LEPAGE o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2007-11-14 published
FIDLER,
Marguerite
(LEPAGE)
By Joan Fidler
BURROWS,
Page
L10
Homemaker, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, social
worker, church and community volunteer, friend. Born December 15,
1907, in Wabigoon, Ontario Died May 10 in Toronto of natural
causes, aged 99.
In Ottawa in the 1940s, whenever our mother felt strongly about
an issue, she would head for the stack of postage-paid postcards
inside her desk drawer and quickly send off a word of praise
or a suggestion to a particular person, organization or government
official.
As a child in Winnipeg, where her father owned a successful lumber
business, Marguerite soon became aware of a troubled world; in
later years, she still had vivid memories of the General Strike
of 1919. Her own sense of community was developed largely through
her church.
When only 17, she met Frank
FIDLER at a church skating party.
Frank abandoned a career in engineering to become a United Church
minister. Marguerite obtained an M.A. in sociology from McGill
University and became a social worker.
In 1934, they began married life together in Toronto, where Frank
was associate minister at Bloor Street United Church. The war
years were spent at Glebe United Church in Ottawa, where Marguerite
provided hospitality to many soldiers and visitors. In 1949,
they moved back to Toronto.
Marguerite managed a household of four children (Joan, Richard,
Anne, Burtt) and hosted foreign students, church dignitaries
and Friends of the children. She encouraged lively discussions,
and while she had very definite opinions, she responded to individuals
and committees alike with affirmation, encouragement, compassion
and wise counsel. She and Frank were part of the early years
of the Vanier Institute of the Family and the Canadian wing of
Planned Parenthood. They travelled widely, including a year studying
marriage and family life around the world.
Marguerite also volunteered in a variety of church and community
organizations. At 91, she decided to step down from her remaining
committee responsibilities. She felt that she had been "privileged
to have had so many opportunities and adventures in life."
When Frank died and she entered a seniors' residence, Marguerite's
new experiences continued - such as keeping in touch with Jasmin,
a young Iranian student from a local school who had returned
home. When recently asked what she thought of aging she chuckled:
"I approve of it! You have to be yourself and keep on growing.
Have lots to think about, lots of interests. Stick with the young."
She did just that and she continued writing those letters, urging
her member of Parliament to do something.
Joan Fidler
BURROWS is one of Marguerite's daughters; she wrote
this with family collaboration.
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LEPARD o@ca.on.grey_county.owen_sound.the_sun_times 2007-09-17 published
MERRIFIELD,
Raymond
Grant
At Grey Bruce Health Services-Markdale on Saturday September 15,
2007, Raymond Grant
MERRIFIELD of Markdale in his 82nd year.
Beloved husband of Greta
MERRIFIELD
(POELGEEST, née
VERWEY.)
Dear step-father of Christina
JOHNSON
(Cecil) of Sparwood, British
Columbia and Janette
MEYERS
(Jim) of Grand Valley. Loving grandfather
of Kevin (Leslie), Karen (Lonny), Troy, Wendy (Sven), Jeff (Mary),
Jason (Carey), Joey (Brandy). Great-grandfather of Sarah, and
Samantha; Jesse, Kris and Kyle; Kaitlyn and Darren; Brandon and
Cheyenne; Claudia, Chloe and Shanelle; Colin and Luke. Sadly
missed by sisters Rose
WILSON of Owen Sound, Phyllis
McAFEE
(Bert)
of Markdale and brothers Frank
MERRIFIELD of Port Elgin and Nelson
MERRIFIELD
(Ora) of Markdale. Sadly missed by nieces and nephews.
Predeceased by parents John and Susan
(LEPARD)
MERRIFIELD, and
brothers Eli, Tom and Jim
MERRIFIELD.
The family will receive
Friends at the May Funeral Home, Markdale, Monday from 7-9 p.m.
and Tuesday from 12: 30-2:00 p.m., where a funeral service will
be held Tuesday, September 18th at 2: 00 p.m. Interment in Markdale
Cemetery. If desired memorial donations to the Heart and Stroke
Foundation, Centre Grey Health Services Foundation or the charity
of your choice would be appreciated.
