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JOHNSTONE o@ca.on.grey_county.owen_sound.the_sun_times 2007-11-09 published
FRASER, James William " Bill"
Of Exeter, formerly a resident of Sarnia in his 79th year. Passed away peacefully at South Huron Hospital, Exeter, on Wednesday November 7, 2007. Beloved husband of the late Jean Marie (WHITING) FRASER (1998.) Dear brother of Bev and the late Betty FRASER (2006) of Owen Sound. Lovingly remembered Uncle of Debra and Brian JOHNSTON and Great-Uncle of Ashley, Michelle and Justine JOHNSTON of Exeter. Dear brother-in-law of Melba and Bob CORNFOOT of London, Norm and Barb WHITING of Exeter and Ev and John McALLISTER of Hensall. Beloved son of the late George (1991) and Janet (JOHNSTONE) (1997) FRASER, and son-in-law of the late Earl and Ethel (KESTLE) WHITING (1953.) Predeceased by sisters Muriel FRASER (1944) and Dorothy (FRASER) (1996) and her husband Ronald DURHAM (1993) and sisters and brothers-in-law Blanche (WHITING) (2002) and Donald MURRAY (1991,) F.J. (Bud) HAMILTON (1990,) P.O. Donald WHITING (1944,) Stanley WHITING (1969) and Margaret WHITING (1976.) Loved by many nieces and nephews. Friends may call at the Haskett Funeral Home, 370 William Street, 1 west of Main, Exeter on Thursday evening 7-9 p.m. where the funeral service will be held on Friday, November 9th at 11 a.m. with Rev. Paul ROSS officiating. Interment Exeter Cemetery. Donations to the South Huron Hospital or the Exeter United Church would be appreciated by the family. Condolences may be forwarded through www.haskettfh.com.

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JOHNSTONE o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2007-01-01 published
PAWLEY, Steven
Of Delhi passed away at Norfolk General Hospital, Simcoe Saturday, December 30, 2006 in his 54th year. Employee of VandenBussche Irrigation for 34 years. Beloved husband of Catherine VINNAI. Dear father of Jaclyn PAWLEY, Delhi. Loving son of John and Florence (JOHNSTONE) PAWLEY. Dear brother of Janice HANTZ (Rick), Delhi Brenda SOBRY (Darryl,) Oriel and David PAWLEY (Karen,) British Columbia. Son-in-law of Joseph VINNAI (Late Elizabeth (2003). Brother-in-law of Linda LAMMENS (Robert,) Delhi and Bernadette TISDALE (Ben,) Delhi and late Randy EVENS (1997) Uncle of 11 nieces and nephews. Resting at Murphy Funeral Home, Delhi for visitation on Monday from 2: 00 to 4:00 and 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Funeral Service in the Chapel on Tuesday at 10: 00 a.m. Interment Delhi Cemetery. Donations to Brain Tumor Foundation or Delhi Community Health Centre gratefully acknowledged by the family.

