Jesus Among the Teachers in the Temple

The image of Christ as a child among the teachers and elders of the church is such a fitting memorial to a young boy and his grandparents. 

Marshall Cathcart was born on May 14th, 1950 – the first child of Margaret and Lyle Cathcart. He was baptized at Bracebridge United Church and attended Sunday School here as a small child. His short life ended tragically; Marshall drowned in the Muskoka River on April 13, 1953, leaving his beloved parents and grandparents to mourn. 

Elmer Winfield Cathcart was born in 1897, in Glen Alda, Haliburton County, Ontario. He moved with his family to Emo in Northern Ontario where his father had accepted a teaching position. Elmer served overseas during WWI where he was gassed at the Battle of Rheims. He recuperated in hospital in France before being sent back to Canada. After the war, Elmer followed in his father’s profession, entering Normal School at North Bay about 1923. (He was enrolled in the same class as Helen Smith and Margaret Bailey from Bracebridge.) During his teaching career, Elmer and his family lived in western Canada; Weston, Ontario; and Muskoka. While in Muskoka, he taught at Southwood, near Torrance. 

In 1940, his wife, Mary Francis Colvin, died. There were four children in their family. At this time, Elmer was serving in the army as an auditor in Hamilton, Ontario. In 1942, Elmer Cathcart married Annie Marshall Solesky. About eight years later, the Cathcarts moved to Bracebridge where they remained for the rest of their lives. Elmer Cathcart died in 1979.

Annie Marshall was born in 1896, in Rochdale, Lancashire, England. Rochdale was an industrial town and Annie worked in the cotton mills starting at the very young age of twelve. (During this time she became friends with a local girl by the name of Gracie Fields who became one of Britain’s most popular entertainers of the 20th century.) At the age of 28, Annie moved with her family to Canada, first settling in Kingston, Ontario. Here, the family established a wood and coal yard which serviced the surrounding area. 

In 1925, Annie Marshall married Anthony (Charlie) Solesky. In 1940, her husband succumbed to tuberculosis, leaving behind his wife and two children. 

Annie Marshall married Elmer Cathcart in 1942 and moved to Bracebridge in 1950, living beside Lyle and Marg Cathcart on Dawson Wood Drive. In her last two years, Annie Cathcart was a resident of The Pines. She died in 1998 at the age of 102.