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LEPARD o@ca.on.grey_county.owen_sound.the_sun_times 2007-11-06 published
RAMAGE,
Ethel
Dorothy (née
JOHNSTON)
At the Grey Bruce Regional Health Services, in Owen Sound, on
Monday,
November 5th, 2007, Ethel
RAMAGE (née
JOHNSTON) of Owen
Sound, in her 83rd year. Beloved wife of the late Ed
RAMAGE.
Loved mother of Edna
BAKER, of Wasaga Beach, and Sharon
HIBMA,
of Owen Sound. Loving grandmother of Tracy, Julie, Amy, Kevin,
Kimberly, and great-grandmother of Natalie and Gavin. Survived
by her sisters, Verna
IRVINE,
Leona
LEPARD, Elsie
FARROW and
Doreen McLEOD, all of Owen Sound. Predeceased by her parents,
Herbert and Elizabeth
JOHNSTON, sisters, Rita
BELROSE,
Hazel
FRIAR,
Pearl
McNABB, and brother, Mervyn
JOHNSTON. Friends may
call at the Brian E. Wood Funeral Home, 250 - 14th Street West,
Owen Sound, (519-376-7492) on Wednesday from 7: 00-9:00 p.m. A funeral
service for Ethel
RAMAGE, will be held in the Funeral Home Chapel,
on Thursday, November 8th, 2007 at 11: 00 a.m., with Doctor Brad
CLARK officiating. Interment in McLean's Cemetery, Bognor. If
so desired, the family would appreciate donations to the charity
of your choice, as your expression of sympathy.
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LEPINE o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2007-06-19 published
He was the definitive bush-leaguer who 'could have played in
the National Hockey League'
Known as Joltin' Joe, he was a favourite defenceman of fans in
Victoria, Halifax and Moncton, scoring 52 goals over nine seasons
and coming within a phone call of lacing up for the Canadiens
By Buzz BOURDON,
Special to the Globe and Mail, Page S8
Ottawa -- Jos
LEPINE never made it to the National Hockey League
during the golden era after the Second World War, but it wasn't
through lack of trying. For 10 years, from 1947 to 1958, the
rock-hard defenceman played his heart out for a succession of
minor-league teams across North America.
Patrolling the blue line for clubs in Victoria, Cincinnati, Halifax
and Moncton, just to name a few, the colourful Mr.
LEPINE (known
as Big Joe or Joltin' Joe to the fans) wasn't afraid to carry
the puck to the opposing team's goal in an era when defencemen
were supposed to defend their own zone.
Playing almost 500 games, he scored a respectable 52 goals, an
average of almost six per year. That was pretty good, considering
that superstar National Hockey League defenceman Doug Harvey
scored just 88 times during an 18-year hall-of-fame career.
Packing 215-pounds on his 6-foot-1 frame, Mr.
LEPINE was a strong
skater with a good shot. He played a physical game in an era
when tough guys like Jimmy Orlando of the Detroit Red Wings carved
out a career with their fists and sticks. Mr. Orlando, a sharp
dresser, mentored Mr.
LEPINE in the late 1940s, both on and off
the ice.
"He helped me, I remember," Mr.
LEPINE told reporter Mike Wyman
in 2003. "I didn't have that much experience and he used to say,
'You run after them and bring them to the front of the net. I'll
fix them -- they'll never come back.' He's probably the best
defenceman I ever played for, except for Harvey."
Mr. LEPINE spent 1,086 minutes in the penalty box paying for
his physical play, but he was also an excellent playmaker, earning
299 assists during his career. In 1952-53, he scored a career-high
43 assists and seven goals for the powerhouse Halifax Atlantics
of the Maritime Major Hockey League. The Atlantics won the Alexander
Cup that year, plus the following year, and Mr.
LEPINE helped
pack 5,000 to 6,000 fans a game in the old Halifax Forum with
his dramatic end-to-end rushes.
Dugger McNeil of Halifax was the Atlantics' founding player-coach.
After first meeting Mr.
LEPINE in 1946, they played together
every September at the Montreal Canadiens' preseason training
camp.
