further cultivation, but such was the fertility of the soil and the excellence of the season that the land produced one of the best crops of corn he ever saw. It also proved wonderfully productive of melons, potatoes and other crops. For his first dwelling there Mr. Johnson had a log cabin with a dirt floor.
In the meantime on June 12, 1870, in Marshall County he married Miss Dora Biggs, who was then a young lady of nineteen. She entered heartily into the pioneer spirit of living and helping, and a great share of the credit for the success which he has accomplished is due to this sensible and practical woman, who was not only a wife and mother but also a partner and sharer in all his undertakings.
Not far from their pioneer home was a little saw mill owned by a neighbor, and that produced the lumber needed for building purposes. Along the river grew many large trees, principally cottonwood and walnut, and the logs from these were worked up into the lumber which went into the early buildings in that section of Cowley County. In 1873 a larger mill was started and that mill sawed the timbers for the residence which Mr. Johnson still has on his farm. He also showed foresight and was not content merely with the crops raised from the virgin soil. He set out fifteen acres to fruit, and in a few years had an abundance of plums and apples not only for his own use and to supply his neighbors but also for the general market. He frequently sold as high as $180 worth of apples.
Besides general farming Mr. Johnson gave his attention to stock raising and by working on this diversified plan he got ahead rapidly and was able to buy other land when values were low. At the present time his ownership extends to 1,500 acres in that vicinity. Besides the old homestead he has 640 acres in a body five miles southeast of Winfield. He paid less than $8 an acre for that section of land and some of his land was bought at $13 an acre. He has also bought some valuable pieces of centrally located business property in Winfield, and that has proved a wise investment and insures a permanent income. Mr. Johnson is a director in the First National Bank of Winfield.
While he has always voted the republican ticket he has never been an office seeker. His public spirited efforts have been directed in a practical fashion to the improvement of his home locality. A number of years ago a bridge was badly needed over the Arkansas River. Appropriations for that purpose had twice been voted down, and he then personally assumed the risk and let the contract on his own responsibility for $2,800. The law then permitted commissioners to make appropriations in such cases if they saw fit, and in this instance he was reimbursed to the extent of $2,000. He also contracted for and built the first schoolhouse in District No. 61. This schoolhouse became the center of all neighborhood religious and social gatherings, a church and Sunday school having been started in a year or two after the house was put up. Mrs. Johnson was largely instrumental in these movements, and was one of the first Sunday school teachers in this neighborhood.
In November, 1910, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson removed to Winfield, the operation of the old homestead having been turned over to their son Robert C. The other children are: Minnie, wife of the Winfield hardware merchant, Thomas Backus; Eva, widow of Ed Sidel, living with her parents; and Rhoda, who has proven herself a very capable assistant to her father in general oversight of his extensive interests. Mr. Johnson is an active member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic.
This traditional clothing makes quite a splash in a Japanese 'Homemaker's' magazine from around 1950.
When I was growing up, I dreamed about becoming a rancher, a veterinarian, a famous dancer, or a radio announcer, but not a homemaker. So in retirement, here I am a happy homemaker.
Electri-Living House
Designed by R. Duane Conner
OKC
1956
From Living For Young Homemakers:
"Even with neighboring homes close by, the house protects and shields in a way normally attributed to land-abounding estates. Such seclusion and privacy are accomplished by plan, rather than by extending property lines (an important consideration with today's high land costs). Both natural and artificial lighting are similarly engineered in their direction of source for general illumination. Exterior lighitng is planned in advance of plant growth so that shrubs will conform to a pattern along masonry walls. Recessed fixtures in the overhang are placed over window or door exposures to provide night light from the outside, thus obliterating the black-hold-look windows have without drawn draperies. Roof is supported by masonry blocks at each end of the house (one forms a bedroom wall, the other a wall of the dining area) and by two bearing partitions on the interior which are the walls for the double fireplace and the two bathrooms."
