McDERMID o@ca.on.manitoulin.howland.little_current.manitoulin_expositor 2003-04-30 published
George
Lawrence
Henry
SKIPPEN
In loving memory of George Lawrence Henry
SKIPPEN who passed away
peacefully at his home on Monday, April 21, 2003 at the age of 77 years.
Born October 19, 1925. Predeceased by his beloved wife Eva (nee
BATMAN.)
Loving father of Brad and Julie of Spring Bay and Brent of
Lions Head. Will be missed by grandchildren Amy Skippen, Jason,
Tyler and Zachary
McDERMID.
Predeceased by his only brother Norm
SKIPPEN. Dear brother-in-law of Gertrude and Rodney
AELICK of Little
Current and Greg
BATMAN of Sheguiandah. Uncle of many nieces and nephews.
Visitation was held on Wednesday, April 23, 2003. The funeral
service was held on Thursday, April 24, 2003, both at Island Funeral Home.
Burial in Elmview Cemetery.
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McDERMID o@ca.on.manitoulin.howland.little_current.manitoulin_expositor 2003-08-20 published
Lottie Mae
McDONALD
In loving memory of Lottie Mae
McDONALD,
July 29, 1922 to August 14, 2003.
Lottie Mae
McDONALD, a resident of Meadowview Apartments,
Mindemoya, passed away at her residence on Thursday, August 14, 2003
at the age of 81 years. She was born in Gordon Township daughter of
the late William and Sarah
(STRAIN)
SCOTT.
Lottie
Mae had been very
active in her community, having been a member of the Horticultural
Society, The Agricultural Society and a School Board Trustee for 18
years. She had many hobbies, including gardening, knitting, sewing,
and quilting. Well known and respected in her community, she will be
sadly missed by all who knew her. A loving mother, grandmother,
sister and friend, many fond memories will be cherished.
She was predeceased by her husband Jack
McDONALD in 1984. Loving and
loved mother of John and his wife Anita of Sioux Lookout, Peter and
his wife Nancy of Kenora, Carey of Orillia, Penny and husband Milford
of Barrie, Paul and his wife Christine of Sudbury and Adam and his
wife Kathy of Mindemoya. Proud grandmother of Bonnie, Jason,
Jacqueline, Sean, Jane, Casey, Scott, Lindsay, Ben, Kaitlyn and T.J.
Dear sister of Beatrice
BEANGE,
Ted
SCOTT (predeceased,) Margie
BLACKBURN, Maria
McDERMID, John
SCOTT and Fred
SCOTT.
Friends called the Salem Missionary Church, Spring Bay, on Friday,
August 15, 2003. The funeral service was conducted at the Church on
Saturday,
August 16, 2003 with pastor Al
WILKINSON officiating.
Interment in Providence Bay Cemetery. Culgin Funeral Home.
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McDERMID o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-07-08 published
VILA,
Helen
Jeanette
59, died on Sunday, July 6, 2003, at her home in Scotch Hill,
Pictou Co., Nova Scotia. Born in Hamilton, Ontario, she was a
daughter of the late Alan P.
VILA and Jeanette
(McVICAR)
VILA.
Helen attended schools in Chippawa, Ontario, and Baldwin, New
York, where she excelled in sports and music. She graduated with
Honours in English from McGill University and with a master teacher
certificate from the Ontario College of Education at the University
of Toronto. For several years, Helen taught English at Lawrence
Park Collegiate Institute and film arts at Sheridan College in
Toronto.
Later, she and her late companion Trini
PEREZ had a
home craft business in woodworking and jewelry in Stoney Creek,
Ontario, which they continued in Pictou. In recent years, Helen
sang in the Hosannah Gospel Choir at the United Church of Canada,
Lyons Brook, served as a volunteer at the Maritime Odd Fellows
home, and worked at the job placement center and the library.