By 1948, both men were teammates on the old Montreal Royals of
the semi-pro Quebec Senior Hockey League. The level of play was
practically as good as the National Hockey League and the Royals
used to pack the Montreal Forum on Sunday afternoons with as
many as 15,000 fans, less than 24 hours after the Canadiens played
Saturday night.
"They used to call it the greatest amateur league in the world.
[We] played with Gerry McNeil, Dickie Moore, Pete Morin, Bernard
Geoffrion, and guys like that. [Mr.
LEPINE] had very good moves,
very shifty moves," Dugger McNeil said. "He could have played
in the National Hockey League if there had been more teams."
After returning to Halifax in 1952, Mr. McNeil convinced Frank
Selke, then general manager of the Canadiens, that he needed
his friend to build the brand-new Atlantics. The pair reunited
on the blueline and a legend was born. "He was a showman, a real
crowd pleaser. He'd come out wearing a tuque during a stoppage
in play. He was a household name in Halifax."
Hockey seasons were shorter back then, so the players had plenty
of time to find mischief, if they were so inclined. Mr.
LEPINE,
an individualist who marched to his own drumbeat, liked a good
time, to say the least. One day he was attending a team function
hosted by brewery owner Victor Oland, who was one of the Atlantics'
backers.
The self-conscious players were trying to make chit-chat with
various upper-class Haligonians in the Lord Nelson Hotel when
Mr. LEPINE decided to liven up the staid proceedings. Starting
with a little soft-shoe routine, he moved behind a screen and
took off his jacket, tie and shirt in succession. The guests
watched in amazement.
"Then he takes off his shoes and socks and sticks his [bare]
leg out from behind the curtain. Victor Oland said, 'Joe, if
you do that at centre ice at the Halifax Forum I'll give you
$1,000!' Jos just laughed," Mr. McNeil said. "Everyone liked
to be with him. He loved life and he lived life."
Mr. LEPINE's life on the ice began early. By 6, he was skating
on outdoor rinks in Ottawa's Lowertown neighbourhood. Things
were tough during the Depression and his family lived from paycheque
to paycheque. When he was 16, he decided to quit school and try
his luck in Montreal as a hockey player. Every French-Canadian
boy wanted to play for the storied Canadiens and Mr.
LEPINE thought
he had what it took. He got off the train with $15 in the pocket
of his only suit.
Reporting to the Montreal Junior Canadiens' training camp in
September of 1943, he shyly presented a letter of introduction
to coach Wilf Cude. The coach couldn't read French so he ordered
the rookie onto the ice to show what he could do. Mr.
LEPINE
made the team.
Three years later, in his last year as a junior, Mr.
LEPINE came
within a whisker of cracking the Canadiens' lineup. "Up to 4 o'clock
in the afternoon, I was ready. I was supposed to be the fifth
or sixth defenceman. They called me at 4 o'clock and cancelled
me out," he told Mr. Wyman.
Despite that huge disappointment, Mr.
LEPINE got to know many
of the Canadiens, who would often shoot pool with the Royals
after practice. The stars didn't stand on their fame, Mr. McNeil
recalled. "We were just hockey players together."
Away from the rink, Mr.
LEPINE enjoyed life in the fast lane,
patronizing a variety of nightclubs during an era when Montreal
was known as being "wide open." El Morocco, Ruby Foo's, the Chez
Paree - Mr.
LEPINE knew them all, along with many of the lowlife
characters who populated Montreal's café society. One night,
he even had a drink with the glamorous stripper Lili St-Cyr,
his wife Rosemary said: "That [lifestyle] may have worked against
him, regarding promotion to the Canadiens."
The Habs' strait-laced coach, Dick Irvin, was a well-known non-drinker
and may have cast a disapproving eye on the rambunctious Mr.
LEPINE.
An all-powerful management never even gave him a chance to show
what he could do in the National Hockey League.
By the end of the 1950s, Mr.
LEPINE started thinking about hanging
them up. His final season, 1957-58, was with the Belleville McFarlands
of the Ontario Hockey League. After helping his team win the
Allan Cup, he retired for good.