1. Suzy Homemaker Oven, 2. School Day Peanut Butter Lid, 1960's, 3. number 4, 4. Buttons, 5. Vintage Tin Play Dishes, 6. Fabulous sheet from Value Village in Cambridge, 7. brass chain, 8. QS 13, 9. Monkeyin' Around, done, 10. my moomin shrine, 11. Christina, 12. #3406, 13. HAPPY BIRTHDAY (found at a thrift store), 14. Pink and Yellow, 15. Vintage Yellow Dishware Set, 16. Knitting Needle Collection, 17. one of my favorite projects of the past few months..., 18. Vintage Bakeware-Pyrex, 19. vintage floral, 20. 86 Vintage Summer Sorbet Lucite, Flower and Glass Bead Mix, 21. freeform: detail 1, 22. peonies on the kitchen table, 23. Agee Pyrex in flannel flowers, 24. Vintage Fabric, 25. Yellow Floral Vintage Cannisters
Created with fd's Flickr Toys.
Format: Still image
Abstract: A woman is preparing a meal as a young boy washes dishes.
Extent: 1 photoprint.
NLM Unique ID: 101448544
NLM Image ID: A029668
Permanent Link:
French postcard by Monachrome, Cap-d'Ail, no. 151. Caption: ZOO Jean Richard, Ermenonville (Oise), Monsieur Maouzi (Léopard).
Jean Richard (1921-2001) was a French actor, comedian, and circus entrepreneur. He appeared in more than 80 films, but he is best remembered for his role as Georges Simenon's pipe-smoking detective Maigret in the French television series. He played the role for more than twenty years.
Jean François Henri Richard was born in Bessines, Deux-Sèvres, in the southwest of France in 1921. He was born on a farm named La Ménagerie. His father was Pierre Richard, a horse dealer, and his mother a homemaker, née Suzanne Boinot. His early encounters with circus performers (particularly Martha-la-Corse, a cat trainer) triggered his enduring passion for animals, especially big cats. Richard, who had a gift for drawing, began his working life as a caricaturist for local newspapers. After World War II, Richard organised German tours for French theatrical companies. He began to make a name for himself performing in a famous postwar Parisian cabaret, L'Amiral. There, he developed a successful comic character, that of a jovial and naive peasant from the small imaginary village of Champignol. After attending the Conservatoire National Supérieur d'Art Dramatique in 1947, Jean Richard worked in the circus, cabaret, cinema and television. His first film was the drama Six heures à perdre / Six Hours to Lose (Alex Joffé, Jean Le Vitte, 1947), starring André Luguet. His first major cinema success was Belle Mentalité / Wonderful Mentality (André Berthomieu, 1953), in which he played a valet with an extremely logical mind, who is unable to tell a lie. Jean Renoir offered him one of his best roles in Elena et les Hommes / Elena and the Men (Jean Renoir, 1955), starring Ingrid Bergman. During his long career, he appeared in about eighty films. These included such hits as the comedies La guerre des boutons / War of the Buttons (Yves Robert, 1962), Bébert et l'omnibus / Bebert and the Train (Yves Robert, 1963) and Le viager / The Annuity (Pierre Tchernia, 1972), starring Michel Serrault and Michel Galabru. His ever-growing popularity allowed him to purchase a vast property in Ermenonville, north of Paris, where he began to gather all sorts of wild animals. His menagerie quickly reached impressive proportions. In order to continue maintaining it, he had to open it to the public in 1956. His private zoological collection, the Zoo d'Ermenonville, became the most important in the country. In 1957, he created the Jean Richard Circus and in 1963, the La Mer de Sable theme park, northeast of Paris. Both are still owned by his family.
