Church sale find connects two families with a wartime past

It’s the kind of discovery you’d never expect from a used book, a piece of the past now connecting two families, two provinces, and one remarkable chapter of Canadian history.

More than 30 years ago, Sherry Laurent picked up a couple of old books at a church sale in Saint-Lambert, Que. Inside, she noticed something unusual, ration books from 1945 and 1946 saved between the pages.

“I loved them because they were small. They were little tiny books, and you could just read them on the bus or on the metro, and I would collect those,” Laurent said.

“I can’t remember if they were all in one book or maybe two or three. I just noticed them and thought, oh, I’ll take these books.”

For years, the cards sat quietly, first on a shelf in Quebec, then packed in a box after Laurent moved to Ottawa. A recent sort-through of old belongings brought them back to light, along with a new question: who did they belong to?

Laurent turned to Facebook, posting photos of the ration books along with the names of their owners. Within minutes, the messages started coming in.

“People were saying, ‘I know that family, I can put you in touch,’” she said. “It took less than an hour.”

Her search led to Ian Keiller in Brossard, Que. The names Don and Agnes (Nessie) Keiller were handwritten on the outside of the books, alongside Ian’s father’s and uncle’s names.

“I’m very interested in genealogy, so I was thrilled,” Keiller said over Zoom. “It added another piece to my family’s history.”

“It’s a lot harder to find stories that link to the past when the people are no longer with us. You’ve got to go with little bits and pieces of paper you find in books.”

Keiller says his grandfather immigrated from Trinidad, served in the First World War, met his grandmother in Scotland, and later settled near what is now called Saint-Hubert, Que.

“I believe he sold insurance, but he was a Saxophone player and played a lot in Montreal back in the day in joints, or ‘easy speaks’ they would call them during prohibition,” Keiller said.

The Ration Book 5 and 6 were issued during the Second World War when items like sugar, meat and butter were strictly limited to help stretch supplies and support the war effort.

“My grandmother was the matriarch of the family, and she controlled all the cards, she had the card of my grandfather, card of my uncle. But I guess she just put it in his book as a book marker and they ended up at some church,” said Keiller.

Now Keiller’s sister plans to meet Laurent in person to collect the ration cards, a small act of kindness closing a chapter roughly eighty years in the making.

“That book has two stories, the real story of the book and also the story of the World War Two ration cards and I think that’s just very interesting,” said Keiller.

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