After a long, healthy life, Gladys Fox passed away on 25 June 2021 at the age of 96. She was predeceased by husband Charles in 2010 and is survived by sons Paul (Queta) and Bruce; daughter Janice (Rick); grandchildren Claudia (Åsmund), Brandon (Umeka), Byron (Suzanne), Steven (Jessica), Lance (Diana), Troy; great-grandchildren Iyhyanna, Quinn, Jillian, Maya, Andrés, and Theo; sister Joyce and nephews Gary and Glenn in England; and niece Jill (Ted) and nephew Doug.
Born in London, England, on 15 June 1925, Gladys grew up at 98 Portland Road in Notting Hill in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in an era when this now posh area was still a humble working-class neighbourhood. She enjoyed a happy, stable childhood with her parents Neville and Elsie and younger sister Joyce in a flat above the family-owned Portland Road Dairy. One of her fondest memories of that time was of walking down the street to her uncle Eric’s variety store where he would treat her to two scoops of ice cream.
In the years that followed, however, Gladys’s life would be forever changed by the events of World War II. As a teenager, she bunked in government shelters and underground stations during the nightly bombing raids of the London Blitz; the death and devastation she witnessed each following morning were a traumatic experience that remained with her for life. As a young woman she worked with radar in the war effort and enjoyed socializing with friends and going to dances.
Gladys was predeceased during the war by fiancé Wendell “Dell” Pierce Drew, a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot who perished in the North Sea in 1944. An invitation to visit his parents in Radisson, Saskatchewan, just outside of Saskatoon, brought Gladys to Canada after the war, and ultimately led to her immigrating, meeting husband Charlie, and putting down roots in Sarnia.
Gladys and Charlie enjoyed many road trips in their station wagon with their young family in Canada and the United States, and then in their later years together as a couple to Switzerland, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Gladys always remembered with nostalgia how she was greeted by the customs agent on one of her last trips home to England: “Welcome home, love,” he said, as he stamped her Canadian passport. Gladys had fully embraced life in Canada, but England was always home.
Gladys was kind, cheerful, and compassionate. She was a strong-willed, even stubborn, woman with a good sense of humour and an adventurous spirit. Everyone who knew her knew of her natural talent and passion for interior decorating; many family members and friends throughout the years would have their walls painted and wallpapered by her. (She once joked that she wanted her casket to be wallpapered.) And though she was never fond of spending time in the kitchen, she was the quintessential good housekeeper. Her immaculate home was elegantly styled to reflect her English heritage; outdoors the garden that she loved tending was a natural extension of the home’s interior beauty.
Gladys always had a sweet tooth that she indulged in moderation for her entire life. Her grandchildren have fond memories of the stash of Peek Freans Assorted English cookies she always kept in her cupboard, which Charlie would happily distribute to the kids, always encouraging them to “take two, one for each hand.” And sometimes the kids would even find the familiar white cardboard box from Williams Pastry, which would never remain full for long.
Gladys remained actively independent into her nineties, keeping her home and garden, and running errands around town in her brightly coloured Ford. She also had little problem keeping up with the technological revolution, joining Facebook in her late eighties and FaceTiming with her children and grandchildren until the last days of her life.
Gladys loved music, reading, classic movies, playing the organ, singing in the church choir, and sports; tennis was paramount, and she would get up at the crack of dawn each summer to watch Wimbledon matches live on TV. She would have surely thought it no exaggeration to say that the most tragic part of her passing was the timing: after being cancelled last year due to the pandemic, Wimbledon 2021 was just days away, and she was so looking forward to it.
In the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, the Books of Remembrance display the names of all the Canadians who have given their lives in military service. Every morning at eleven o’clock, a page in each book is turned. In an astounding coincidence on a trip to Ottawa with daughter Janice in June 1993, Gladys was in the Peace Tower shortly before eleven o’clock on the very morning that the Second World War Book of Remembrance was opened to page 294—the very page displaying the name of Flying Officer Drew.
Gladys was one of the very last of the Greatest Generation. While she was one of the fortunate ones of her generation to go on to live a long, full life, she had her fair share of grief and sorrows; one that never left her was the massive loss of life during the war. “So many young men were lost,” she lamented many times throughout her life.
Her life spanning nearly a century, Gladys witnessed immense devastation, but also peace, progress, and stability. She knew she was fortunate, having reaped the benefits of the sacrifices of so many that went before her. She loved and lived for her family, and believed they were her greatest achievement in life. Hers was a life well lived.
There’ll be love and laughter
And peace ever after
Tomorrow, when the world is free
The white cliffs of Dover await you.
Rest in peace, Mum/Grandma.
Cremation to take place. The family wishes to send a special thanks to the staff of Rosewood Village and Palliative Care at Bluewater Health for their kindness and their compassionate care.
Arrangements entrusted to Smith Funeral Home, 1576 London Line, Sarnia.
June 15th 1925 June 25th 2021
Nos plus sincères sympathies à la famille et aux amis de Gladys Gertrude Fox nee Hope June 15th 1925 June 25th 2021..
Décès pour la Ville:Sarnia, Province: Ontario