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JOHNSTONE o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2007-07-23 published
She was a Toronto softball slugger who starred in a league of her own
Gifted infielder, endowed with glamour and a smattering of experience on stage, became a key player for the Chicago Chicks of the National Girls Baseball League
By Tom HAWTHORN, Special to The Globe and Mail, Page S9
Victoria -- Peggy WILSON's hitting prowess made her a terror on Toronto's softball sandlots. At age 16, the slugging infielder helped lead her team to the finals of the 1945 world softball championships and went on to play professionally in the United States.
At a time when women had few opportunities to earn pay for their athletic skills, she won a roster spot as two competing leagues battled for supremacy in the American Midwest. As it turned out, television killed attendance at minor-league sporting events and those few jobs for professional female athletes all but disappeared.
The infielder brought an athletic grace and a certain glamour to the diamond. Her flowing hair, full lips and deep-set eyes could just as easily have won her a spot on a Hollywood backlot as on a softball sandlot.
Though fortunate to be an athletic pioneer, she would suffer more than her share of heartbreak and tragedy.
Margaret Merla Eleanor WILSON was born in Toronto to a father who was an engineer and a sergeant in the Grenadier Guards. Francis Cyril (Frank) WILSON married Dorothy (Dolly) Catherine WATSON five days before Valentine's Day in 1928. Their daughter arrived 11 months later. Mr. WILSON led an apparent life of propriety for many years before suddenly abandoning the family. In seeking financial support, his wife took him to court, where, to her surprise, he was exposed as a bigamist. Their marriage licence was entered into proceedings under the tag "Exhibit A."
Dolly WILSON was the oldest of 10 children. The boys worked for the family business, Watson Movers, out of the family home at 281 Rhodes Ave., while the girls worked on stage, though the traditional theatre was not their milieu. The Watson Sisters crisscrossed the continent in the 1920s with such travelling revues as Plunkett Productions. Dolly was also an acclaimed snake dancer. By age 10, Peggy WILSON was accompanying her mother onstage as a bongo player.
The public performances perhaps made it easier for her to handle the pressure of playing softball as a young girl. Her photograph appeared in a Toronto newspaper in 1941, when the 12-year-old led her team to a championship in a league for under-18 girls. She played for Areadians of the Danforth league and Malverns of the Beaches league, often at the old Sunnyside stadium near Broadview Avenue and Queen Street. She was a star by age 14 playing against older women as a second baseman for the Staffords.
While mature on the diamond, she possessed an innocence away from it. Globe sports columnist Bobbie ROSENFELD recounted an incident when riding a bus back from a game at Malton, Ontario, when young Peggy engaged a gentleman beside her in conversation.
"Are you interested in softball?" the girl asked.
"Oh, yes, quite a bit," he replied.
"Do you go to Sunnyside often?"
"Yes, every night."
"Why? Are you connected with any team?"
"Yes, in a way," Ed BEWLEY said. "I happen to be the league president."
In the spring of 1945, she joined the Crofton Athletic Club. The powerhouse team boasted Alma WILSON (no relation) as an ace pitcher known as the Crofton Comet. The team dominated all comers in the Olympic girls' softball league, an amateur circuit based in Toronto.
In one game at Sunnyside, the Croftons embarrassed the Fuels 22-5, with Alma WILSON getting the win and Peggy WILSON banging a double and a home run.
After disposing of local challengers, the Croftons travelled to Cleveland for a world championship tournament. They downed the dogged Utah Lassies 5-2, slipped past the Gastonia (N.C.) Rex Hanovers 1-0 and then shut out a team from Stamford, Connecticut., 2-0. The victories earned a berth in the finals against a favoured New Orleans team.
The Jax Maids were led by Nina (Tiger) Korgan, a Nebraskan known as the Babe Didrikson of softball. She surrendered just two singles to the Toronto batters, as the Maids won 5-0 to claim their third world title in four years.
The Croftons' exposure in the United States caught the attention of scouts from competing leagues of women baseball players. A bird dog from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League - a circuit portrayed in the 1992 Hollywood movie A League of Their Own - came to Toronto armed with professional contracts. Instead, Peggy WILSON and the pitcher Alma WILSON ended up signing with the Chicago Chicks of the rival National Girls Baseball League.
The Chicago-based loop maintained softball's shorter base paths and underhanded pitching, even while playing with a smaller ball than a regulation softball. (The All-American league adopted baseball rules for a circuit based in mid-sized Midwestern cities.)
The novelty of pro female athletes attracted good crowds in the years following the end of the Second World War. A photo of Peggy WILSON appeared in one publication with the headline: "Snappy flysnatchers and shapely eye-catchers, gal softballers draw fans."
The infielder returned to Toronto at the end of the season, later playing for the Sherrins of the East Toronto league. After marrying a tool-and-dye man named George JOHNSTONE, the local daily newspapers began carrying accounts of a now-veteran player named Peggy JOHNSTONE.
In 1952, she moved to Bayview, New York outside Rochester, where she earned $125 a week to play for a team called Van's TNT Girls. The coach was Roy Van Graflan, a former umpire who was behind the plate when Babe Ruth made his famous "called shot" gesture in the 1932 World Series.
The coach was an expert at spotting female sporting talent. His own baseball career began as a pitcher on a team known as the Van Graflans, which featured his seven brothers and father. In the baseball off-season, the moonlighting umpire coached women's basketball teams, with his barnstorming Filaret side winning 553 games of 565 played from 1933 through 1949.
In July, 1953, the TNT Girls came to Toronto to play a televised exhibition against Mrs. JOHNSTONE's old rivals, the Gartens of the East Toronto league. On his way to the ball park, the car in which the coach was a passenger rear-ended a truck on Gerrard Street. The coach's head cracked the windshield, yet he refused to be taken to hospital. He managed just two innings at the game before calling it a night. He was driven home to Rochester and died some weeks later. He was 59.
Sadly, the unexpected death of a beloved coach in an automobile accident was but one of several tragedies to be endured by Peggy WILSON. Her aunt, Eleanor (WATSON) HENDERSON, a circus trouper, was killed with four others in a fiery collision on the Trans-Canada Highway outside Hearst, Ontario A son, aged 16, was killed by a drunk driver. She would also outlive two husbands, including one who died of a brain tumour only a few years after they married.
After hanging up her glove and cleats, she lived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, spending more than 30 years aiding the ladies auxiliary of a fraternal organization. She rarely spoke of her time on the diamond, although her obvious talent at the plate - on display during pickup games at family picnics - never failed to surprise male observers.
Margaret DOUCETTE (née WILSON, formerly JOHNSTONE and CAESAR) was born on January 10, 1929, in Toronto. She died of lung cancer on May 17 in Palm Bay, Florida She was 78. She leaves a daughter, three grandchildren and two great-granddaughters. She was predeceased by two husbands and two sons. A first marriage ended in divorce.

