BLYTH o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-05-21 published
BLYTH,
Reverend
Patricia (née
WILLIAMS) M.A. (Oxon)
Born January 10, 1916, Reigate, England; died, after a long and
impressive life - as war bride, army wife, teacher, headmistress,
diplomatic spouse, priest, chaplain, volunteer - in Ottawa on
May 20, 2003, with her children at her side. Dearly beloved wife
of the late David Wilson
BLYTH.
Much loved and loving mother
of Susan PERREN,
Sally
BLYTH (Alan
BULL,) Carol
FINLAY (Bryan,)
Molly BLYTH
(John
MILLOY,) Jane
O'BRIAN (Geoffrey) and Sam (Rosemary
PHELAN.)
Loving grandmother to Max (Sarah,) Bianca and Henry
Emily (Brian) and Megan; Molly (Sam) and Charles; Michael-John,
Bridget, Jeremy and Clare; Patrick and Katie; Frannie and Maddie
great-grandmother to Quinn and Rachel. Mourned by her many Friends
and colleagues, including those at Rideau Place, Island Lodge
and St. Bartholomew's Church. A celebration of her life with
Holy Eucharist will take place at St. Bartholomew's Anglican
Church, 125 MacKay Street, Ottawa, Friday, May 23, 2003 at 11: 00
a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Primate's
World Relief Development Fund, 600 Jarvis Street, Toronto M4Y
2J6 (or through www.pwrdf.org). Funeral arrangements with the
Central Chapel of Hulse, Playfair and McGarry, Ottawa 613-233-1143
Condolences/donations at: mcgarryfamily.ca
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BLYTH o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-07-04 published
Patricia BLYTH
By Sam BLYTH
Friday,
July 4, 2003 - Page A18
Wife, mother, teacher, headmistress, priest. Born January 10,
1916, in Reigate, Surrey. Died May 20 in Ottawa, of cancer, aged
In the middle of the night, in the middle of February 1953, in
a blinding snowstorm, mother disembarked from the Canadian in
Brandon, Manitoba, with her five young daughters in hand. Dressed
in a full-length mink coat and direct from London via Halifax,
she watched as the porter hurled her trunks onto the platform
and told her: "If this is where you are going to live -- God
help you." Fifty years later she dryly observed that He certainly
did.
Mother was born Patricia
WILLIAMS to a gentler life in England.
Educated at Cheltenham Ladies College and Lady Margaret Hall,
Oxford, she read English and was tutored by C.S.
LEWIS and J.R.R.
TOLKIEN.
Oxford life between the wars was both elegant and edgy,
with the likes of John
PROFUMO and Harold
WILSON in her year.
While mom inherited a strong Christian work ethic from her great-grandfather,
Sir George
WILLIAMS, she was not above enjoying some of the better
things in life.
The war brought both drama and excitement and then devastating
loss as her only sibling Graham was killed in action.
She met my father on a golf course in Kent during the darkest
days of the war. He was a clean-cut Canadian from Regina who
went on to command a flight squadron. Their romance played out
in London during the blitz and on their wedding night the fires
burned so brightly that they could read at night without turning
the lights on. Undeterred, they produced three children before
the end of the war and went on to have three more, including
a son born in Camp Shilo, Manitoba, where mom was bound that
February in 1953.
After the family relocated to Ottawa, Mom's career as a mother
and a military wife soon gave way to a second career of teaching
at Elmwood School. Success in the classroom led to her appointment
as headmistress. Mrs.
BLYTH was an imposing figure and not to
be trifled with. But she was also caring of her students and
they returned her devotion.
It must have been with a heavy heart that she gave it all up
to accompany dad to diplomatic posts in England, West Germany
and Greece. In Bonn, she decided to learn to drive and, after
buying an orange Volkswagen, took to the roads and autobahns
with a determination that impressed even the locals. Her third
career as a diplomatic spouse was unfulfilling.
Mom's fourth career was perhaps her calling in life. Following
dad's death in 1985, she started as a lay reader in a small Anglican
parish in the West Country of England. Soon she ran up against
the Church of England's refusal to ordain woman so she relocated
one last time to Ottawa, where she was ordained shortly before
her 70th birthday. Every summer thereafter she returned to Devon,
installed herself at the local inn and met her former parishioners.
For the last 17 years in Ottawa, she spent her life ministering
to the elderly and dying in a large public health facility. In
this grim setting she was superb and much loved by both the patients
and the caregivers. In her last months, she cared for people
who were likely both younger and healthier than Mom as she dealt
with terminal lung cancer. Typically, she refused to see a doctor,
knowing that the diagnosis would be bad and perhaps curtail her
day-to-day life. When she finally agreed to see a doctor she
would have less than a week to live.
Several weeks prior to that she summoned the priest in charge
of her church to discuss her funeral arrangements. She told him
that he should do what he thought was best and then proceeded
to tell him exactly what to do. At the funeral, he told an enormous
congregation that Pat had insisted that there be no eulogies
and then proceeded to deliver one. It was a fitting tribute.
Sam BLYTH is Patricia
BLYTH's son.
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