Price, H. Edward (Teddy) C. & Mary Winifred (Hampson)

H. Edward C. Price 1916 - 1995 & Mary Winifred (Hampson) 1917 - 1977

Henry Edward Clifford (Teddy) Price was born in Quebec City in 1916, the eighth child and third son of Harry Price and Muriel Gilmour. He grew up in Quebec among his family at 2 and 18 rue Saint-Denis in old Quebec near the Citadel. He spent his summers in Tadoussac where he had many friends including Jim and Jean Alexander and met his wife Mary Hampson in the mid-1930s. From 1929 to 1931 he attended Trinity College School in Port Hope but was withdrawn when he became homesick. When he wanted to go back later, the family could no longer afford it having lost money in the depression. He graduated in 1935 from the High School of Quebec, and attended the Royal Military College in Kingston, just as many of his relatives did before him.
Mary Winifred Hampson was born in Montreal in 1917, to Edward Greville Hampson and Helen Winifred Stanway. She grew up in Montreal with her younger sister Barbara Isabel and brother John Greville. They lived initially on Bishop Street and later moved to 1501 MacGregor Street at the corner of Simpson. (MacGregor Street had its name changed to Avenue Docteur Penfield long after the Hampsons sold their house.) As well as their house in Montreal, the Hampsons acquired a farm near Ste. Therese where they spent their weekends.
Mary attended the Study School in Montreal and was a boarder at Elmwood School in Ottawa from which she graduated in 1935. She later attended finishing schools in Germany and England. She was not allowed to attend university by her father who did not believe girls should attend university. Instead, she used to audit the courses for her friends at McGill so they would be marked as present at their lectures when they were absent. For the rest of her life, she always enjoyed reading books to make up for her lack of a university career but made sure her daughters were properly educated.
The Hampsons spent many summers in Murray Bay and Cap a l’Aigle. Sometime in the mid-1930s the Hampsons came to Tadoussac by boat and stayed at the Hotel Tadoussac. There Mary encountered many friends, including her future husband Ted Price, as well as Jim Alexander who would marry her sister Barbara.
At the start of World War II in 1939, Ted joined the Canadian Army and was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Permanent Force and went overseas with the Royal Canadian Regiment. Prior to his departure he and Mary were married on a week’s notice on November 18, 1939, at St. George’s Church in Montreal.
Mary followed Ted overseas to Surrey, England where they set up house in Yew Tree Cottage in Lower Kingswood near Reigate, Surrey and their four children were born: Greville in February 1941, twins Tim and Ginny in January 1943, and Sally in September 1944
In 1942 Ted was transferred to the headquarters of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division in England and served in the Allied invasion of Sicily and Italy. After attending the British Army Staff College in 1944 he was posted to the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division in the United Kingdom and North-West Europe until the end of the war.
In August 1945, the family returned to Canada where they received a tremendous welcome coming off the boat in Tadoussac meeting parents, siblings, cousins, and friends they had not seen in many years. Ted remained in the Army after the war serving in a variety of military positions. His many postings included Kingston, Ottawa, Vancouver, and England. Then he was back to Canada in Petawawa before going to Germany, then Victoria, Newfoundland, and even Tanzania before his final posting in Washington. He retired from the Canadian army in 1970 with the rank of Colonel.
The family went with Ted on all these moves, which came regularly every two to three years. It was up to Mary to find a home (if a PMQ was not allotted by the army), find schools for the children, make new friends or find out if they knew some of the military families from previous postings, and get to know some friends in the new location. In 1946 they purchased a house at 118 Lisgar Road, Rockcliffe as a pied de terre, whenever they were in Ottawa, and as a place to retire, which they did in 1970.
Mary took advantage of the frequent moves to take the family with or without Ted on trips around British Columbia, England or Europe. When the family were older, they would bring their spouses and later grandchildren to the postings in Tanzania for the game parks, and Washington. The trips were always well-planned.
He remained active in many charitable activities, particularly the Order of St. Lazarus as its Secretary General for several years. He was active as a golfer at the Royal Ottawa Golf Club and was a member of the Rideau Club where he served a term as Secretary. He also enjoyed tennis, squash and skiing. He was a keen fisherman belonging to several fishing clubs, particularly the Magnassippi Angling Club near Deux Rivieres, Ontario.
In 1956, Mary bought Ted’s family’s summer house, the Harry Price House, in Tadoussac from her brother-in-law Jimmy, so she was able to spend most summers in Tadoussac. She was able to get to Tad from most places in North America, except the West coast, and for every summer after Ted retired. While in Tadoussac she enjoyed the picnics, played bridge with many friends, read books, swam in the lake and entertained friends and relatives. She introduced her many friends they had met during the army days to the Saguenay and their Tadoussac friends.
During his retirement leave at the start of 1970, Ted and Mary embarked on a long-planned round-the-world tour to see their many friends in many places.
After retirement, Mary and Ted lived in their house in Ottawa and watched their four children all get married between 1966 and 1972 and eventually grandchildren arrived. They enjoyed visiting Ginny and Randy in Newfoundland, Sally and Ross in Somerset, England, Tim and Frances in Montreal and Antigua, and Greville and Kerry who remained in Ottawa. Mary got sick in the fall of 1976 and died of pancreatic cancer in April 1977, three months before her 60th birthday.
Ted remained strongly committed to the Price family corresponding with many relatives in various parts of the world in the 1970s and 1980s, building up voluminous files. He developed the initial family tree in 1974. He supported the start of the reunions in 1987 and gave the address to the 1992 Tadoussac reunion at the Tadoussac Protestant Chapel.
In 1971, Ted joined the Standards Council of Canada on its formation, serving as its Director of Administration and Secretary General until his second retirement in July 1981. After Mary died, Ted married Martha “Marty” Eberts, who was also recently widowed. She had been the wife of Chris Eberts, the brother of Bea Eberts who was married to Ted’s cousin Charlie Price. They lived in Ottawa and were very supportive of their families.
Marty developed dementia and in 1990 had to be admitted to a home, which was stressful for Ted. He developed prostate cancer and died on November 16, 1995, in Ottawa with his funeral being held two days later on the date of his original wedding anniversary. At his memorial service a few days later, the eulogy was given by his godson Tony Price.