Jean Richard continued to appear as a comic actor in films and on stage in successful musicals. Richard is remembered for his TV role as Commissaire Maigret, the famous detective created by Georges Simenon. Richard soon became synonymous with the grumbling but tender-hearted detective. With his trademarks, a pipe and a hat, he appeared on TV screens in 92 episodes of Les enquêtes du commissaire Maigret (1967-1990). In 1972, he bought the Cirque Pinder, the ultimate and largest French circus. The greatest artists of the time performed under his big tops, and Richard found himself at the helm of the most important circus enterprise in France. Richard shuttled continually from TV studio to theatre boards, from his corporate offices to his circuses on the road. To those who asked him how he could do so many things at the same time, he replied: "But I am on a vacation, since I do only things I love!" In May 1973, the machine jammed. A terrible car accident left Jean Richard on the brink of death for three weeks. After that, Richard was obliged to delegate. The company continued to expand, but became a giant with feet of clay. After a reorganisation in 1978, the company filed for bankruptcy in 1983. The circuses Pinder and Jean Richard were bought by a former associate, Gilbert Edelstein. Jean Richard retired as an actor in 1990. He died in 2001 in Senlis, at the age of 80, after a battle with cancer. He was married to Annick Tanguy and Anne-Marie Lejard, and had two children. Pierre Fenouillet at Circopedia: "Jean Richard died on December 12, 2001, orphaning an entire generation of circus enthusiasts to whom he soon became a cult figure. Some of these enthusiasts stand today at the helm of major French circuses. In 2021, they celebrated the hundredth anniversary of his birth with a series of manifestations and dedications in Bessines, Jean Richard's birthplace, and Ermenonville, where he lived."
Sources: Pierre Fenouillet (Circopedia), BBC, Wikipedia (English, Dutch and French) and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Title / Titre :
[Kahentinetha Horn] Kahn-Tineta Horn Homemakers .72 /
Portrait de Kahn-Tineta [Kahentinetha] Horn pris en 1972
Creator(s) / Créateur(s) : Arnaud Maggs
Date(s) : August 1972 / août 1972
Reference No. / Numéro de référence : ITEM 4716534, 4726999
central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=4716...
central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=4726...
Location / Lieu : Unknown / Inconnu
Credit / Mention de source :
Arnaud Maggs. Arnaud Maggs fonds. Library and Archives Canada, e011313906
© Estate of Arnaud Maggs / courtesy Stephen Bulger Gallery /
Arnaud Maggs. Fonds Arnaud Maggs. Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, e011313906
© Succession d'Arnaud Maggs / avec l'autorisation de la galerie Stephen Bulger
Photograph of members of the Salisbury High School New Homemakers of America sitting in the auditorium.
This photograph comes from the Linda Duyer African-American History Collection (2012.021). For more information, visit the finding aid at libapps.salisbury.edu/nabb-archives/local-history-archive...
"MORGANTOWN — Velma Elizabeth Givens, 80, of Morgantown died at 1:50 p.m. Feb. 29, 2008, at her daughter’s residence. The Butler County native was a homemaker and former owner of Givens Grocery and Antiques. She was the oldest active member of Sandy Creek Baptist Church. She was a daughter of the late Harvey B. Henderson and Mary Hampton Henderson, and wife of the late Grady Avis Givens. She was preceded in death by four brothers, Clifton Henderson, Talmage Henderson, Raymond Henderson and Guy Henderson; a sister, Ruble Carter; a son-in-law, Doug Smith; and a grandson, Craig Givens. Funeral is at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Sandy Creek Baptist Church, with burial in Sandy Creek Cemetery. Visitation will be from noon to 9 p.m. Monday and from 8 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. Tuesday at Jones Funeral Chapel. Online condolences may be made at www.jonesfuneralchapel.com. Survivors include a son, Roger Givens and his wife, Deborah, of Morgantown; two daughters, Faye Taylor and her husband, Leon, of Hendersonville, Tenn., and Diann Smith of Morgantown; a grandson, Chris Givens and his wife, Jobi, of White House, Tenn.; five granddaughters, Gina Kirkpatrick, and her husband, Gary, of Whitehouse, Lisa Desroches and her husband, Gary, of Westmoreland, Tenn., Cynthia McCoy and her husband, Tim, of Morgantown, Carla Turner and her husband, Paul, of Cartersville, Ga., and Beth Hathaway and her husband, Andy, of Richmond; three great-grandsons, Clint Desroches, Chase McCoy and Travis Mace; seven great-granddaughters, Sydney Desroches, Kathrine Givens, Sally Givens, Amy Mace, Elizabeth McCoy, Kara Turner and Kayla Turner; two sisters, Mabel West of Bowling Green and Ovie Beliles and her husband, Thel, of Smiths Grove; and a brother-in-law, Ralph Carter of Bowling Green."
