Toni's Story
McClelland/ Sacred Heart- Toni was taken to an orphanage after both her parents separated. She was one of four daughters. Her father could not financial or physically be there to take care of them once he separated from his wife, being that he was constantly working. Originally the father sent each daughter to live with an aunt. However, he always wanted them to be together, so he then put them all together at McClelland Orphanage. They only stood a brief time there, until he moved them to Sacred Heart Orphanage where they stood from 1951-1957.
Toni remembers a much more unaffectionate stay at the orphanage than others do that also came from Sacred Heart. She believes this to be true to do the gap in years from when she stayed their compared to when others arrived. She says it was hard growing up in the Orphanage, she said “she never remembers being soothed or held,” “There was only 1 bathtub for all the girls in the orphanage, so we went around dirty and stinky. By the time it was my turn, the water was brown." She also explained that as an adult, the time in the orphanage had given her a socially backwards complex. She says “I didn’t know how to be a mother. It was difficult.”. Toni also adds, “We were never paid to do chores, they were just expected”. A dissimilar experience from what Herbie tells us of his time at Sacred Heart Orphanage. After leaving the orphanage and growing up, Toni went onto pursue a career for the State and start a family of her own.