She is survived by her sisters and brothers, Mary
SHAW and her
husband Robert of Palo Alto, California; John
VILA and his partner
Terry BISHOP of Guttenberg, New Jersey; James
VILA and his wife
Tanya of Tilton, New Hampshire; Elizabeth
ROGAN and her husband
Edward of Glastonbury, Connecticut; and Anne
VILA and her husband
Steven JACOBS of Needham, Massachusetts; and by five nieces --
Catherine VILA,
Carolyn
ROGAN, Jenny
ROGAN, Julia
JACOBS, and
Anne ROGAN; four nephews -- Mark
SHAW,
Andrew
SHAW, Jonathan
SHAW and Daniel
JACOBS; four grandnieces -- Jessica, Kaeli, Alissa
and Zoë; one grandnephew -- Max; and two stepnieces -- Tracy
MESSINGER and Kerri
PACHOMOW.
Helen will be dearly missed by
her companion, Margaret
MacCULLOCH, who cared for her during
her long illness. Visitation will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on
Friday, July 11, at the McLaren Funeral Home, 246 Faulkland Street,
Pictou. The funeral will be held at the United Church in Lyons
Brook at 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 12, Mary
MacDERMID officiating.
Interment at the Scotch Hill Cemetery will be followed by a reception
at the church hall. Her family requests that, in lieu of flowers,
memorial donations be made to the Canadian Cancer Society --
Nova Scotia Division, the Humane Society of Canada, or to Palliative
Care of the Aberdeen Hospital.
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McDERMOTT o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-02-14 published
Former
Canadian▼
Labour▼ Congress president
McDERMOTT dies at 81
Friday, February 14, 2003, Page A7
Labour▼ union titan Dennis
McDERMOTT has died. He was 81.
Nearly 22 years ago, Mr.
McDERMOTT led a massive rally at Parliament
Hill, said to be the largest such demonstration in Canadian history,
to protest against the oppressive burden of high interest rates
that created high unemployment and economic instability.
At the time, Mr.
McDERMOTT was president of the Canadian Labour
Congress, a post he held from 1978 to 1986.
"Dennis McDERMOTT's career was a model of effective trade-union
leadership," Canadian Labour Congress president Ken
GEORGETTI
said last night.
"All his actions were grounded in bread-and-butter issues, yet
he will be remembered for advancing human-rights issues, labour's
political action and outreach to workers and their unions around
the world."
Mr. McDERMOTT's interest in trade unionism began just after the
Second World War, when he started working as an assembler and
welder at a Massey-Ferguson plant in Toronto. In short order,
he became an activist with the United Auto Workers, now known
as the Canadian Auto Workers-Canada.
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McDERMOTT o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-03-19 published
'His heart was always in the labour movement'
United Auto Workers director and Canadian Labour Congress president,
he was one of labour's most influential leaders
By Allison
LAWLOR
Wednesday,
March 19, 2003 - Page R7
He went from the assembly line to the lofty heights of union
leadership. Dennis
McDERMOTT, who died last month at age 80,
was one of Canada's most influential labour leaders throughout
the 1970s and 1980s as Canadian director of the United Auto Workers
and later president of the Canadian Labour Congress.
Mr. McDERMOTT's life in the labour movement began in 1948 when
he started work as an assembler and welder at the Massey Harris
(later Massey Ferguson) plant in Toronto. He joined United Auto
Workers Local 439 and quickly rose through the ranks.
"He had a lot of pizzazz, said Bob
WHITE/WHYTE, former president
of the Canadian Auto Workers and the Canadian Labour Congress.
"He had a good sense of what was good for working people."
After a 38-year career in the Canadian labour movement, Mr.
McDERMOTT
was made Canadian ambassador to Ireland in 1986 by Prime Minister
Brian MULRONEY.
Mr.
McDERMOTT received some criticism within
the labour movement for the appointment, but he made no apologies.
