Mary Fitzpatrick and Deirdre Anne

My mother and I left Ireland to join my father who had worked on the Great Lakes for a year and was living in a rooming house in Toronto. I was 18 months old and my mother was ill for the entire crossing. She relied on kind passengers and crew to care for me. When we arrived at Pier 21, my mother was weak and had lost a lot of weight. She had no idea how long the train trip to Toronto would be. She had only $10 and was asked to pay a disembarkation fee. When the official realized that was all the money she had, he waived the fee. We returned to Pier 21 for my mother's 80th birthday. We were both very emotional. My parents went on to raise 7 children, all proud Canadians, and to settle in Pickering.

Deirdre Fitzpatrick