MARY EDNA ROSS HYSLOP TAYLOR

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MARY EDNA ROSS HYSLOP TAYLOR Aged 96 1907 - 2003 Mary Edna Ross Hyslop Taylor, born on May 14, 1907 in Little Narrows, Cape Breton, NS, died in Winnipeg, MB, Canada, on October 27, 2003. Born to Thomas John and Catherine Mary McCaskill Ross, the eldest in a family of four boys and two girls, she was descended from Gaelic speaking Scottish pioneers. Mrs. Taylor and her siblings were brought up on their familys self-sufficient farm in the horse and buggy era. At 16 she transferred to Newton High School. For the next 36 years she would work, marry and raise her two children in Massachusetts. After graduation she took night courses in accounting at Boston University Business School. She became a private secretary and bookkeeper, first at the Flour and Grain Exchange in Boston, and then at the Albemarle Golf Club in West Newton. There she met Newton Everett Hyslop, a well-known amateur golfer, whom she married in 1934. She learned to play golf well-enough to make a hole in one on two different occasions. At the onset of the Second World War, she became secretary for the Newton branch of the British War Relief Society. In 1945 she moved to Duxbury, Massachusetts, where she became Secretary to the Vestry of St. Johns Episcopal Church, managed one of the annual summer fairs, enjoyed golfing at the Duxbury Yacht and Golf Club, and supported her husbands involvement in town politics and election as Selectman and Assessor. Following his death, in 1957 she married Donald Farquhar Taylor, RCMP, a native of Halifax, NS, and resident of Winnipeg, MB. At age 50 she settled in Winnipeg, worked for St. Agnes Guild of Childrens Hospital, took up oil painting, golfed at Pine Ridge and Niakwa Country Club, curled and bowled at the Winnipeg Winter Club, and conquered her breast cancer. At age 88 she and her husband moved into a retirement community at the Wellington. She remained mentally alert, companionable and physically active into her 97th year. To the end she enriched her family and all who were fortunate to know her with her wisdom, gift of friendship, lively wit and principled character, as illustrated by her favourite "old McCaskill poem" taught to her by her mother: "This World Is a Difficult World" "This world is a difficult world indeed, The people are hard to suit. The man who plays on the violin Is a bore to the man on the flute. And I, myself, have often thought, How very much better this world would be, If every one of the folk I know, Could only agree with me! But since they will not, The very best way To make this world look bright, Is never to mind what people say, But do what you think is right!" Mrs. Taylor was predeceased by her siblings and both husbands. She is survived by her two sons, Newton E. Hyslop, Jr., of New Orleans, Louisiana, and John R. Hyslop of Ashburnham, Massachusetts; their wives, five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews in Nova Scotia and the United States. A committal service will be held in Mayflower Cemetery, Duxbury, Massachusetts. In lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory may be made to the Little Narrows Presbyterian Church Cemetery Fund (CBI, NS, Canada, B0E 1T0), the Clan John Ross Fund of the Highlands Village (Iona, CBI, NS, Canada, B2C 1A3), or the research funds of the Canadian Cancer Society. Her family gratefully acknowledges the loving care she received during her final illness from her personal care givers, the Winnipeg Community and Long-Term Care Program, the Victoria Order of Nurses, her physician, the staff of the Wellington, and certain dear friends who gave immeasurable, constant love and support. THOMSON Funeral Chapels - 669 Broadway - 783-7211

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Nov 08, 2003