EVELYN (BILLIE) MURDOCH (THORNTON)

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EVELYN (BILLIE) MURDOCH (nee THORNTON) Born in Wapella, SK in 1909, Billie would have been 97 in July. She passed away May 1, 2006 in Toronto. Her life reflected early days on the prairies. Her father, Ernest Thornton, was born in Stratford-on-Avon, England, in 1874, and he arrived in Cannington Manor, SK in 1892 to raise polo ponies, of all things. Ernest farmed south of Moosomin, until the South African War broke out and Lord Strathcona formed a brigade in the west. The boys from Cannington were in great demand as they were all excellent horsemen and their horses were shipped with them. Many of the horses did not survive the trip. He returned home about 1900 and married Dorothy George in 1902. They had three daughters, Gladys, Betty and Evelyn (Billie) so nicknamed because Ernest wanted a son, so the third girl he called Bill. Oddly, when he went to Europe to fight in the First World War, he named his horse Bill, after mother. He was wounded at Festubert, France, and invalided home with shrapnel in both arms, both legs, and in his lungs. He died of the Spanish Flu in Winnipeg on November 9, 1918. The military procession to his funeral on Armistice Day, November 11, with his riderless horse, was a sad little parade through the streets of Winnipeg amid scenes of merriment and celebration. The crowd stilled and parted as the procession passed. Billie wept for him often. Her mother, Dorothy George Thornton was apparently an extraordinary person. Despite growing up on the Wapella, SK farm she spent a year or two at a finishing school in England and was very much a LADY. As a child Mum once asked her why we didn't talk like Mr. Nightowler, the butcher, who was also from Yorkshire. Because, Billie dear, we come from a class that doesn't have an accent . After her husband died she was terribly poor but she raised her three daughters on an army pension, moving constantly from one shabby Winnipeg basement apartment to another. She smoked, which wasn't proper at the time, and could never manage to quit. She used to protest It's my only vice! She was also very funny, with a naughty Edwardian sense of humour. On Sunday nights the apartment was full of all the girls' beaus, past and present, come to see Mrs. Thornton. She died too young in 1937 at age 58. Billie met John Murdoch at the Winnipeg Canoe Club in 1927. They married 10 years later (the wedding being rudely postponed by the Great Depression) and raised their two children, Jane and Chuck, on Niagara Street. She excelled at many sports: speedskating, golf, tennis, shooting, skiing and canoeing. (She was fit, and upright and strong, well into her 90s.) She mostly loved being at the family cottage near Scanterbury, MB, where she greatly enjoyed the friendship of the Longbottom family. In later years Billie and John vacationed in Clearwater Bay. John predeceased her in 1989. She loved All Saints Church, and worked hard in many of its guilds. The church and all the friends associated with it were reminiscent of her dear mother, who she had lost too early in life, and her fun and interesting sisters Betty (Gill) and Gladys (Henry). They were known, in the Canoe Club Days (according to John), as The Beautiful Thornton Girls. Billie's role as mother was one of loyalty, uncritical support, generosity and shared love of the out-of-doors. She had been an enthusiastic Girl Guider at All Saints, and had incorporated some of its features into her child rearing practices. For example, her morning rallying cry, 7:30 on wintry Winnipeg mornings: Up Girls! Wake Girls! Tis no time for sleeping! Out into the Wildwood where the air is Fresh and Free! was very annoying at the time, but fun to think back on. We hope Lady Baden Powell is in heaven to greet her, with some equally enthusiastic call. Her children and grandson were extremely lucky to have had her in their lives!!! She moved to Toronto, in 1990, to be near them. She is survived by her children Jane Adams (Christopher Aston), Charles; grandson Riley Adams (Perdita Andrews); nephew Peter Henry and niece Betty Lord, and their wonderful families. Thank you to all the dear friends in Winnipeg who meant so much to her, for so long! The Memorial Service will be held in Winnipeg, at All Saints Church, Broadway and Osborne Street, on Wednesday, August 23 at 2:00 p.m.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on May 13, 2006