Format: Still image
Abstract: Homemaker is standing with two children seated at a table set for dinner.
Extent: 1 photoprint.
NLM Unique ID: 101448548
NLM Image ID: A029672
Permanent Link: resource.nlm.nih.gov/101448548
We visited some friends on Friday, and amongst their collection of toys for visiting children, was this gem from 74. I believe this range was called the 'homemaker' collection.
Former homemakers and members of the Boston Women’s Council now earn a proper income as farm workers and entrepreneurs as hectares of idle land was turned into a chili production site. Besides chili, other vegetables, cassava, peanuts and corn were planted using the Sloping Agriculture Technology. After Typhoon Bopha (Pablo) The ILO and the Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) worked with affected communities, government agencies, local and international organizations to ensure decent work and sustainable livelihood at the forefront of recovery. © ILO/Marcel Crozet
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/deed.en_US.
Format: Still image
Abstract: Homemaker is sitting on a sofa with several children.
Extent: 1 photoprint.
NLM Unique ID: 101448558
NLM Image ID: A030384
Permanent Link: resource.nlm.nih.gov/101448558
French postcard by JPB. Photo: Disques Philips.
Jean Richard (1921-2001) was a French actor, comedian, and circus entrepreneur. He appeared in more than 80 films, but he is best remembered for his role as Georges Simenon's pipe-smoking detective Maigret in the French television series. He played the role for more than twenty years.
Jean François Henri Richard was born in Bessines, Deux-Sèvres, in the southwest of France in 1921. He was born on a farm named La Ménagerie. His father was Pierre Richard, a horse dealer, and his mother a homemaker, née Suzanne Boinot. His early encounters with circus performers (particularly Martha-la-Corse, a cat trainer) triggered his enduring passion for animals, especially big cats. Richard, who had a gift for drawing, began his working life as a caricaturist for local newspapers. After World War II, Richard organised German tours for French theatrical companies. He began to make a name for himself performing in a famous postwar Parisian cabaret, L'Amiral. There, he developed a successful comic character, that of a jovial and naive peasant from the small imaginary village of Champignol. After attending the Conservatoire National Supérieur d'Art Dramatique in 1947, Jean Richard worked in the circus, cabaret, cinema and television. His first film was the drama Six heures à perdre / Six Hours to Lose (Alex Joffé, Jean Le Vitte, 1947), starring André Luguet. His first major cinema success was Belle Mentalité / Wonderful Mentality (André Berthomieu, 1953), in which he played a valet with an extremely logical mind, who is unable to tell a lie. Jean Renoir offered him one of his best roles in Elena et les Hommes / Elena and the Men (Jean Renoir, 1955), starring Ingrid Bergman. During his long career, he appeared in about eighty films. These included such hits as the comedies La guerre des boutons / War of the Buttons (Yves Robert, 1962), Bébert et l'omnibus / Bebert and the Train (Yves Robert, 1963) and Le viager / The Annuity (Pierre Tchernia, 1972), starring Michel Serrault and Michel Galabru. His ever-growing popularity allowed him to purchase a vast property in Ermenonville, north of Paris, where he began to gather all sorts of wild animals. His menagerie quickly reached impressive proportions. In order to continue maintaining it, he had to open it to the public in 1956. His private zoological collection, the Zoo d'Ermenonville, became the most important in the country. In 1957, he created the Jean Richard Circus and in 1963, the La Mer de Sable theme park, northeast of Paris. Both are still owned by his family.