After that, he spent two years running a gas station in Lowertown
and then landed a spot with Seagram's. From 1960 to 1987, he
sold liquor and loved it, since the job required him to be social,
which took no effort at all.
A member of the Halifax and Victoria hockey halls of fame, Mr.
LEPINE
enjoyed coaching bantam and midget hockey in the 1980s. Besides
golfing, camping, travelling and gardening, he socialized with
his old hockey mates at reunions, spinning yarns about Rocket
Richard, Doug Harvey and others he had shared the ice with over
the years.
Maurice
Joseph
(Jos)
LEPINE was born March 19, 1927, in Rockland,
Ontario He died of cancer in Ottawa on April 26. He was 80. He
leaves his wife Rosemary, son Jean, daughters Cathy, Leona and
Colette, and sisters Marie, Jeannine and Madeleine.
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LEPPARD o@ca.on.grey_county.owen_sound.the_sun_times 2007-10-25 published
FISHER,
Dorothy
Margaret (née
LEPPARD)
With loving memories, the family announce the passing of Dorothy
Margaret FISHER
(LEPPARD) in her 88th year at Maple View Nursing
Home on October 23rd, 2007. Dorothy was the beloved wife of Charles
FISHER for 60 years. Mother to Faye
FISHER and husband David
GRAHLMAN, Sandra and Barry
KEARNEY and Donna
FISHER-
POTTER and
Tom POTTER.
Proud
Grandmother to eight grandchildren, Chris
WEBBER
(Amberley), Adam
WEBBER, Kristina
KEARNEY-
RICHARDS (Mark), Colleen
KEARNEY-
JANSSENS (Jerry), Ryan
EASTICK (Katherine), Kyle
EASTICK
(Jessica,) Graham and Garrett
POTTER and great-granddaughter,
Emma RICHARDS.
Fondly remembered by Barry
MOLE (Dorothy) and
Jean GATEMAN and family. Dorothy was predeceased by her parents,
Thomas and Margaret
LEPPARD and her sisters, Laura
McGIRR,
Jean
MILLER and Sadie
HARBOTTLE.
Friends may call at the Brian E.
Wood Funeral Home, 250 - 14th Street West, Owen Sound (519-376-
7492) on Thursday evening from 7: 00-9:00 p.m. A service to celebrate
Dorothy's life will be held in the Funeral Home Chapel on Friday,
October 26th, 2007 at 11: 00 a.m. with Father Ed
WAGNER officiating.
Interment in Greenwood Cemetery. Donations may be made to the
Parkinson Society of Canada. Condolences received at brian@woodfuneralhome.ca.
An elegant and multi-talented lady who loved her family, gardening,
animals, music and art; Dorothy's final canvas is now complete.
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LEPPARD o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2007-01-02 published
LEPPARD,
Leon
Bruce
Peacefully at home on December 20th, 2006, in his 100th year.
Beloved husband of the late Jean
KINNEAR; loving father of Libby
BURTON
(Merrill,)
Mary
TOWNLEY (John;) dear grandfather of Caroline
GODWIN (Kevin), Edgar
BURTON (Liz Smart), Peter
BURTON, John
TOWNLEY,
William
TOWNLEY (Nathalie) and Christina
TOWNLEY (Chris
VINCENT;) adoring great-grandfather of Jeanne
GODWIN.
Doctor
of Physics (Göttingen and U of T, 1933); senior radar officer
serving in the Mediterranean aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth
Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve Commander, Ottawa and
Halifax; senior officer with the Radiation Protection Unit of
Ontario's Department of Industrial Hygiene and Atomic Energy
Canada. Active member for 60 years of Trinity-Saint Paul's United
Church. Lover of music, supporter of the arts, humanitarian,
linguist and English scholar, with an impish wit and an impeccable
turn of phrase. Our heartfelt thanks to Carmelita and all his
caregivers, and
to Doctor Sydney Smart for his compassionate support.
A memorial service will be held on Friday, January 5th, 2007,
at Trinity-Saint Paul's United Church, 427 Bloor Street West at
11 a.m.. If desired, donations may be made to Trinity-Saint Paul's
United Church or to a charity of your choice.
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