Retreat

Jeff Itcush: “David and Amelia earned money selling baked goods. Things went bad when political unrest began, some type of regional revolt against the central authority; police pressured David to become a local informant and he refused. Their circumstances became dire, and, with considerable difficulty, Amelia was able to return to Canada her son, later followed by her husband.”

On return, Toronto Dance Theatre no longer had a place for her. Saying that she was too physically debilitated from her time in Mexico, M. Cohen-Nehemia refused to train her as a teacher. She and her husband separated.

For close to a year, Amelia retreated to family in Regina with her two year old son. Her nephew remembers Amelia, her mother and her sisters spending many hours together during this time, quilt making and working in the garden.

other sources: Peter Randazzo, Kerry Flaman, Kathy Morgan, Patricia Beatty