"I didn't cross the floor and become a Conservative. I am a social
democrat and will continue to be a social democrat, " he said
at the time. "I will continue to act and speak as a trade unionist,
Mr. McDERMOTT said in 1986 after accepting his appointment.
Mr. McDERMOTT was known for his sharp tongue and had a particularly
abrasive relationship with former prime minister Pierre
TRUDEAU.
He fought against the anti-inflation policies of the Trudeau
government, in particular wage and price controls.
On November 21, 1981, Mr.
McDERMOTT led a massive rally on Parliament
Hill, said to be the largest such demonstration in Canadian history.
About 100,000 people protested against the oppressive burden
of high interest rates that created high unemployment and economic
instability.
Behind his combative style, Mr.
McDERMOTT had a strong intellect
and a talent for building consensus. As Canadian Labour Congress
president, he was able to reach out to other groups and build
a coalition among various social interests in Canada in pursuit
of common goals.
"I am confrontational. When I have to play hardball, I play hardball.
But I can be just as conciliatory as anyone else. I can walk
with the bat or I can walk with the olive branch. It depends
on what's happening, Mr.
McDERMOTT once told a reporter.
Dennis McDERMOTT was born on November 3, 1922, in Portsmouth,
England. He was the eldest of three children to his Irish parents
John and Beatrice
McDERMOTT.
Growing up poor, Mr.
McDERMOTT learned
firsthand about some of life's injustices. As a young boy in
the church choir, Mr.
McDERMOTT remembered being left behind
on the bus while the rest of the choir performed at a concert
because his family was too poor to buy him a uniform, said his
wife, Claire
McDERMOTT.
Mr. McDERMOTT left school at age 14 to become a butcher's helper.
Two years later, he joined the Royal Navy. During the Second
World War, he served on a destroyer escort travelling on convoy
duty to different parts of Europe and sometimes to the Russian
port of Murmansk. In 1947, he left the navy to work in a Scottish
coal mine before coming the Canada.
After landing a job at Massey Harris in Toronto, Mr.
McDERMOTT
quickly became involved in the United Auto Workers. Small in
stature, but with a quick mind and wit, he became a budding leader.
"He was very impressive, said Bromley
ARMSTRONG, a civil and
human-rights activist who worked with Mr.
McDERMOTT at Massey
Harris. "He held rapt attention."
During his first year in the union, Mr.
McDERMOTT worked on the
Joint Labour Committee to Combat Racial Intolerance, which successfully
lobbied to help bring about Ontario's first piece of human-rights
legislation, the Fair Employment Practices Act of 1948.
His work in human rights continued throughout his career. He
later served on the executive of the Toronto Committee for Human
Rights and as a member of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
He was awarded the Order of Ontario for his work in the trade-union
and human-rights movements. After serving in several positions
in the United Auto Workers Local 439, Mr.
McDERMOTT became a
full-time organizer for the union in 1954. He was made subregional
director of the Toronto area in 1960, a position he held until
being elected Canadian director of the United Auto Workers in
1968. During his first year as Canadian director, he moved the
union headquarters from Windsor, Ontario, to Toronto.
"He started down the road towards more autonomy for the Canadian
union, and he reached out to all points of view inside the union,
Mr. WHITE/WHYTE said. (In 1985, the Canadian arm of the United Auto
Workers broke away to form its own union -- the Canadian Auto
Workers,)
"Dennis McDERMOTT raised the profile of the Canadian labour movement
to new heights, said Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz
HARGROVE.
"He was a tough and effective negotiator at the bargaining table,
but he also took on the key social and political issues of the
day."
Mr. HARGROVE added that his friend and colleague "always had
a vision for the movement."
Mr. McDERMOTT was a strong supporter of American Cesar
CHAVEZ
and the United Farm Workers. He led a contingent of Canadians
to California and also organized a march in Toronto to raise
money for Mr.
CHAVEZ.