Jean Richard continued to appear as a comic actor in films and on stage in successful musicals. Richard is remembered for his TV role as Commissaire Maigret, the famous detective created by Georges Simenon. Richard soon became synonymous with the grumbling but tender-hearted detective. With his trademarks, a pipe and a hat, he appeared on TV screens in 92 episodes of Les enquêtes du commissaire Maigret (1967-1990). In 1972, he bought the Cirque Pinder, the ultimate and largest French circus. The greatest artists of the time performed under his big tops, and Richard found himself at the helm of the most important circus enterprise in France. Richard shuttled continually from TV studio to theatre boards, from his corporate offices to his circuses on the road. To those who asked him how he could do so many things at the same time, he replied: "But I am on a vacation, since I do only things I love!" In May 1973, the machine jammed. A terrible car accident left Jean Richard on the brink of death for three weeks. After that, Richard was obliged to delegate. The company continued to expand, but became a giant with feet of clay. After a reorganisation in 1978, the company filed for bankruptcy in 1983. The circuses Pinder and Jean Richard were bought by a former associate, Gilbert Edelstein. Jean Richard retired as an actor in 1990. He died in 2001 in Senlis, at the age of 80, after a battle with cancer. He was married to Annick Tanguy and Anne-Marie Lejard, and had two children. Pierre Fenouillet at Circopedia: "Jean Richard died on December 12, 2001, orphaning an entire generation of circus enthusiasts to whom he soon became a cult figure. Some of these enthusiasts stand today at the helm of major French circuses. In 2021, they celebrated the hundredth anniversary of his birth with a series of manifestations and dedications in Bessines, Jean Richard's birthplace, and Ermenonville, where he lived."
Sources: Pierre Fenouillet (Circopedia), BBC, Wikipedia (English, Dutch and French) and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Photograph of members of the Salisbury High School New Homemakers of America in the auditorium. Two women stand near a table in the front. This photograph comes from the Linda Duyer African-American History Collection (2012.021). For more information, visit the finding aid at libapps.salisbury.edu/nabb-archives/local-history-archive...
Mom went to Heaven in 2006, but, were she still living, this would be her 95th birthday. She was a loving and kind parent, a wonderful homemaker, an excellent seamstress and a talented musician. Her name was Lily Juanita. My brother and I still miss her...every day.
Collection Name: MS278 Urban League of Kansas City Collection
Photographer/Studio: Anderson (Kansas City)
Description: Two men and twelve women gather in a room with a piano. This is the West Side Homemakers Club #2 formed by the Urban League. -- This image is part of a collection that documents African American history in Kansas City.
Coverage: United States - Missouri - Jackson County - Kansas City
Date: 1930s-1940s [?]
Rights: permission granted
Credit: Courtesy of Missouri State Archives
Image Number: MS278_112_18_035.tif
Institution: Missouri State Archives
The stone for the project was shipped piece by piece from India, where craftsmen had sculptured it into more than 500 designs including rosettes, leaves, feathers and lacy geometric patterns. The thousands of sections, ranging from five ounces to five tons, each with its own bar code, have been assembled like a giant jigsaw puzzle based on instructions for religious buildings written into scripture thousands of years old.
Although the engineers said they had not counted the number of pieces they used, a mandir in London that served as a model for the Lilburn building required more than 26,000 individual parts.
The price tag for the project, $19 million, has been kept down by the thousands of hours of volunteer labor donated by congregants of the BAPS Swaminarayan temple in Clarkston, Ga., who will move from a converted skating rink when the temple is completed in August. For more than two years homemakers and retirees have been polishing the stonework by hand and cooking for the construction workers. Hundreds of volunteers installed more than 50,000 plants for the landscaping.
