by CONNIE TABBERT
Editor
BEACHBURG—Bonnie Buchanan and her father travelled along Main Street in Beachburg on Sunday, May 22 the way she told him he would one more time—in in his 1929 Graham Paige vehicle.
But, it wasn’t the way the two wanted the ride to be.
Mr. Buchanan died on April 22, 2014 in Groves Park Lodge in Renfrew. However, before he died, and after he suffered a stroke, his daughter had told him that one day she would take him for a final ride.
Bonnie never expected to be carrying his ashes in a box on her lap for his final ride,but it was.
The 1929 Graham Paige ran like a charm, but only after brothers Shane and Doug Severin worked for about 80 hours to get it running.
Recalling the car’s history, Bonnie said Pembroke car salesman Billy Buchanan sold a 1929 Graham Paige to her Great-Uncle Baden and another to her cousin Johnny, who was never married. As a matter of fact, before Johnny’s car arrived, he built a garage for it, because it was considered a soft-top, so couldn’t sit outside. The car was used once a year, she said.
“It was washed and cleaned and that was it,” Bonnie recalled. “It went to the fair once a year. And the fairs were in the fall, after all the farming was done.”
When Johnny died in the mid-50s, Bryson inherited the farm and the car, Bonnie said.
Bryson used it a bit more, driving it in parades, since it was now considered an antique, she said. Bonnie recalled one time when her father drove it to a parade in Arnprior.
“I was in majorettes, which was a big thing in Beachburg back then,” she said. “He took a bunch of girls. We had fun in the back seat. We had no seat belts.”
When Art Jamieson was mayor of the village, he would call Bryson and tell him to fire up the Graham whenever there was a parade, Bonnie said.
This car was also used in many weddings. She recalled when she was a bridesmaid for her cousin Heather’s wedding. The couple had hidden their car on their wedding day and borrowed a friend’s car for the ride from the church. When they came out of the church, they were surprised to see the Paige and not their friend’s car.
She recalled her father driving the couple throughout Beachburg after the wedding. Laughing, she said she had put dolls in the back seat of the Paige and on the outside a sign that said, ‘Watch Petawawa Grow.’
It was a sad day when Bonnie went to her father’s home, which is now the family cottage on Grants Settlement Road, and found her father suffering a stroke.
After he was put in Groves Park Lodge, Bonnie told her dad she would get the Paige fixed up and take him for one last ride. She joined an antique car club and was hopeful someone would tell her how to get it fixed up.
Her father told her it would be too costly, because it had been sitting for about 10 years.
She recalled saying to him, ‘Dad, I really want to take you for another drive in it.’ He replied, “That’s a really nice thought.”
And while she did ask numerous people how to fix up the car, it didn’t happen, and so it sat.
After her father died in April 2014, Bonnie was cleaning the cottage and came across a box filled with one and two dollar bills. On the back of a one dollar bill was written in black marker, ‘Received from Ronald Severin, April 20/69. Montreal 2 Boston 3. B.T. Buchanan.’
She never thought about the bill again, until she met up with Shane Severin in Pembroke one day. She told him about the keepsake and said she would drop it off when she was at the cottage again.
Shane and his brother Doug spent many hours working on the Graham Paige as youngsters, Bonnie said.
When she went to drop off the bill at Shane’s home in Beachburg, she saw he had some older vehicles in the back yard. Since he wasn’t home, she returned to the cottage and left him a phone message, asking if he’d be interested in getting the Paige in running condition, because she wanted to auction it off.
Shortly after she hung up, Bonnie recalled, “I look out the window and in drives Shane. He said, ‘You still have that car?’”
The two know the dollar was a bet in a hockey game, and that Ronald had lost it. Shane said they were big hockey fans.
Cousin Danny Buchanan dragged the Paige out of the garage it was stored in, and she means that literally, because the tires and brakes were seized. It was loaded onto a trailer and taken to Shane’s home. Over the next few months, Severin brothers Shane, Doug, and Phillip, as well as George Consella of Cobden, worked on the vehicle.
