Mina Pearl Charman: Aunt. Quilter. Golfer. Traveller. Born Sept. 20, 1922, in Tatamagouche Mountain, N.S.; died Jan. 6, 2024, in Pugwash, N.S., of natural causes; aged 101.
Mina Pearl CharmanCourtesy of family
Anyone who accompanied Pearl on one of her beloved mountain drives returned with a story to tell. So, Pearl’s nieces were skeptical that day in late February when their 95-year-old aunt suggested taking the Old Mountain Road from Truro to Tatamagouche, N.S., a gravel road she’d often travelled while growing up on Tatamagouche Mountain. A couple of kilometres in, the narrow track glistened with ice, a steep drop on one side and no place to turn around.
“It’ll be fine,” Pearl smiled. “Just go slow.” Inching along at 30 kilometres an hour, Marion white-knuckled the steering wheel as Pearl gazed into the woods exclaiming about the beauty of the snow-laden firs. Only 20 kilometres to go!
The drive revived Pearl’s childhood memory of gliding in a horse-pulled sleigh on clear, moonlit winter evenings. Her father would say, “A good night to visit Aunt Mable.” Pearl and her seven siblings piled into the sleigh, snuggled under woolen blankets as the horse pulled them over the snow-packed roads.
Pearl Murray was born in a farmhouse built by her father and grandfather. She ran barefoot across the hayfields to a one-room schoolhouse where she excelled in her lessons. The only student in Grade 11, Pearl pretty much taught herself. When she finished school in 1939, Nova Scotia had a teacher shortage, so Pearl obtained “a letter of permission” to teach. Over a seven-year period, she taught Grades 1 to 11 in four different one-room schools.
A $700 annual salary was hardly sufficient to live on, however, so Pearl found a job as an office clerk at Stanfield’s in Truro. In the early 1950s, she moved to Wallace, N.S. to work at the general store. The owner, Millard Charman, was smitten with Pearl’s beauty and graciousness, but Pearl was in love another man. When that relationship failed, Millard launched a long campaign for Pearl to marry him. In 1962, they wed in Delray Beach, Fla., where they bought a condo and spent every winter thereafter. Pearl loved returning every spring to their beautiful home in Wallace on the Northumberland Strait.
In their 40s when they married, Pearl and Millard decided not to have children, one of Pearl’s regrets. In 50 years of marriage, they shared their love of golfing and travelling. They visited almost every continent and crossed Canada several times by train and plane. After Millard died in 2012 at age 97, Pearl combatted her loneliness by “keeping busy,” her motto for coping with her many losses. She continued to golf, garden, preserve pickles and jams and host lobster dinners for a dozen guests.
Pearl was a competitive player of cards and Scrabble. She was always serious, impatient and out to win, all the while maintaining it was just for fun. Her fierce independence and Scottish stubbornness were often the bane of those closest to her. In her 90s, she was dismantling, moving and setting up beds. She’d climb the steep attic ladder and haul down her quilt rack.
Pearl always had a quilt on the go and gifted her colourful creations to her many friends, nieces and nephews. The hub of the Murray clan, Pearl was never happier than at annual family reunions held in the farmhouse where she was born, surrounded by four generations of her family.
Pearl’s life revolved around supporting her church and community. She worked tirelessly to help with fundraising events. She gave so much for the betterment of her community that on Pearl’s birthday in 2022, the bells of St. John’s United Church in Wallace tolled 100 times to commemorate her centenary.
Pearl lived in her own home until a few days after her 100th birthday when Hurricane Fiona rendered her seaside house uninhabitable. She was devastated to lose her home of 60 years but gradually adapted to living in a care facility. Though barely able to see her needle and thread in her 102nd year, Pearl “kept busy,” stitching squares for her final quilt.
Melanie Murray is Pearl’s niece.
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