Anne McAuley (Zarowny)
June 11, 1926 – January 12, 2020
If you are about to recycle a Kleenex box top – stop! Anne would want you to use the back side for your grocery or to-do list first.
On Sunday, January 12, 2020 Anne was re-united with her husband and favourite dance partner Leo John McAuley. She died of pancreatic cancer, peacefully at the Stratford Rotary Hospice surrounded with love. Anne was 93.
Born June 11, 1926 to Petro Zarowny and Mary Zazulak, Anne was the youngest of six children. She grew up on a farm in Elk Point, Alberta, excelled at math, and graduated from King George School with honours.
In 1944 at age 18, Anne set out on her own. She found work at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta and enjoyed the big city. Then she got the offer of a lifetime, an opportunity to work at Great Slave Lake Hospital in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. She jumped at the chance, packed her bags, and took the first flight of her life.
In 1949, Anne travelled cross country by train to Hamilton, Ontario to visit a cousin. There she found a career at the Westinghouse where she built motors and friendships that lasted a lifetime.
Anne loved to dance and met her husband at the Rose Dance Hall in Hamilton. He walked over, sat down at her booth, and started flirting … right in front of her date. Leo stayed all night and from that day on, he did the same thing every time he saw her. He was smitten and she wasn’t sure what to think. But, two years later Leo’s tenacity paid off and they married in 1951.
Together, Leo and Anne set out on many adventures travelling across Canada and the United States. They lived in Hamilton, Waterloo, Napanee, and Hilton before settling in Brighton, Ontario.
Anne kept an immaculate home, made delicious pierogies, and never met a shirt she did not iron. She was a disciple of Heloise, often seen riding her lawn tractor, with bounce sheets pinned to her blouse to ward off mosquitoes.
Anne’s mischievous and sometimes outrageous sense of humour was legendary. She hung an almost naked Jose Bautista photo in her retirement home closet claiming it was scandalous, then, left the door open constantly to show off his buns.
She was a skilled cribbage player, avid fan of the Blue Jays (both the baseball team and the bird), enjoyed sharing a good joke, playing the slots and the thrill of yelling “bingo”! But nothing brought Anne more joy than her grand-daughters Kirsten and Hayley – both genuine squirts of sunshine.
Anne loved “The Price is Right”, “Jeopardy”, and “Wheel of Fortune” and thought Pat Sajak was a stand-up guy for keeping Vanna White by his side.
For those that admired Anne’s hair, and there were many … the secret was Fanci-Full #42 Silver Lining mousse. It gently tinted her locks the slightest shade of purple and kept the curl bouncing back for days.
Pre-deceased by her loving husband Leo John McAuley, son Peter James, parents and siblings Jack (Pearl), Josephine (Jack Osolinsky), Anton (Phyllis) and Mike.
Anne leaves behind her sister Pauline Bodner (Abbotsford, BC), son Daniel (Sebringville, ON), daughter Sandra and son-in-law Steven Drake (Stratford, ON), grand-daughters Kirsten and Hayley, their mother, Jennifer Bell (Stratford, ON), many nieces, nephews, and her fierce, fabulous friends.
Special thanks to her extended family at Anne Hathaway Retirement Residence, the care teams at Stratford General Hospital, the Centre for Liver and Pancreas Cancer at London Health Sciences Hospital and surgeon Dr. Jeffrey Hawel. You all moved mountains for our mother.
As a family we will forever be grateful to the entire team at Stratford Rotary Hospice. Thank you for helping Anne navigate her final journey with compassion and dignity. You treated our mother like your own and took care of us along the way.
A graveside service will take place on June 11, 2020 – it would have been Anne’s 94th birthday. She thought everyone would already be sad, so it would be a good excuse to get a day off work.
In lieu of flowers, donations will be accepted for the Stratford Rotary Hospice and Canadian Cancer Society.
Please take a moment to share your memories of Anne with us on-line at www.wgyoungfuneralhome.com.
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Anne McAuley 2020..
Death notice for the town of: Stratford, Province: Ontario