Elected
Canadian▲
Labour▲ Congress president in 1978, Mr.
McDERMOTT
served in that position until his retirement in 1986. When asked
by a reporter what he considered his prime accomplishment, he
pointed to the labour congress. "I think putting the Canadian
Labour Congress on the map. Before I came there, it was pretty
low profile. You never heard of it. I was kind of proud of that,
Mr. McDERMOTT said in a 1989 interview with The Toronto Star.
McDERMOTT also broadened the Canadian Labour Congress's role
in international affairs. He was a member of the executive board
of the Inter-American Regional Organization of Workers and served
as vice-president of the International Confederation of Free
Trade Unions.
"His heart was always in the labour movement, Ms.
McDERMOTT
said. During his three years as ambassador to Ireland in the
late 1980s, Mr.
McDERMOTT made headlines when he lashed out at
Irish government officials for giving better treatment to singer
Michael Jackson's pet chimpanzee than the
McDERMOTT's Great Dane,
Murphy. Mr. Jackson's chimp was whisked into the country while
Murphy had to endure six months of quarantine. The dog died shortly
after being freed.
Mr. McDERMOTT enjoyed both writing and painting. While in Ireland,
he sold a few of his paintings. One of his short stories, about
his war experiences, was published in The Toronto Star as part
of the newspaper's short-story contest.
Returning from Ireland, Mr.
McDERMOTT retired and spent his time
between a home near Peterborough, Ontario, and a place in Florida.
He continued to paint and write. His letters to the editor frequently
appeared in newspapers.
"He lived an incredible life if you think of where he came from,
Mr. WHITE/WHYTE said. "He would be the first to say that he was fortunate."
Mr. McDERMOTT died on February 13 in a Peterborough hospital.
He had been suffering from a lung disease. He leaves his wife
Claire and five children.
A memorial service will be held on March 24 at 1 p.m. at the
Toronto Centre for the Arts, 5040 Yonge Street, Toronto.
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McDERMOTT o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-04-30 published
Laurie BENNETT (née
McDERMOTT)
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Laurie
BENNETT (née
McDERMOTT) on Monday, April 28, 2003. Laurie, who
was a loving and dedicated mother and grandmother, died at home
with her family. As a professional, she was the Founder and a
former Executive Director of Hospice of Peel. Laurie spent the
last twenty-five years of her career dedicating her life to helping
those around her and to developing and promoting the invaluable
hospice services in Mississauga as well as in Ontario and across
Canada. Starting in 1977, she was instrumental in starting the
palliative care service at Mississauga Hospital (now Trillium
Health Care Centre). In 1985, when the government and hospitals
began to limit services to the terminally ill, Laurie and a few
colleagues started an organization that could serve all terminally
ill patients in the community - the Hospice of Peel. Laurie was
loving mother to Lynne, Bruce and his wife
Susan
BLACK,
Brenda
and her husband Bob
LEARMONTH; proud grandmother of Shannon,
Cody, Tyler, Myles, Carolann, Christine and Jamie; dear sister
to Ted and Gary
McDERMOTT; and loving aunt to Sean, Michele,
Kevin and his wife Jessica (both who went out of their way to
help the family during Laurie's last few months), Steve, Jackie
and Scott and dear friend to too many to mention. Laurie is predeceased
by her brother Jack (affectionately known as the 'Great J.B.').
She was loved by all who were close to her and will be tremendously
missed. Friends may call at the Turner and Porter 'Peel' Chapel,
2180 Hurontario Street, Mississauga (Hwy. 10North of Queen Elizabeth
Way) from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Thursday. Funeral Service will be
held in the chapel on Friday, May 2, 2003 at 11 o'clock. Private
family interment Saint John's Dixie Cemetery. For those who wish,
it is Laurie's and the family's request that any donations be
made to Hospice of Peel, 855 Matheson Blvd. East, Unit #1, Mississauga,
Ontario L4W 4L6
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