Submitted by Jayne Ellis, July 23, 2021

(One of a series of articles about the history of South Beach and its families)

In the mid 1940s my mother Laura, better known as Bunty, and my father Laurence Poynter bought a lot at the corner of Hansson and South Colonization Road (now 1 Hansson Ave). So this property has been in our family for approximately 75 years.

It is told that the first owner was the Air Force. They built a cottage on this property and another on the property next door to the east around 1943. These cottages were used to billet servicemen who were training at Gimli Base, learning to fly in the war in Europe. The training ended in 1945 and my mother’s cousin purchased the property around 1946. Then it was used as a rental property for summer vacationers. When my mother’s cousin became ill she sold it to her sister Louie and her husband Jack Rogers.

I remember coming down to open the cottage up in the Spring and going into town to get fresh bread from the bakery. It was so good. We would have a week of my dad’s hoildays at the cabin and then come back in the Fall to close up.

In 1958 Louie and Jack decided to sell the cottage and that is when my parents Laura and Laurence Poynter purchased it. It was named Poynter’s Place. We spent our weekends and holidays here and enjoyed going to the beach to cool off. Friends and family would come down especially around the August long weekend and good times were had by all.

After my father passed in 1976 my mother kept the cottage. By 1982 she was getting tired of trying to maintain two properties so my husband Dave and myself, Jayne[Poynter], decided to purchase it. We renamed it The Ellis Inn.

We spent our summers here enjoying our time and watching our children and later, our grandchildren, grow. I was a Girl Guide leader in Winnipeg and so there were many Girl Guide and Cub Scout camps held in our woods with wonderful sing songs and campfires. We have had many friends and family come and join us for long weekends and special occasions and it was always a pleasure to share our cottage with them.

In 2010 we decided we would like to move here permanently from the city so a new era began. Down with the old and up with the new. We moved here in 2011 and have not regretted one moment. That is the tale of our piece of paradise.

Peacefully, on November 18, 2020, Laura (Bunty) Poynter at 102 years, passed on at Betel Home in Selkirk, MB. She leaves to mourn her three children, Pat, Bob and Jayne, 7 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren. Bunty lived a long, happy life, leaving the family with many happy memories of her good loving nature and her music.