Beth Cudmore

Our friend Beth Cudmore died last week.

Our lives overlapped with Beth’s in innumerable ways over the last 20 years: I used to shop at Henderson & Cudmore, the Charlottetown haberdasher run by the family; I worked with Beth’s son Chris at the Anne of Green Gables Store; I counted Beth’s late husband Brian as a good friend; I came to know Beth’s daughter Cynthia, first here on PEI and later through her Panamanian operation and her daughter Carolyn, with whom I shared an excellent travel agent; I helped Beth get her computer working when it had problems; and, by coincidence, I am friends with many of the people who called Beth a landlord over the years.

Perhaps more than anything, however, I got to know Beth around the dinner table at our mutual friend Catherine Hennessey’s house, and through the dinners and Christmas and birthday parties we shared there I came to know her as an independent, funny, caring, curious person.

The last time I saw Beth was earlier this fall — it seems like only yesterday — around that same dinner table. We talked about our Volkswagens, about her kids and grandkids and about Oliver and shared a meal with friends and family.

During Oliver’s first summer back a decade ago in the summer of 2001 my friends Sophie and Oliver (Oliver’s namesake) visited from the USA and we used the occasion to hold an “Oliver Oliver” party at 100 Prince Street. Beth and Brian both came, and I snapped this photo of the two of them:

Brian and Beth Cudmore

We’ll miss Beth around that supper table; our condolences go out to her family.

Comments

Carolyn Cudmore's picture
Carolyn Cudmore on December 16, 2011 - 05:18 Permalink

Peter,


 


This is lovely. Thank you for joining in our celebration of Beth&#39s very full life on the weekend. This is the first chance I have had to take a look at email or online condolences.


 


Best regards,


Carolyn


ps…which travel agent??

Cynthia Cudmore Mulder's picture
Cynthia Cudmore... on December 16, 2011 - 05:46 Permalink

Thanks so much Peter. She taught us many positive, rich lessons and shared those with a world of friends and extended family. Through her attitude toward living and humanity we (her children) are inquisitive travellers, flexible, tolerant, and understanding. We have as both children and adults enjoyed a very culturally diverse household — people from across the globe travelled through Mom´s kitchen, sometimes staying and other times just for a cup of tea.


One of the things I will miss the most is the time with Mom at the kitchen table sipping a cup of tea, because it was always just the perfect thing ….

Chris Cudmore's picture
Chris Cudmore on December 16, 2011 - 12:04 Permalink

Peter


Thanks for recalling those memories. We will miss her! 


Nice photo of my parents. 


Chris

Peter Rukavina's picture
Peter Rukavina on December 16, 2011 - 14:36 Permalink

You would use then-Charlottetown travel agent George Stewart (now independent and working from Hunter River, it seems) even when overseas, Beth once told me. We used George’s services several times to book complicated trips.