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Only in Murray Bay, Quebec, Canada.
The former head of the Metropolitan Museum, a mayor of Louisville who officiated at the funeral of Muhammed Ali, a world-class painter, and a prize-winning photographer who is also a grandson of a US President, gathered with family and friends to celebrate recently. The son of one joked that they were holders of social security numbers one, two, three and four. No one minded because each was there to celebrate his 90th birthday in their most beloved place. Only in Murray Bay.
Family and community gathered in the 150-year-old Murray Bay Golf Club where William Howard Taft once served as President and observed that it was much more fun being President there than being a President of the United States. His grandson Peter told about his family’s love of the area along the St. Lawrence while Dr. Harvey Sloane, author, public health advocate and Louisville mayor, spoke of close relationships with the French community here. Artist Reeve Schley told not only the magical summers but of winter hockey games on outdoor rinks when he would come up from New Jersey to play. Charles de Montebello spoke for his father Philippe, noting that his father, the longest serving Director of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, had just last year stepped down from teaching and lecturing assignments and as Chairman of the Hispanic Society of America.
In 2023, Harvey published Riding the Rails: My Unexpected Adventures in Medicine, City Hall and Public Service, which describes not only his two terms as Mayor of Louisville and his long friendship with Mohammad Ali, his distinguished career as a public health doctor around the world as well as early adventures riding the rails and of course times in Murray Bay. An award-winning photographer and former attorney, Peter Taft has been a familiar sight in Murray Bay this summer filming beloved events and programs. Geary gallery in Salisbury, Connecticut will be hosting a solo exhibition of Reeve Schley paintings October 3–November 22. One of Reeve’s favorite spots to paint, where he has returned this summer, is the church beach in Murray Bay to capture the tides of the St. Lawrence. Much deserved fame has taken the four to international recognition, but as a favorite song of this area says, “Murray Bay is my heart”.
Many of us find in summer communities not only the beauty of nature but the forever friends we see just in summertime. Murray Bay, known officially as La Malbaie on the St. Lawrence River in Quebec a few hours from Quebec City is just such a place. In 1608, French explorer Samuel de Champlain called it “malle baye”, or “bad bay” or “poor bay” in old French. He used the name because the local tides emptied out and made the bay difficult to navigate and anchor. In two columns which I write while the sun dazzles and the fresh air floats down from the arctic, I would like to share a little of its magic this summer, in this issue about families who return each summer from their homes in the United States or Canada. Next week, about restaurants, gardens, markets, and parties.
President Taft remains a hero in town, having first come in 1892 by boat on the St. Lawrence from a wedding in Niagara Falls. William Howard Taft who was the 27th President and the 10th Chief Justice spent every summer in Murray Bay except when he was President. The Tafts surpass any other US family of public servants in terms of numbers and positions held. The Taft family in current residence includes Bob and Hope Taft, the Governor and First Lady of Ohio from 1999 to 2007 who did much to shape the civic and environmental landscape of the state. Hope recently received the Garden Club of America’s 2026 Achievement Medal for being “an inspiring and steadfast advocate for the use of native plants in landscapes and in the preservation of natural ecosystems”.
Bob and Hope’s daughter Anna Taft is the Founding Director of the Tandana Foundation which celebrates its 20th anniversary at the end of the year.
The Tandana Foundation is a non-profit organization that supports community initiatives in Ecuador’s Otavalo Canton and Mali’s Bandiagara District as well as offers intercultural volunteer experiences. Tandana comes from a Kichwa root meaning “to gather together” or “to unite” and it represents the spirit of the foundation.
At a program she gave to the community Anna described its mission in both Ecuador and Mali which should be a blueprint for volunteers going into communities around the world, using the tenets of mutual respect. She is the author of Climbing Together: Relational Morality and Meaningful Action in Intercultural Community Engagement which shares inspiring lessons for non-profits both at home and abroad.
“The Tandana Foundation begins its work by knowing that each person we meet deserves our respect. Desired social outcomes occur through dialogues and something wonderful can occur that we weren’t planning at all as human relationships form and flourish.
Its community initiatives support community members in Mali and Ecuador as they work toward their dreams of education, health, food security, water resources, environmental conservation, and income generation. Its volunteer opportunities provide visitors the unique opportunity to be guests rather than tourists, to form intercultural friendships, to participate in a rich indigenous culture, and to make a difference in the lives of new friends.
“The Tandana Foundation is not about ‘helping the poor’ or imposing a developmentalist worldview or any particular religion. Rather, our goal is to create and nurture respectful and responsible relationships among people of different cultures. Giving and receiving are inherent parts of those relationships, and contributing to community initiatives is a great way to make friends. We come to learn and to share.
“Beginning with a first-person perspective leads to relationships based on mutual respect and responsibility and prioritizing interaction and discussion over making a predetermined product brings about meaningful and durable positive change,” she has said.
The opportunities to form friendships is endless, whether with the French-speaking residents of La Malbaie who have a welcoming community all year long or summer residents from across Canada.
At a concert this week at the Murray Bay Protestant Church which holds an August lecture and performance series for the community, acclaimed acoustic guitarist Dave Clarke, a longtime Murray Bay summer resident and his wife Lucinda Chodan, former Editor in Chief of the Montreal Gazette and other Canadian newspapers across the provinces and an award-winning journalist, performed music they had written about the majesty of the vast Canadian landscape, reminding that “the ratio of rocks, lakes and trees to people is one of the largest in the world”. Songs such as “A Thousand Miles of Snow” underscored that it is a cold country. Legendary Quebec singer-songwriter Gilles Vigneault once said: “My country is not a country it is winter.” But the songs of starry summer nights and full moons reminded the audience of the precious gift of now.
In another song Lucinda and Dave composed, “That’s How the Summer Slips Away”, a line haunted. “Sometimes I wish that this could last forever, road along the river stay the same…..” For all of us who can watch the sun dancing on the water as the lyrics say, the feeling ran deep.
For more information about the Tandana Foundation visit: tandanafoundation.org
