Parcourez la nécrologie de Mary Robertshaw Monday October 14th 2024 résidant dans la province Ontario pour le détail des funérailles.
Mary Robertshaw (née Perrott) passed away on Monday 14 October 2024 at the age of 88. She leaves behind her husband Owen and brother Stephen; five children, Colin (Joan), Keith (Karen), Peter (Mary), Dawn (Jason), and Heather; twelve grandchildren, David (Caralee), Laura, Matthew (Kiersten), Sarah (Mike), Melinda (James), Paul (Christine), Erin (Andy), Stephanie (Garrett), Nicole (Jake), Gavin, Kaitlyn (Brandon) and Lindsay; and thirteen great-grandchildren, Eden, Lila, Arya, JJ, Mark, Wyatt, Wesley, Hannah, Aria, Avery, Raylan, Cody and Calum. And apart from a family that will miss her dearly, she leaves behind the memory of an inspiring life that her loved ones will treasure for years to come. More than a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, she was also a teacher, a supporter, a music lover, a romantic, and an inspiring model of resilience, faith, adventure and love without limits.
Her early years were marked with adventure and excitement. Some of her earliest memories were of the Second World War. Manchester was an important industrial town and, therefore, the target of German bombing raids in the early years of the war. In 1940, the year she turned five, German airplanes dropped more than 400 tonnes of bombs on her city. Over the course of two days—23 and 24 December 1940—more than 800 civilians were killed and 2000 injured in Manchester. Like any five-year-old, she rolled with it. She thought it was a bit of fun to spend nights in the bunker. «It was like camping out,» she later said. «It was like a game.» She fondly recalled her father tenderly carrying her out to the bunker to spend the night. It wasn’t all fun, though. Eight decades later, she still remembered the sound of the bombs. She did not like the sound of the bombs. But that five-year-old girl made it through. In defiance of the Luftwaffe, she lived another 84 years.
She was nine years old when the war ended. The year she turned fourteen, her church youth group went on a tour of an old coal mine—a very Mancunian way to spend an evening. In the dark, in the depths, she met a dashing young Robertshaw named Owen. They literally met underground. It was all uphill from there. Two years later they started courting, and Owen brought her home to meet his family. But before they could get married, though, he had to do his National Service. In those days, boys aged 18-20 had to do two years of service in the British military. Owen’s was deferred until he was twenty-one because he was doing an apprenticeship at an engineering firm, Mather and Platt. But in 1954 he headed south-east to serve for two years in the Royal Air Force at the North Weald Airfield in Es. While she waited, Mary got her first job, working for the National Institute for the Blind.
Finally, in September 1955, the pair got married and went on a honeymoon—a motorbike trip through Wales, which famously involved the bike throwing a tyre while they were on it. They started a family, and Mary settled into a new adventure—motherhood. She also worked as a schoolteacher. While their kids were very young, Owen worked at Mather & Platt during the day, and, in the evening, Mary rode the bus across town to attend a night course at the University of Manchester to get her teaching certificate. She also once did a pre-Christmas season packing Mars Bars at a chocolate factory.
She was also involved at her church, South Chadderton Methodist in the outskirts of Manchester. Her three sons were members of the church’s Boys’ Brigade. At the time, many churches had Boys’ Brigades which organized activities for boys, but programs for girls were less common. Noticing this shortcoming, Mary founded a Girls’ Brigade at the church. Meanwhile, her sons’ involvement in the Boys’ Brigade proved to be momentous. In 1973 it held a contest which granted the winners a free trip to Canada. The Robertshaw boys won the contest and packed their bags for Ontario. On their return, they begged their parents to move across the Atlantic to Canada, apparently because «it has seasons.» For some reason, the parents agreed. In 1974, they gave up bustling Manchester for the open skies of Canada.
In Ontario, Mary got involved in numerous activities. She worked for Welcome Wagon and also began hosting foster children, inspiring some of her now grown-up children to do likewise. In 1980, at the age of forty-four, she welcomed her fifth child, Heather. She continued to be involved in her church, which, in 1989, presented the opportunity for Mary, Owen and Heather to move north into the wilds of Magnetawan to manage Camp Kahquah. While raising Heather, she and Owen oversaw the camp’s year-round activities for several years, impacting the lives of hundreds of children and families and building a strong community there.
Through it all, she never lost her resilience; she lived through a war like it was camping, and later ended up camping for a living. She never lost her spirit of adventure; she moved across the ocean to a place that “has seasons,” and then spent much of her retirement years driving back and forth to and from Florida to avoid them. Her abiding faith and her commitment to her family and community were an inspiration to many. She taught us to love without limits, and that lesson will continue to have an impact for generations to come.
Mary’s Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, October 26th, at 2 pm at Cross Roads BIC Church, 4614 Wellington Rd. 32, Guelph, ON N1H 6J3. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Alzheimer’s Society.
Monday October 14th 2024
Décès pour la Ville:Cambridge, Province: Ontario
avis deces Mary Robertshaw Monday October 14th 2024
nécrologie Mary Robertshaw Monday October 14th 2024
Nous offrons nos plus sincères condoléances à la famille et aux amis de Mary Robertshaw Monday October 14th 2024 et espérons que leur mémoire pourra être une source de réconfort pendant cette période difficile. Vos pensées et vos mots aimables sont grandement appréciés.