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JOHNSTONE o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2007-09-08 published
BUSBY, Stuart Merrill, M.D., (F.R.C.S.C)
Peacefully at Parkwood Hospital, London on Wednesday, September 5, 2007 in his 87th year. Loving husband of Elizabeth Phillimore BUSBY and the late Barbara Morris BUSBY. He will be sadly missed by his children Cheryl and husband Doug LUDWIG, Gayle WILK and Robert BUSBY and his wife Susan; grandchildren Wendy (LUDWIG) JOHNSTONE, Rob LUDWIG, Barbara (LUDWIG) Leece, Kelly and Jacqueline WILK, Allison (BUSBY) ANDERSON and Kate BUSBY; great-grandchildren Thomas and Ella; and by step-daughters Francesca and Dominique PHILLIMORE. On graduation from the University of Western Ontario School of Medicine, Doctor BUSBY joined the R.C.N.V.R. as a Surgeon-Lieutenant and served overseas from 1944-46 at H.M.C.S. Niobe in Scotland. After the war he specialized in urology, and surgery in particular, in which he trained at University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. When his father Eldon, also a urologist and surgeon died suddenly in 1950, he returned to London to take over his father's practice, and became a gifted hard-working surgeon at Victoria Hospital Westminster and Saint_Joseph's Hospitals in London, Ontario. He enjoyed golf and was a long time member of the London Hunt and Country Club. A Memorial Service will be conducted at Metropolitan United Church, 468 Wellington Street at Dufferin Avenue, London on Tuesday, September 18 at 2: 00 p.m. by Rev. Robert C. RIPLEY. A private graveside family service will be held in Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Memorial contributions to the charity of your choice would be gratefully acknowledged. www.HarrisFuneralHome.ca

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JOHNSTONE o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2007-12-18 published
FARR, Douglas Albert, B.A., B.Sc., LL.B
True to his wish, Doug passed away at his desk in his law office in Walkerton on Thursday, December 13th, 2007. He was ever devoted to his many, many clients, with the help of his treasured secretary, Cindy FORTNEY. He leaves behind the love of his life, his wife, Florence (KLAGES) and cherished loving son Christopher; brother Gord of Toronto, sister-in-law Louise Farr CHAMBERS (David) of Hamilton; nephews Andrew, Nathan and Josh, of Toronto. He will be sadly missed by his sisters and brothers-in-law, nieces and nephews. Doug was predeceased by his brother David and parents Gordon and Constance (JOHNSTONE) FARR. Doug was a jazz enthusiast, avid skier, marathoner and cyclist and he looked forward to weekends in Collingwood where he spent time with his many precious Friends. Doug practiced real estate and general law in Walkerton for 45 years. He graduated from Osgoode Hall in 1959. Science extended his life, so Doug has requested his body be donated to science to help others. Visitation will be held at Cameron Funeral Home, Walkerton, on Thursday from 7-9 p.m. and Friday from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. A celebration of Doug's life will be held on Saturday, December 22, 2007 at 11: 00 a.m. at Saint Paul's United Church (303 Jackson Street) Walkerton. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Walkerton Hospital Foundation Medical Clinic or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Society (Toronto Chapter) would be appreciated.
www.cameronfuneralhomes.com

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