Little Muddy Homemaker club officers, left to right, are Mrs. Larry Taylor, secretary-treasurer; Mrs. Gregory Drake, vice president; Mrs. Donald Clark, president: Mrs. Allen Neighbors, reporter: Mrs. Terry Shain, recreation leader, Mrs. Gabe Keen, recreation leader and Miss Dorothy Nanney, county extension agent for home economics and 4-H.
The games we play as children are rehearsals for the roles we play in life. Traditional toys for girls nurture homemaker stereotypes, simulating traditional domestic roles through play. In these photographs, I am exploring the possibility of the same staging taking place with the prolific, but publicly hidden occupation of prostitution. By constructing these scenes in miniature, I project representations of the sex industry onto the medium of the conventional dollhouse. As polar opposites, the homemaker and the sex worker are highly constructed and restrictive roles, the most deeply-rooted myths of the feminine.
Pieced together from many sources of representation these constructed spaces can be peered-into and examined.
The Postcard
A carte postale published by Editions Chantal, 74, Rue des Archives, Paris.
The card was posted in Yerres on the 23rd. July 1966 to:
Mr. and Mrs. J. Tweedy,
2, Queen Street,
Alnwick,
Northumberland,
England.
The message on the back of the card was as follows:
"Having a marvellous time
and thriving on French
cooking and wine.
Visited Paris today - that
improved my French.
See you when I return!
Madeleine".
The Notre-Dame Fire
The photograph features the flèche of Notre-Dame that fell so spectacularly during the fire.
Fire broke out in the attic beneath the cathedral's roof at 18:18. At 18:20 the fire alarm sounded and guards evacuated the cathedral. A guard was sent to investigate, but to the wrong location – the attic of the adjoining sacristy – where he found no fire. About fifteen minutes later the error was discovered, but by the time guards had climbed the three hundred steps to the cathedral attic the fire was well advanced.
The alarm system was not designed to automatically notify the fire brigade, which was summoned at 18:51 after the guards had returned. Firefighters arrived within ten minutes.
Fighting the Notre-Dame Fire
More than 400 firefighters were engaged. A hundred government employees along with police and municipal workers moved precious artefacts to safety via a human chain.
The fire was primarily fought from inside the structure, which was more dangerous for personnel, but reduced potential damage to the cathedral - applying water from outside risked deflecting flames and hot gases (at temperatures up to 800 °C) inwards. Deluge guns were used at lower-than-usual pressures to minimise damage to the cathedral and its contents. Water was supplied by pump-boat from the Seine.
Aerial firefighting was not used because water dropped from heights could have caused structural damage, and heated stone can crack if suddenly cooled. Helicopters were also not used because of dangerous updrafts, but drones were used for visual and thermal imaging, and robots for visual imaging and directing water streams. Molten lead falling from the roof posed a special hazard for firefighters.
By 18:52, smoke was visible from the outside; flames appeared within the next ten minutes. The spire of the cathedral collapsed at 19:50, creating a draft that slammed all the doors and sent a fireball through the attic. Firefighters then retreated from within the attic.
Shortly before the spire fell, the fire had spread to the wooden framework inside the north tower, which supported eight very large bells. Had the bells fallen, it was thought that the damage done as they fell could have collapsed the towers, and with them the entire cathedral.
At 20:30, firefighters abandoned attempts to extinguish the roof and concentrated on saving the towers, fighting from within and between the towers. By 21:45 the fire was under control.
Adjacent apartment buildings were evacuated due to concern about possible collapse, but on the 19th. April the fire brigade ruled out that risk. One firefighter and two police officers were injured.
Damage to Notre-Dame
Most of the wood/metal roof and the spire of the cathedral was destroyed, with about one third of the roof remaining. The remnants of the roof and spire fell atop the stone vault underneath, which forms the ceiling of the cathedral's interior. Some sections of this vaulting collapsed in turn, allowing debris from the burning roof to fall to the marble floor below, but most sections remained intact due to the use of rib vaulting, greatly reducing damage to the cathedral's interior and objects within.
