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Maud was also an orphan, in a way. Her moth- Chester became an attorney, their younger
er died when she was not yet two, and she re- son Stuart a successful gymnast and physician.
called later, even at that young age, the dress Maud died at age 67 in 1942, and is buried in
she wore as she was held in her father's arms, the local cemetery near Green Gables.
viewing her mother's open coffin in the par-
lour. “Why was Mother so still?” she remem- “She's certainly our favorite daughter,” Mike
bered thinking, writing at age 23 in a detailed commented.
journal entry about that sad day.
Two great books about Maud's life are Lucy
Little Maud moved in with her grandparents, Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings, by
who loved her but were somewhat stiff and Mary Henley Rubio, and The Lucy Maud Mont-
emotionally distant. (Her father moved to gomery Album, edited by Alexandra Heilbron.
western Canada when Maud was six, and re-
married). “To write has always been my central purpose,”
Maud once said. “Were it not for those Caven-
Maud—who had a sparkling, out-going per- dish years, I do not think that Anne of Green
sonality, sense of humor, and a story-telling Gables would ever have been written.”
gift--loved to read and write, and spent care-
free days in the heavenly outdoors when she And that would have been most “tragical!”-- as
wasn't at the one-room country school, earn- Anne would say.
ing excellent grades. She was active in the
Presbyterian Sunday School and later played IF YOU GO
the church organ. After high school she at-
tended college, became a popular school teach- The Green Gables House is open May to Oc-
er, and worked at a newspaper. tober. Closed December to mid-April. Open
a bit in November, especially for cruise ship
Maud sold her first short story in 1895, when tours.
she was 21, and was paid $5—launching her
career as a freelance writer. Ten years later For more information: www.pc.gc.ca/eng/
she penned Anne of Green Gables, inspired lhn-nhs/pe/greengables/visit.aspx
by her idyllic life in Cavendish with family and
friends. It was rejected by five publishers and, www.gov.pe.ca/greengables/
discouraged, Maud stored the manuscript in
a hatbox for nearly a year before re-reading it www.pc.gc.ca/eng/lhn-nhs/pe/greengables/
and sending it out again. visit/visit3.aspx
A Boston publisher offered her a contract. Right: Views of the haunted woods and the setting of
Published in June 1908, it sold some 19,000 several scenes in Montgomery’s Anne books. Bottom:
copies in the first six months. Two huge fans
were British Prime Ministers Stanley Baldwin Memorial plaque commemorating the house and farm of
and Ramsay MacDonald. In 1935, Maud was Anne of Green Gables.
awarded the OBE honor—Office of the Order
of the British Empire--in Canada.
An ambitious, multi-talented visionary and
prolific letter writer (corresponding with a
couple of pen pals for decades!), Maud wrote
20 novels, over 500 poems, and over 500 short
stories, as well as hundreds of letters to fans.
She also kept journals, which were published
after her death. Maud was also a gifted cook,
photographer and gardener—and she loved
cats.
She didn't marry until age 36, following the
death of her widowed grandmother, whom
she had cared for. She and her husband, Ewan
Macdonald, a Presbyterian minister, had three
children (the middle was stillborn)--born
when Maud was 37, 39, and 41. Her writing
sales provided them a comfortable life, usual-
ly with a live-in housekeeper. Their older son
Wine Dine & Travel Summer 2014 51

