LOIS GORDON

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LOIS GORDON With sadness we announce the passing of Lois Gordon on Wednesday, June 18, 2003 in the company of close family. She was 97 years of age. Lois was a remarkable woman, who led a remarkable life that she shared with family and friends, and recounted through her vivid, detailed stories. Her life spanned the twentieth century, beginning with her days as a child growing up in Winnipeg with her brother King and sisters Mary, Gretta, Ruth, Marjorie and Alison, the children of her parents Helen and the Rev. C.W. Gordon, who under the pen-name "Ralph Connor" wrote novels of adventures in early Canada that won him fame around the world. Lois grew up at 54 Westgate (now the University Womens Club) in the midst of a large, talented and boisterous family who, through successive generations, remained close - a connection supported by their shared participation in Birkencraig, the island summer home of the Gordon family. It was there that Lois and her close friend Elspeth Latimer built a summer cottage in 1971. Lois was an original - strong-willed, interested in everything from art, to music, to theatre, to literature, to travel, to politics, to hockey. She had a natural style, panache and sense of humour that enriched the lives of all those around her. After graduating from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Arts degree she moved to Montreal in the 1930s in the midst of the political, social and cultural ferment that grew out of the Depression. At the beginning of the Second World War she joined the Canadian Womens Army Corps where she rose through the ranks to become Captain. After the war Lois earned a Master of Social Work from the University of Toronto, then went to work for Childrens Aid Society in Toronto where she became an influential and effective executive. She partially retired in the early 1970s but continued to work as a consultant for a Mennonite childrens aid society in southwestern Ontario. In her seventies she began to spend more time travelling and, in 1989, left her Colin Avenue home for Kingston where she lived until the death of her friend Elspeth. In 1996 she returned to live independently in Winnipeg surrounded by her many friends and family and her collection of early Canadian furniture, glasswork, art and literature. Lois is survived by nephews Peter Carver (Kathy Stinson), Charles Gordon (Nancy), Michael Cox (Sandra) and Mark Brown (Natalie Fisher) nieces Gretta Assaly, Alison Gordon, Susan Lewis (Jim), Deborah Carver (Tim Matthews), Mary Cox Millar (Bill Millar), Jenny Carver (Jim Martin) and Sheila Lebredt (Jim Bakken) grandnephews John Gordon (Cynthia Chan), Steven Cox (Jane), Mathew Stinson (Antonella), Alistair Brown, Aiden Brown and Ben Matthews; grandnieces Stephanie Carver (Bill Greenlaw), Katy Carver (Andrew Tees), Mary Gordon, Jennifer McFadyen (Hugh), Kelly Stinson, Kristin Millar, Alison Millar, Julia Matthews, Emma and Sally Martin; great-grandnephews Michael, Christopher and Peter Greenlaw and Charlie Tees; and great-grand-nieces Claire Tees and Rachael McFadyen. A celebration of her life will be held at Young United Church, 222 Furby St. at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, June 21, 2003. In lieu of flowers please make a contribution to a charity of your choice.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Jun 20, 2003