Kelly Stewart’s Story

My full name is Kelly G. Stewart. I was born in 1955. I came to the lake in 1956, when Hwy 121 (now 118) was extended along the north side of the lake. My parents bought a North Bay lot for next to nothing on condition that they build a cottage within a year.

One of my first memories was walking the shoreline from Paudash Beach to the lot they had purchased and staying in a tent. Soon after I have a memory of my Mom lifting me up to my Dad who was in the top bunk in the cabin he had built using old wood skids he had saved from work. The actual cottage came a few years later, after our cottage road was put in and a Viceroy prefab could be built. That cottage and cabin still stand today. 

With six children in the family who all married and had our own children, we soon grew out of the original cottage and cabin. In the early 80s my brother bought a water access only cottage in North Bay and I bought a cottage a few doors down from my parents place. I remember my kids running along the lakefront path to visit Grandma & Grandpa’s place and their young friends who lived next door. My parents have now passed away and their cottage and cabin were sold to new Paudashians.

We are now in the same position with our kids having grandkids and outgrowing our original cottage. We are now in the process of building a new cottage which with four bedrooms and a loft with lots of floor space should accommodate two or three visiting families with my 8 grandchildren. The grandchildren love the lake, boating, fishing and especially jumping rock, which I’m sure we discovered as kids. 

Paudash Lake was a great place to grow up. My mom with six kids would spend the entire summer at Paudash with my father coming on weekends. When it was my turn I did the same with my family. With fingers crossed, my children and grandchildren will keep our cottage in the family for generations to come. 

My sister Lynn is one of the six kids that grew up at Paudash Lake with my mom. She grew up to become an airline stewardess for Air Canada and saw the world. I followed my father’s footsteps and became an international customs broker, as did my two brothers, and cleared goods through Canada Customs from all over the world. On such a small world, Paudash Lake was indeed a good place to grow up.

My other brother bought the cabins from what was the girls camp on Thunderbird Rd. I can remember as boys we were not allowed anywhere near the girls camp but I remember seeing the line of canoes full of girls going weekly to and from Paudash Beach. I always resented not being allowed anywhere near Camp Thunder because it was great frog catching territory and back them we could use frogs for fishing!