The cathedral contained a large number of artworks, religious relics, and other irreplaceable treasures, including a crown of thorns said to be the one Jesus wore at his crucifixion. Other items were a purported piece of the cross on which Jesus was crucified, the Tunic of St. Louis, a pipe organ by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, and the 14th.-century Virgin of Paris statue.
Some artwork had been removed in preparation for the renovations, and most of the cathedral's sacred relics were held in the adjoining sacristy, which the fire did not reach; all the cathedral's relics survived. Many valuables that were not removed also survived.
Lead joints in some of the 19th.-century stained-glass windows melted, but the three major rose windows, dating back to the 13th. century, were undamaged. Several pews were destroyed, and the vaulted arches were blackened by smoke, though the cathedral's main cross and altar survived, along with the statues surrounding it.
Some paintings, apparently only smoke-damaged, are expected to be transported to the Louvre for restoration. The rooster-shaped reliquary atop the spire was found damaged but intact among the debris. The three pipe organs were not significantly damaged. The largest of the cathedral's bells, the bourdon, was also not damaged. The liturgical treasury of the cathedral and the "Grands Mays" paintings were moved to safety.
Environmental Damage
Airparif said that winds rapidly dispersed the smoke, carrying it away aloft along the Seine corridor. It did not find elevated levels of particulate air pollution at monitoring stations nearby. The Paris police stated that there was no danger from breathing the air around the fire.
The burned-down roof had been covered with over 400 metric tons of lead. Settling dust substantially raised surface lead levels in some places nearby, notably the cordoned-off area and places left open during the fire. Wet cleaning for surfaces and blood tests for children and pregnant women were recommended in the immediate area.
People working on the cathedral after the fire did not initially take the lead precautions required for their own protection; materials leaving the site were decontaminated, but some clothing was not, and some precautions were not correctly followed; as a result, the worksite failed some inspections and was temporarily shut down.
There was also more widespread contamination; testing, clean-up, and public health advisories were delayed for months, and the neighbourhood was not decontaminated for four months, prompting widespread criticism.
Reactions to the Notre-Dame Fire
President of France Emmanuel Macron, postponing a speech to address the Yellow Vests Movement planned for that evening, went to Notre-Dame and gave a brief address there. Numerous world religious and government leaders extended condolences.
Through the night of the fire and into the next day, people gathered along the Seine to hold vigils, sing and pray.
White tarpaulins over metal beams were quickly rigged to protect the interior from the elements. Nettings protect the de-stabilised exterior.
The following Sunday at Saint-Eustache Church, the Archbishop of Paris, Michel Aupetit, honoured the firefighters with the presentation of a book of scriptures saved from the fire.
Investigation Into The Notre-Dame Fire
On the 16th. April, the Paris prosecutor said that there was no evidence of a deliberate act.
The fire has been compared to the similar 1992 Windsor Castle fire and the Uppark fire, among others, and has raised old questions about the safety of similar structures and the techniques used to restore them. Renovation works increase the risk of fire, and a police source reported that they are looking into whether such work had caused this incident.
The renovations presented a fire risk from sparks, short-circuits, and heat from welding (roof repairs involved cutting, and welding lead sheets resting on timber). Normally, no electrical installations were allowed in the roof space due to the extreme fire risk.
The roof framing was of very dry timber, often powdery with age. After the fire, the architect responsible for fire safety at the cathedral acknowledged that the rate at which fire might spread had been underestimated, and experts said it was well known that a fire in the roof would be almost impossible to control.
Of the firms working on the restoration, a Europe Echafaudage team was the only one working there on the day of the fire; the company said no soldering or welding was underway before the fire. The scaffolding was receiving electrical supply for temporary elevators and lighting.
The roofers, Le Bras Frères, said it had followed procedure, and that none of its personnel were on site when the fire broke out. Time-lapse images taken by a camera installed by them showed smoke first rising from the base of the spire.
