EVELYN ISOBEL BAXTER (née DESBRISAY) (EVE)

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EVELYN ISOBEL BAXTER
(née DESBRISAY)

Evelyn Isobel Baxter (née DesBrisay) died in London, ON, on August 13, 2019, after a lengthy illness.
Born in Winnipeg in 1925, Eve was a gifted pianist. She earned her diploma in Music Performance and Teaching from the University of Manitoba and subsequently taught music in the province's remote and agricultural communities.
Her brother introduced her to Peter, her future husband; the handsome Second World War veteran impressed her because he invited her to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. They married in 1949. While raising her young family, Eve taught music at Balmoral Hall in Winnipeg.
After the family moved to Toronto, Eve became a major force across Canada as a curator, arts administrator and advisor. Her vision has left its stamp on the Ontario urban landscape: Toronto-Dominion Centre and Metro Hall in Toronto and Constitution Square in Ottawa are among the many public art projects she administered. She helped develop major corporate collections - particularly Sun Life Assurance Company and Osler Hoskin and Harcourt. But above all, she is remembered by many visual artists across Canada for the time and support that she gave them.
Eve also believed in the power of volunteerism to build community. She sewed costumes for the Manitoba Theatre Centre, organized Art Gallery of Ontario volunteer committee exhibitions, played piano at the nursery school in her Etobicoke neighbourhood, helped organize Toronto's Sesquicentennial and contributed leadership to the boards of the Winnipeg Art Gallery, Julia Greenshields Home in Toronto and the Tom Thomson Art Gallery in Owen Sound.
Despite the demands of a busy career, family remained Eve's top priority; she loved fiercely, and instilled in her children and grandchildren, her thirst for reading, learning and sports (she was a lifelong Blue Bombers fan).
Eve is predeceased by her parents, Charlotte Austen and Normand Rudolph DesBrisay; her sisters, Ann, Charlotte Bean and Elizabeth Wilcox; brother John; brother-and sister-in-law, Robert and Patricia; husband Peter; and son Andrew Peter Mackenzie.
Left to mourn and to remember her fondly are her son John (Miranda); her daughters, Charlotte Jones (Kent), Susan, Mary (Robert Osthoff); as well as her grandchildren Maggie Jones (Michael Nemec), Cary Jones (Nell Reis), Grace Park (Brinton), and Stephanie Baxter.
The family thanks the staff at Mount Hope for their care for Eve over the years.
A memorial service and interment will take place on Saturday, October 5 at 3:30 p.m., at St. John Cathedral, 135 Anderson Ave., Winnipeg.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to the acquisitions fund of a gallery of your choice or the Canadian Mental Health Association.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Sep 28, 2019