CHRISTINA BARCLAY (ENA) SKENE

Adjust Text Size: A+ A-

CHRISTINA BARCLAY (ENA) SKENE May 20, 1924 - May 13, 2005 Christina Barclay (Ena) Skene was born in Rutherglen, Scotland on May 20, 1924. She was educated in Rutherglen and graduated from the Northern College of Chiropody in Glasgow. She practiced Chiropody in Kilmarnoch with Miss Elizabeth Harvey, her life-long mentor and friend. During the Second War, she met a dashing Canadian airman and in 1946, came to Canada to be married. She farmed and raised a family in Oxdrift and later worked for Dr. Gordon Hall, McAulay and Partners and Alex Wilson Coldstream Ltd. Throughout this time, she practiced Chiropody on a volunteer basis. In 1983 (?), she realized a life's dream when Ontario regulated her profession and she was once again able to practice professionally. She operated her Chiropody clinic at Patricia Gardens until ill health forced her to retire at the age of 78. Ena is survived by sons, Robert (Susan), Alan (Ursula); daughter Christine (Nick) and grandchildren, Patrick, Andrew, Robert and Peter. She was predeceased by her father, Robert Thomson; her mother, Christina McInnis Thomson; her husband, Robert Irvin Skene and a twin brother and sister who died in infancy. She was a long-time member of the Oxdrift Women's Institute, a Provincial Board Director of the Federated Women's Institutes of Ontario and a member of the Associated Country Women of the World. She felt strongly about the need for shelters for abused women, helped to found Hoshizaki House and was a director on its board for nine years. She was a member of the United Church in Oxdrift and Dryden, serving on the Official Board and teaching Sunday School at Oxdrift for sixteen years. She was a member of the Oxdrift U.C.W and a director of the Dryden Agricultural Society. If friends so desire, donations may be made to Hoshizaki House or the Dryden O.S.P.C.A. through the Stevens Funeral Home, Moffat Chapel, Box 412, Dryden, ON P8N 2Z1.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on May 18, 2005