Lillie Segar

Lillie Louise Phillips was born March 9, 1908 in Meadowvale, Ontario to English immigrant parents just eight months after they had settled in Canada. Growing up poor in a family of eight children, Lillie's childhood was difficult.  “We would walk along the railway tracks, picking up pieces of coal just to heat our home.” Lillie attended school through the sixth grade before dropping out to go to work and help care for the family and her sick mother.  In 1927 she met Art Seager, whom she  married at age  27, after dating him for eight years.  Together they had two children, Richard and Arthurlyn. Life continued to be a struggle for the family, but through hard work and determination, they managed to survive. After losing a leg and a foot to diabetes, Art died in 1974 after 39 years of marriage.  Lillie continued to work until retiring at age 69, but remained active in various civic groups and social activities

You said life was hard?

Life was hard. When I was a little girl, we didn't even have enough blankets on our beds to keep us warm, so we'd cover up with newspapers. Sometimes we would go to the Stuart Street coke ovens and pick up coke in potato sacks to drag home. Coke is kind of like coal, we used it to heat our home. My brother Richard and I had to walk two miles just to get water to drink, and in the winter, we would have to pull it home on a sleigh. One winter my brother made a harness for the dog and the dog would pull the sleigh home with the copper boiler pot full of water. But the toughest thing was when my brother Richard died. He was only 18. It broke my heart so much. When we laid the casket I said to myself, “If I ever get married and I have a little boy I'd name him after my brother,” and I did. My son's name is Richard.

So how did you deal with all those struggles?

We just did what we had to do to survive. We didn't have any money, so whatever we needed, it was up to us. If we needed coal for heat, we walked the railway tracks until we found enough. If we needed water, we'd walk two miles to the well to get it. When my mother took sick, I quit school to take care of her and the family. After I got married, we worked as janitors looking after eight apartments and two stores, scrubbing stairways and hallways on my hands and knees. It was hard, we never really had much any money, but we managed. We just did whatever we had to do to make it.

So how did you manage your money?

I never had any money to manage. My friends would say “Lillie, let's sit and have a cup of tea.” I wouldn't spend ten cents for a cup of tea; I couldn't afford it. I didn't have a car; I walked everywhere I went. I wouldn't even take the bus because it cost money. All I ever got was minimum wage. I didn't save. I didn't have any money to save. 

 

What would you tell your grandchildren about money?

First of all, get a good education. Education is very important. And you've got to be willing to work hard. I worked hard all my life. I started working at age 15 for .25 cents an hour and worked until I was 69. Today kids get far too much without having to work for it; it spoils them. When I was little, we had one toy and we would take off our stockings from our feet and hang them for Santa. We'd get a an apple and an orange and Daddy would always put a lump of coal in our stockings. I still have it! I never threw it away! Children today don't know what it means to work hard and go without things.

You said education is important. Why?

I was so cross-eyed that mother kept me home so I didn't start school til I was seven. Later when I was 13, mother took sick and I missed a lot of schoolin' to take care of her and keep house. When I was 15 I quit school to go to work and go to a technical school one day a week. They asked me what I wanted to take, hairdressing or typewriting. I said, “What's typewriting?” I would've loved to have taken typewriting but I didn't know what it meant! I was dumb.

My kids would come home with homework and I couldn't help them. I didn't know the answers myself. I never learned nothin' in school, but I had a hunger to learn and I taught myself everything I know. I joined the Knights of Pythias, and that is what educated me. When they initiated me the President stood up and spoke, and she didn't even look at her book! She recited it all from memory. I said to myself, if I could do that I'd give a million dollars. From that day every office I took, I memorized every book I had. The Pythian Order educated me. Everything I know I owe them, and I still belong today. I wish I had gotten a good education. I think if I had gotten an education, I could have gone a lot further in life.

What's the most important thing in life?

Helping other people. I help everybody. I'd want somebody to help me if I couldn't do it myself. After I got married, I took care of my mother for 23 years. There were eight of us kids and none of the others would take her. They wouldn't even help with her expenses. My brother Jack took my sisters to court to try to make them pay towards her keep but they appealed and the judge said at that time girls don't have to pay to keep their mother, only boys had to pay. But none of them ever paid, not even Jack. I didn't have any money but I did the best I could. As we left court that day, Mom cried to think that out of eight kids none would take care of her. I said, “Mom I'll do it.” I had to do it.

What is your best piece of advice about life?

Treat others like you'd like to be treated. People aren't born all the same. Some people are born thoughtful and other people are born thoughtless, but I always give them the benefit of the doubt. Many times they were so wrong, but I just kept my mouth shut. I never fight with anybody. Nobody wins an argument.

Do you think about dying?

I don't mind if the Lord took me tomorrow. I just pray that the Lord takes me before the old devil gets me! I'm not afraid of dying. We all gotta die sometime. I hope the Lord can take me without there being any suffering, that's all. That's all I pray for.

The Lord took Lillie Seager on November 19, 2010 at the age of 101. She left behind 2 children, 4 grandchildren, 3 great- grandchildren, and a countless others whose lives she had touched. Her mantra was, “Never sit when you can stand, stand when you can walk, and walk when you can dance.” She was still dancing, albeit with her walker, just two months before she died. God bless you Lillie. You are missed.