Mary Anne Mehaffey recalls when she moved into Yarmouth Heights – the retirement residence located at the site of the former Tidal View Manor – when it opened in early 2018. Among the things she brought with her was a mat she had made depicting a farmhouse her family had in Weymouth.
Yarmouth Heights administrator Joy Sison was impressed with the piece and asked Mehaffey if she would consider doing a mat for Yarmouth Heights.
A longtime rug hooker, Mehaffey – a Yarmouth native who had grown up nearby, on Vancouver Street – was hesitant, initially at least, about taking on what she expected would be a big project, but she agreed.
“My friend, Elaine Howatt, drew the (Yarmouth Heights) building for me to get me started,” Mehaffey said. “So she got that done for me and encouraged me.”
It took Mehaffey about six months or so, from November to April, to complete the mat, which features, aside from Yarmouth Heights, a good number of other local sites. The intricate finished product hangs on a wall on the ground floor of Yarmouth Heights, near the entrance.
A lifetime member of the Rug Hooking Guild of Nova Scotia who has been rug hooking and teaching it for over 40 years, Mehaffey doesn’t know how many rugs she’s done – let’s just say quite a few – but she says the Yarmouth Heights mat will be the last major one she takes on.
“I’m 88 years old and that’s the last big project I’m going to do,” she said. “(Rug hooking) has been a wonderful lifetime pursuit for me. I’ve really enjoyed it ... I still enjoy doing it, and I’ll do small things, but that’s my last big hurrah.”
It was through friends that she became involved in rug hooking in the first place, she recalls, and she says the Yarmouth area has a strong rug-hooking community.
“We’ve had some good teachers here in town and I think Yarmouth is one of the most thriving rug-hooking (areas) in the province,” she said.
Karen Jacquard, a good friend of Mehaffey’s – who was visiting her when Mehaffey was interviewed for this story – has been rug hooking for about two years and she can’t say enough about Mehaffey as an instructor.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better teacher,” Jacquard said.
Mehaffey is a member of the Yarmouth Carpetbaggers. The Rugg Bees are another local rug-hooking group.
Rug hookers “have a wonderful time together,” she said.
Mehaffey, who left Yarmouth in 1948 and attended Acadia University, has lived in different parts of Canada, including Dartmouth, Montreal and Nanaimo. She has three children: one in Vancouver, one in Guelph, another in Halifax.
Mehaffey returned to Yarmouth in 2000. In the winter of 2018, she became the first resident of Yarmouth Heights.
“It’s wonderful,” she said. “This is a nice place to live, a good place to hang your hat.”
