When I first started to write about local history in the 1980s, I was fortunate in that there were still people alive with vivid memories pre-dating the Second World War and the Great Depression, and such alumni included William McKenzie Ross III, Jane Austin Wright and William Gray Glassco. I was fortunate to do interviews with these people.

One of the best interviews I can recall was with Jane E. (Gray) Smith.

Jane’s father was James Edgar Gray, who purchased a kitchen wares and crockery store known as The Ark in 1902 and later changed its name to Gray’s China Hall. This business was to prosper for three generations and only closed when there was no longer a family connection.

I am glad to know that its location, the Northwood Block, will undergo restoration.

I was working on my first book which was titled A Community on rhe Thames and I wanted to include the history of Gray’s China Hall, so I took a chance and rang her doorbell at 313 Wellington St. W.

I was unannounced but she was more than happy to talk to me.

At the conclusion of the interview I expressed an admiration for her home and asked if she and her husband (E. Russell “Rusty” Smith) had constructed it. She said no, and that is had been the home of Noble Duff, “who was the best car salesman that Chatham ever had.”

I never forgot what she said and recently I came across........

© Sarnia Observer