“They have given it tender loving care,” Bonnie said, adding, “It’s brought back a lot of memories of when they lived beside us.”
Sitting at the cottage’s kitchen table, Bonnie recalled a story or two she’d heard about the Graham Paige while growing up. While she’s not familiar with the whole story, she recalled her father saying the Governor General of Canada rode in the car. She believes it happened in 1935 when the main street in Beachburg was first paved, which was with cement. Looking up Canada’s history, the Government General then was Earl of Bessborough.
“Dad would stick his chest out and say I drove the Governor General of Canada around,” she recalled, adding, “He was pretty proud of that.”
The 1929 Graham Paige was also used to transport the serum for the polio vaccine from Ottawa to Beachburg. Bonnie recalled the story about Yvonne, her father’s sister, and another young girl in the village, who had polio. Her great-uncle Baden was going to drive his car, but it was broken, so he used her father’s car, which could only reach a maximum speed of 35 miles per hour
“In later years, she could run like a deer,” Bonnie said. “She loved to play soft ball in Beachburg. Her legs were just like a blur.
“Dad would say it was something in that serum that made her go,” she said.
Bonnie recalls the final time the car was driven, which was about 15 years ago. Her oldest daughter was home and the family decided it would be fun to do a Bonnie and Clyde photo shoot, since it was the same kind of car used in the famous movie.
But, Bonnie has decided to sell the car for two reasons. The first is she can’t afford to keep it, and the second reason is more important.
“It’s only going to sit and rot in the ground,” she said. “Somebody else might as well enjoy it.”
Once the vehicle was fixed up and the date for the auction was set, Bonnie decided it was time to keep a promise.
“I promised him that I would take him for one last ride, and he got all weepy-eyed the day I promised,” Bonnie said, adding, “I’m just trying to fulfill my promise.
Sunday afternoon, the sun was shining as Art Jamieson arrived at Shane’s home wearing the Buchanan plaid tie and carrying a Buchanan plaid kilt. The kilt was tied onto the hood of the Paige and a few stories were told, as much laughter was shared.
While Art is also not familiar with the Governor General story, he said, “I do not doubt that in 1935 the main street of Beachburg was paved, and it was cement back then. I believe Buster (Bryson’s nickname) was the first to drive on the new pavement in this Graham Paige. And it wouldn’t surprise me if the Governor General was here, because back then, he went to everything, even if a cat was having kittens.
“But, I do know 50 years later, because I was on council in 1985, and we paved the new main street of Beachburg, Buster and a gang of us were the first to drive on the new pavement.”
Other stories included putting Christmas lights on the backhoe, rigging up a harness for a turkey with a cart behind it, and a rat trap in the bottom of a dirty sink.
Bonnie shared one final story, laughing so hard she had a hard time retelling it.
“Did Dad ever tell you about the time he painted Grandma’s turkeys green?” she said. “He had to paint the fence and didn’t want to, so he painted the turkeys too. And Grandma was going to show them at the fair. They looked so funny as their feathers grew out.”
But, knowing there was still work to do before the sale on Monday, Shane and Bonnie, and Art and Stacey Fynn, Bonnie’s daughter, got into the car and travelled down the back streets of Beachburg until they reached Main Street, when they turned right and went as far as Buchanan Sand and Gravel. They turned around, travelled up the Main Street, through downtown Beachburg, once in a while Shane honking the horn, went over the bridge and turned into the Jamieson farm.
After more photos were taken and stories were shared, the 1929 Graham Paige was loaded onto a trailer and taken to the cottage for one final time.
Near the end of the auction on Monday afternoon, Walter Hill of Calabogie became the third owner of the 1929 Graham Paige. Third owner, because Bonnie never had the ownership changed into her name.
“It’s time that somebody else enjoys that car,” Bonnie said.
