WINNIFRED-ANNE BURNS (ROSSINI)

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WINNIFRED-ANNE BURNS (ROSSINI) October 30, 1928 - April 30, 2010 Winnifred-Anne Burns (née Rossini) died peacefully April 30, in Winnipeg. She is survived by her husband Dr. Charlie Burns; sons, Charles (Joanne), Andrew (Vicki), Roger (Heather), Phil (Kanning), 11 grandchildren and sister Marguerite MacGregor, and predeceased by her parents, Martha and David Rossini; and sister Janet Sullivan. Winn was a wife, mother, volunteer and businesswoman. Winn took enormous pride in the accomplishments of her nieces, nephews and grandchildren. She was a demanding taskmaster whose boys are fun loving, rough and tumble; a serious woman with a sharp sense of humour; a beauty without vanity, who even after decades of intense back pain had a natural gracefulness and loveliness reminiscent of a film star of the past. Winn was an excellent student, and was one of the first women to graduate from the University of Manitoba's commerce programme in 1949. Leaving university, Winn worked briefly for the government of Manitoba, where among other things she organized the then Princess Elizabeth's first official visit to Manitoba and met the woman who is now Queen. From there, she accompanied her husband to Toronto and Bristol England. Winn helped put Charlie through medial school working in corporate finance at McLeod Young Weir. After the birth of their first son, Winn and Charlie returned to Winnipeg and were blessed with three more boys. As with everything else Winn attacked the responsibility of being a mother in the 1960s with vigour: driving kids to hockey games, making grilled cheese sandwiches and cream of mushroom soup and providing the firm direction that helped channel the often-times chaotic energy of her children to more productive ends. Despite those demands she managed to maintain an active social and civic life. She was a lifelong season-ticket holder at the Manitoba Theatre Centre, the symphony, opera and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. She also volunteered for many years as a docent at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. With the boys well launched in life, Winn bravely went back to work for McLeod Young Weir in the (at that time) still male dominated field as a stock broker. As with any endeavour she took on she threw herself into her job and built a very successful career and had the rare joy of sharing it with her youngest son Philip who became her partner. Winn was an avid sportswoman throughout her life. She and her sisters were competitive tennis players throughout their youth. Winn was also a lifelong cross-country and downhill skier, being among the first to visit Sunshine Village in Banff, climbing and skiing those well known hills in the days before lifts had been installed and well into the 1980s through annual trips with her husband and four boys. Clearwater Bay always held a central place in her life. As a young mother, she took her young diaper-clad family down to the lake for the summer braving bears at a time when the cottage lacked power, telephone, and bathroom facilities. Cajoled into sailing by her husband in the 1960s, she became a keen sailor, first in dinghies and later in keelboats and enjoyed countless cruising experiences with family and friends on the Lake of the Woods, the Caribbean and Mediterranean. Even until last summer Winn could not be held back from the chilly waters of Clearwater Bay where she would swim at least twice a day no matter what the weather. Winn was most at home at the lake. Winn will be dearly missed by her family and friends. A memorial service will be held Tuesday, May 4, 2010 at 2:30 p.m., St. Andrew's River Heights Church, Kingsway and Oak Street. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Manitoba Theatre Centre.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on May 03, 2010