Dulcia Mae (Dell) Cherry
Dell Cherry passed away peacefully at Grand River Hospital’s palliative care unit at the Freeport campus on Monday 23-November-2020 at the age of 96 years. Dearly loved mother of John Cherry (Nancy) of Waterloo; cherished grandmother of Erin Gerger (Shawn) of Kitchener, Brent Cherry and Alden Cherry of Waterloo. Predeceased by her husband of 58 years Harold J. Cherry (2006), her parents Lorne Allan Winters (1949), Jennie G. Smith (née Barr, 1987), and step father C. Kenneth Smith (1978).
Dell was born in North Bay, Ontario on 13-March-1924. As a young adult Dell spent summers with her grandmothers in eastern Ontario learning the fine arts of canning, dressmaking and needlework. She learned to make many of her own clothes under the stern tutelage of her maternal grandmother, a seamstress. Dell’s dill pickle recipe is carried on by her family to a substantial and growing following in Waterloo.
In 1948 Dell and Harold married in North Bay, and lived in many cities over the years. Harold was
posted at the time of their marriage to Hornpayne ON as a track and bridges engineer for the Canadian National Railway. Subsequent moves with CN took them to Capreol, Montreal, Toronto and Windsor.
In 1971 Dell accompanied Harold with a team of CN specialists assigned to the Canadian International Development Agency posted to Lagos, Nigeria for a year; the project was to assist with the redevelopment of the Nigerian railway system at the end of the Biafran civil war. After this assignment they returned to Windsor for five years and then moved to Ottawa until after Harold’s retirement, and then finally to their long-standing desired destination of London ON. After Harold’s passing Dell relocated to Waterloo in 2007 to be closer to her family, spending her final 13 years thoroughly enjoying life at the Sunshine Centre of Luther Village On The Park.
Dell’s life was defined by nursing. She entered nursing college in North Bay after high school, and worked as a registered nurse in northern Ontario and at Sick Children’s Hospital in Montreal. After her working years she retained her RN accreditation for several years, teaching night courses and seminars She loved to tell stories of her adventures as night supervisor and as an obstetrics and surgical nurse in North Bay and Montreal. Wherever she lived after retiring from nursing, she was the first point of contact for neighbours and Harold’s work colleagues for her opinion on health matters. This was especially notable during their time in Nigeria.
Dell volunteered at the Ottawa General Hospital Cancer Clinic for 25 years, serving as co-convener for several of those years. She faithfully supported Harold’s retirement project of restoring classic Chriscraft wooden boats, and they spent many enjoyable days cruising the Rideau Canal and entertaining friends onboard their 1940 cabin cruiser, Nemesis.
Dell’s friends and acquaintances will recall her crediting her long life and robust health to “ice cream and chocolate”, which were made available in abundance during recent years and her final days at Grand River Hospital.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Henry Walser Funeral Home in Kitchener ON, 519-749-8467. Cremation has taken place; a private family ceremony and interment will take place in North Bay ON at a later date.
The family wishes to express deepest thanks to the nurses and PSWs at Luther Village Sunshine Centre in Waterloo ON for their outstanding and diligent care over the past thirteen years. As expressions of sympathy, memorial donations to Lutherwood Child and Family Foundation, or the Ottawa Hospital Foundation – Cancer Research Program would be appreciated.
Death is only a horizon, and a horizon is the limit of our sight. – Henry Jackson van Dyke (1852 – 1933)
Visit www.henrywalser.com for Dell’s memorial.
Read Less
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Dulcia Mae Cherry Monday November 23rd 2020..
Death notice for the town of: Kitchener, Province: Ontario