Elaine Rea (nee Howchin) (1928 — Nov 15, 2009)

Elaine Rea spent 80 years at Kahshe Lake.  Her father, Edward Evander Howchin (Van) built two cottages in the late 1920s. These cottages are now #1213 and #1215 N. Kahshe Lake Road. Pop (Van) would bring his wife Betty (Nan) and the kids Ted, Ron, and Elaine to the cottage to stay for the summer. Pop worked five and a half days a week and on Saturday afternoon he would pick up the groceries in Scarborough and drive north and return to the city on Sunday evening.  

Elaine had fond memories of swimming at the beach, jumping off the high diving tower, and swimming with a nickel in her bathing suit from Nagaya beach around to Rockhaven to get an ice cream and pick up the mail. Elaine would go to the Saturday night dances at Sophers at South Kahshe with her friends, the Kehls, Heaps, Colemans, Tilleys, etc., and dance the night away.  And this is where she met Norm Rea. They were married in 1949 and spent the summers at Nan and Pop’s cottage until Pop sold it in the early 1960s. 

Elaine and Norm then rented for a couple of years, until they bought the Walton property (adjacent to the Rockhaven Government Dock) on Labour Day weekend of 1964. The day after school ended, Elaine and the kids (Marilyn, Joanne, and Michelle) drove to the lake and did not return home until Labour Day Monday. Norm would come up every Friday afternoon for the weekend and also for his 2-week vacation. Norm passed away in October of 1995 and Elaine continued to Elaine and Norm 1948 enjoy the cottage up until last summer. Her children and grandchildren are now enjoying the cottage and Kahshe Lake as much as Elaine ever did.