The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

On a midsummer evening in 1894 the train stopped at the old G.T.R. station in Pickering and a young couple alighted. This was Robert Cronk and his twenty-four year old bride from North Carolina, Marion Darden Cronk, who was to live for over seventy years in the country she had entered. The early part of her life here was taken up with her family and farm activities. Marion had come from, a Quaker community and had met Robert at Guilford College, in N.C. which they had both attended. Pickering, also a Quaker settlement, with Pickering College as its centre, provided much both socially and educationally. However things were changing, and in 1905 the College burned down. Also during this period many families went west, and aside from church activities Pickering was rather a dull place. By this time the Women's Institute was getting publicity. Whitby and Kinsale had organized branches and in 1908 the Pickering Branch was formed. From the beginning Marion was a very active member and this continued throughout her life. Whenever she was asked to do anything she did it to the best of her ability. Marion Cronk was particularly interested in better laws for women and in education. She herself studied the Handbooks very carefully and when she became District President in 1918 she had already been a local President for eight years. In 1924 she was a speaker for the Department of Agriculture and enjoyed visiting the different Institutes where she made some wonderful contacts. She enjoyed the work very much but a death in the family brought it to an abrupt end. She received many tokens of appreciation, including a life membership but she always felt that the Institute had done more for her than she had given. She along with the other District Presidents was able to attend the diamond Anniversary of the Kinsale W. I. and at the diamond Anniversary in Pickering she was one of the two charter members to be honoured. On Mr. & Mrs. Cronk' s 25th Wedding Anniversary the Pickering Branch presented her with a watch as a token of love from each member. After she ceased to be so active with the W.I. she worked with the Society of Friends and was Correspondence Secretary for years. On January 1st, 1967 Marion Cronk passed away. She would have been 97 years old on the 9th of January. She had a very full life.