ISHERWOOD o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-12-26 published
Doreen Ruth
ISHERWOOD
By Colleen
ISHERWOOD,
Friday,
December 26, 2003 - Page A32
Mother, sister, grandmother, poet, ceramist, traveller, dog lover.
Born December 3, 1925, in Hamilton, Ontario. Died March 2 in
Hamilton, of lung cancer, aged 77.
Doreen Ruth
HILL was born the youngest of the three
HILL sisters:
Fern, Joyce and Doreen. She grew up in Hamilton, finished school
and went to work at Westinghouse, where she met a young man named
Maurice ISHERWOOD.
Doreen and Maurice fell in love -- but the
war intervened. Maurice went off to join the navy, and Doreen
worked for the Red Cross. But they wanted to get married, and
on October 21, 1944, they did just that.
Their wedding was crammed into a four-day period when Maurice
was on leave from the war. And Doreen didn't get much warning!
In fact, she had to borrow a wedding dress from a friend, in
a hurry. Honeymoon? Well, that was a quick weekend in Montreal.
The marriage didn't get off to a great start -- but it was a
good marriage. It lasted for almost 59 years.
Do and Mo, as they became known, had three sons: Frank in 1948,
Steve in 1952 and Mark in 1958. When I first started dating their
son Steve in the 1970s, I must admit I found Doreen rather outspoken.
She told us exactly what she thought, no holds barred -- how
rusty our car was, how Steve's student digs had wall-to-wall
dog hair, how threadbare Steve's cords were, and how university-educated
kids like Steve and I were totally lacking in ordinary common
sense! I won't comment on how accurate her comments were, but
I will say this: Doreen only spoke her mind to the people she
liked.
In the 1970s, Do and Mo had a fabulous social life, with Friends
that partied and vacationed together all the time. They took
cruises to exotic locations like Mexico, the Caribbean and Alaska
one of their most memorable trips was to Hawaii in 1975. As the
ISHERWOOD women looked through old photo albums to find photos
for a collage to display at the funeral, we came across pictures
of Doreen and her buddies in hula wear, modelling baby-doll pajamas,
and posing with some very young, good-looking men who were not
Mo or any of the other husbands! Back home, their gang had Englebert
Humperdinck parties, bon-voyage parties, welcome-back parties,
nifty-fifty parties -- any excuse would do. And for each occasion,
Doreen would write a funny poem.
My kids always called Doreen "Freezie Grandma." That was because
she would serve Mr. Freeze pops when we came to visit. Even years
later, when the kids had outgrown Mr. Freeze pops, the name still
stuck. Doreen and her granddaughters did ceramics together --
making garden elves, beer steins, ducks, angels, and more. Doreen
also loved holding garage sales. She had one warning for her
"saling" buddies. She'd say, "When I'm gone, don't you dare sell
my good china for 10 cents a plate at some bloody garage sale!"
The last few years were tough ones for Doreen, as she struggled
with cancer and other ailments. But throughout those years, she
demonstrated that she was a strong and determined woman. When
her eldest grand-daughter, Tara-Lyn, announced her engagement
to Christopher
CHORLEY in early 2001, Tara and Doreen set about
making 150 ceramic candle holders -- one for each guest at the
wedding. Doreen was already struggling with health problems at
that time, and it seemed highly unlikely that she would ever
last the year-and-a-half until the wedding.
But not only did she last, she also looked absolutely fantastic
as she saw her oldest grandchild married in June, 2002. And for
those who attended the wedding, the little candle-holders provide
not only a memory of Tara-Lyn and Chris's celebration, but also
of the special grandmother who helped make them.
Colleen is Doreen's daughter-in-law.
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