FAYE SETTLER

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FAYE SETTLER December 13, 1916 - January 21, 2004 Faye Settler was born in Winnipeg on December 13, 1916. Growing up, she lived in Southey, SK, and Plum Coulee and Teulon, MB. The family moved to Winnipeg in 1928 where she completed her formal education, graduating from St. Johns Technical High School. She married Bert Settler in 1938, a marriage that celebrated almost 64 years. She was predeceased by her husband who died in 2002. Faye Settler was an active and dedicated participant in all aspects of the community in which she lived. She maintained a lifelong involvement in the Jewish community, as a young married woman was President of the Aliyah Chapter of Hadassah. She and her husband were founding members of the Congregation of the Rosh Pina Synagogue. She was an enthusiastic golfer and with her husband was an early and ongoing member of Glendale Country Club. She was also a longstanding member of the Maple Leaf Curling Club and participated on a number of teams, including a family rink made up of her mother Maggie Brownstone, husband Bert and brother-in-law Morris Settler. For many years she attended Blue Bomber games with her husband, enjoying, as she said, the fresh air and the sport in equal measure. In the course of her life, Faye Settler led by example, participating as a volunteer with a variety of agencies, most recently the Winnipeg Boys and Girls Club. She remained active and interested in all levels of politics, campaigning federally, provincially and municipally, guided not by partisan allegiances, but by a keen sense of social fairness. The candidates she supported were always well apprised of her position on all issues. Faye Settlers professional career began in 1948 when she and her mother opened a small antique shop in their neighbourhood. By the mid 1950s, the Curiosity Shop had moved to downtown Winnipeg and in 1966 was augmented by the opening the the Upstairs Gallery, exhibiting work by the Group of Seven and their contemporaries. Soon after a regular schedule of exhibitions by local and national contemporary artists was introduced. In 1967 the Curiosity Shop became a Charter Member of the Canadian Antique Dealers Association, and four years later the Upstairs Gallery was invited to join the Professional Art Dealers Association of Canada (now Art Dealers Association of Canada). She was appointed to the Board of Directors of PADAC in 1979, serving a three year term. In 1972 the growth in scale of both the Curiosity Shop and the Upstairs Gallery prompted a move to the Edmonton Street location where it has remained until the present. In 1972 Fayes increasing interest in Inuit Art prompted her first visit to Baker Lake in the Northwest Territories (now Nunavut). Many trips followed and in 1978 she was invited to attend in Ottawa at a Printmaking Seminar organized by the federal government. In 1984 she was invited to participate in a Government Task Force on Inuit Art in Frobisher Bay and again in 1985 in Baker Lake. Through her expertise and reputation she was instrumental in the development of numerous private, corporate and public collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, The Canadian Museum of Civilization and the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre. In areas of Inuit Art and antiques Faye Settler gave many talks to professional and service organizations and had been a regular guest on CBC radio programs. Always an advocate for the necessity of a vital downtown city core, Faye Settler was an early Member of the Board of Downtown Biz and in 1987 she initiated and chaired a successful ongoing project called "Gallery on the Avenue" which exhibited the work of young artists in storefronts up and down Portage Avenue. The house that Faye and Bert Settler built was an open house in every case. From hosting spirited "after performance" parties for the dancers of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, to being a hotel and rest spot for Inuit artists travelling south, to grand family parties celebrating a myriad of occasions, their house was the centre. Faye Settler was modest in her accomplishments and rarely spoke about what she had achieved, but she was a vocal supporter for the recognition of others. It was she who nominated and facilitated Jessie Oonarks membership to the Order of Canada. Consistent with her lifelong commitment to her community, in 2001 Faye Settler made a gift to the Winnipeg Art Gallery of the Faye and Bert Settler Inuit Collection. Throughout, Faye Settler has been notable for the integrity with which she conducted her professional and personal life. In 2003 she received honours of her own which, her modesty aside, did give her great pleasure. In June she received the Manitoba Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award and in November travelled to Toronto to receive the Art Dealers Association of Canada Award for Lifetime Achievement. Faye Settler grew up as one of five children and was fiercely loyal to and proud of her family, immediate and extended, her parents, Charles and Maggie Brownstone, her sister Malca Ross and her brothers, Jack Brownstone, M.L. Buddy Brownstone and Billy Brownstone, and all of her nieces and nephews. Her husbands family was her own, parents, Jennie and Louis Sedletsky, brother-in-law Morris Settler, and sisters-in-law, Ruth Zoltok and Faige Waisman. Faye Settler was a wonderful dancer, a gardener, an avid berry picker and jam maker, a terrific and generous host. She laughed readily, wept in movies, recycled with conviction and wrote letters when things werent as she felt they should be. But above all else, she loved her husband, her daughters, her grandchildren and her great-grandson. These were the achievements, as she put it, of which she was most proud, and she played an active role in all their lives. She is survived by her daughter Meeka Walsh (Robert Enright) her granddaughter Sherri Walsh (Dr. Louis Ludwig) her grandson Zachary Walsh (Tiffany Walsh) and her great-grandson Joe Ludwig. The family would like to thank the nursing and support staff of the Intensive Care Unit, Victoria General Hospital for their fine and humane care. Funeral services were held at Congregation Etz Chayim on January 25. Pallbearers were Dr. Louis Ludwig, Zachary Walsh, Dr. Gary Hyman, Len Settler, Dr. Jack Rusen and Dr. David Rusen. Honorary pallbearers were Morris Settler and Dr. Charles Rusen. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Faye and Bert Settler Fund at the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba, C400-123 Doncaster St., Winnipeg, MB R3N 2B3, or to The Bert Settler Memorial Fund at the Winnipeg Boys and Girls Club, 929 Main St., Winnipeg, MB R2W 3P2.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Jan 26, 2004