In January 1931, Anne was living with Claire, who had some limited correspondence with Florence, Anne’s mother.

The period from 1923 to about 1930 was quite difficult for Florence, but the detailed information is a little scant. The details are probably available in her voluminous correspondence and notes (much of which my mother still has), if I wanted to make it my life’s project to sort it all.

Apparently the cataracts were developing not too long after Anne’s birth. She was completely blind by about 1926. Having recovered from her mental breakdown, she then had to learn how to function without sight, including learning to use a white cane and learning braille. She was a staunch Christian Scientist; the church was a good support and for some time she was a Christian Science “practitioner.” She was also active and employed doing fundraising for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (or its predecessor)

Throughout the early 1930s, when even able-bodied people were struggling to make ends meet, Florence had to move around from rented room to rented room.  In later years, she happily recounted most of her life with a crystal clear memory but those years, before Anne joined her, remained somewhat confusing to me.

Here is an envelope that was returned to Claire, Anne’s guardian. In the envelope was a note thanking Florence for a and a bookmark that she had sent, possibly for Christmas. It seems that the letter eventually reached Florence, since it was found in her possessions.

It is almost as quaint now to listen to and watch Elvis singing Return to Sender in 1962.