On the 25th. April, the structure was considered safe enough for investigators to enter. They unofficially stated that they were considering theories involving malfunction of electric bell-ringing apparatus, and cigarette ends discovered on the renovation scaffolding.
Le Bras Frères confirmed its workers had smoked cigarettes, contrary to regulations, but denied that a cigarette butt could have started the fire. The Paris prosecutor's office announced on the 26th. June that no evidence had been found to suggest a criminal motive.
The security employee monitoring the alarm system was new on the job, and was on a second eight-hour shift that day because his relief had not arrived. Additionally, the fire security system used confusing terminology in its referencing parts of the cathedral, which contributed to the initial confusion as to the location of the fire.
As of September, five months after the fire, investigators thought the cause of the fire was more likely an electrical fault than a cigarette. Determining the exact place in which the fire started was expected to take a great deal more time and work. By the 15th. April 2020, investigators stated:
"We believe the fire to have been
started by either a cigarette or a
short circuit in the electrical system".
Reconstruction of Notre-Dame Cathedral
On the night of the fire Macron said that the cathedral, which is owned by the state, would be rebuilt, and launched an international fundraising campaign. France's cathedrals have been owned by the state since 1905, and are not privately insured.
The heritage conservation organisation Fondation du Patrimoine estimated the damage in the hundreds of millions of euros, but losses from the fire are not expected to substantially impact the private insurance industry.
European art insurers stated that the cost would be similar to ongoing renovations at the Palace of Westminster in London, which currently is estimated to be around €7 billion.
This cost does not include damage to any of the artwork or artefacts within the cathedral. Any pieces on loan from other museums would have been insured, but the works owned by the cathedral would not have been insurable.
While Macron hoped the cathedral could be restored in time for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, architects expect the work could take from twenty to forty years, as any new structure would need to balance restoring the look of the original building, using wood and stone sourced from the same regions used in the original construction, with the structural reinforcement required for preventing a similar disaster in the future.
There is discussion of whether to reconstruct the cathedral in modified form. Rebuilding the roof with titanium sheets and steel trusses has been suggested; other options include rebuilding in the original lead and wood, or rebuilding with modern materials not visible from the outside (like the reinforced concrete trusses at Reims Cathedral).
Another option would be to use a combination of restored old elements and newly designed ones. Chartres Cathedral was rebuilt with wrought iron trusses and copper sheeting after an 1836 fire.
French prime minister Édouard Philippe announced an architectural design competition for a new spire that would be:
"Adapted to the techniques
and the challenges of our era."
The spire replacement project has gathered a variety of designs and some controversy, particularly its legal exemption from environmental and heritage rules. After the design competition was announced, the French senate amended the government's restoration bill to require the roof to be restored to how it was before the fire.
On the 16th. July, 95 days after the fire, the law that will govern the restoration of the cathedral was finally approved by the French parliament. It recognises its UNESCO World Heritage Site status and the need to respect existing international charters and practices, to:
"Preserve the historic, artistic and architectural
history of the monument, and to limit any
derogations to the existing heritage, planning,
environmental and construction codes to a
minimum".
On the 15th. April 2020, Germany offered to restore some of the large clerestory windows located far above eye level with three expert tradesmen who specialize in rebuilding cathedrals. Monika Grütters, Germany's Commissioner for Culture was quoted as saying that her country would shoulder the costs.
As of the 30th. November all of the tangled scaffolding was removed from the spire area, and was therefore no longer a threat to the building.
The world will now have to wait for Notre-Dame de Paris to be restored to its former magnificence.
Enola Gay Tibbetts
So what else happened on the day that the card was posted? Well, Saturday the 23rd. July 1966 was not a good day for Enola Gay Tibbetts, 73, American homemaker, because she died on that day.
Mrs. Tibbetts' name became irrevocably associated with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. Her son, Colonel Paul W. Tibbetts, named his B-29 bomber in his mother's honour, and was assigned to drop the first atomic weapon to be used in war.