In Memoriam
← The People · 102 members remembered
Members of the Society remembered in its records, with the dates the record preserves.
Eileen Metcalfe
2021
A member of the Norland Branch, of Fenelon Falls. Her death is recorded only in the Correspondence item of one executive meeting, where a sympathy card is minuted; no date of death, and no other appearance anywhere in the archive.
Dorothy McPherson
24 February 2021
An Honourary Life Member (2016) and Member-at-Large; an international folk artisan and writer who joined the Society in 1990 and tirelessly promoted leathercraft. The obituary written by her daughter Lauren, the Society's Members-At-Large Representative, and printed in the January-April 2021 newsletter (p6) sets out what that came to: a member of the Hamilton branch from 1990 and Woodstock from 1997, she opened her own home to informal meetings that kept leathercraft alive for London crafters from 2010. She competed, retailed and exhibited leather over several decades; founded and curated the TRC Gallery in London, which staged monthly exhibitions of fine hand art by Canadian craftsmen including CSCL members, two of them devoted to leather alone. She conducted two workshops, was the Society's LEATHER 2010 liaison with the Ontario Crafts Council, and was Editor and contributing writer of Canadian Leathercraft. A jewellery maker herself, she co-founded the Society's London Jewellery Award. She wrote leather biographies for fifty-three CSCL artists in support of their Ontario Volunteer Service Award proposals, and secured three further distinguished awards for CSCL artists: the Governor General's Caring Canadian Award, the John Mather Award of the Ontario Crafts Council, and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. In September 2000, at the executive meeting in Cooksville, she and her husband David were asked to produce a newsletter for Members-At-Large; that is the origin of the MAL-designated summer issue of Canadian Leathercraft, which ran for decades. She retired in 2013.
Loreen Manuel
24 April 2020
A Life Member of the Society (received 2008), born 14 December 1923 near Foldens Corners, Ontario, and long active with the Woodstock-area community; “always modest about her talents and generous when sharing her skills,” in the tribute submitted by Madeleine Mitchell. Predeceased by her husband Thomas George Manuel (2000). Died at Woodingford Lodge, Woodstock, in her 97th year, and is remembered for her CSCL ribbons and awards as well as her chocolate fudge.
Marion Kehoe
17 January 2019
A Life Member and Member-at-Large from London, Ontario, in her 99th year. Her obituary ran in the newsletter cover-dated "Autumn 2018" (Vol. LXVII No. 1) under her fuller name, "Marion Stratton KEHOE (Donaldson)" -- a full name and maiden name printed nowhere else. The cover date sits oddly before her recorded 17 January 2019 death, suggesting (as with other issues in this run) the issue was actually produced later than its printed season.
Beula Reynolds
26 November 2019
At the Woodstock Hospital, in her 98th year. First president of the Woodstock Branch on its founding in 1968, and an Ontario Volunteer Service Award recipient. Recorded from her published obituary (Brock and Visser Funeral Home, Woodstock, 28 November 2019).
David Addison
26 March 2018
A member of the Norland and Mississauga Branches, who died on his 66th birthday. Beloved husband of Joanne.
Bill Whittingham
9 September 2018 (b. 1957)
A member whose estate left tools and a bequest to the Society. The date is the Society's own notice, canadian-leathercraft-summer-2018-quarterly-newsletter-by-cscl p3 ("In Memory of William Whittingham 1957 - 2018, Date Of Death: Sunday, September 9, 2018").
Peter Grove
22 May 2015
A Fellow (2002), Honourary Life Member (2014) and former President, owner of Tundra Leather, Hamilton; died in Hamilton. The Spring 2015 newsletter (p2, p4) sends sympathy to "Slyvia, Kristie and family" [as printed] and reprints his 2014 Life Membership photo, noting his biography ran in the Spring 2014 issue.
Joyce Scruton
mid-October 2015
A long-time Mississauga member, Associate, and Honourary Life Member instrumental in forming the Mississauga Guild; her knowledge of leather, supplies, and techniques was legendary. The Society's own Executive reported the news the same month it happened: the October 2015 Executive Meeting minutes record "Sad news Joyce Scruton passed away" among the Mississauga branch's own report, with a condolence card requested the meeting before. The 2017-67th-annual-meeting-reports (Norland Branch Report, p.6) instead dates her death and last demonstration to "October 17, 2016" — a full year later than the contemporary report; both are kept.
James Corbett
January 3, 2015
Aged 82. Norland Branch notified CSCL of his passing; "Jim was an enthusiastic participant in many Norland events and workshops." Reported in the Winter 2014-2015 newsletter (canadian-leathercraft-winter-2014-2015-newsletter-by-cscl), p2, Notes from the Editor.
Gloria Cousins
31 July 2012
A Norland Branch member. Her death was reported the same season in the newsletter as "Norland Branch recently lost a treasured, long time member, Gloria Cousins" (2012-summer p2), which extends sympathy to her family — not repeated here.
Ruth Haig
1 September 2011
A Fellow and Life Member of the Society, at Dundas, Ontario. Winner of the 2005 John Mather Award. The Society’s Fall 2011 newsletter gives 1 September 2011; her published obituary (Marlatt Funeral Home, Swackhamer Chapel) gives 3 September 2011, at St. Joseph’s Hospital, in her 83rd year.
Hilda Darbyshire
2011
A Fellow of the Society. She had donated a case of leather tools and supplies to the membership. Her death is reported in the Spring 2011 newsletter, which gives neither the day nor her age.
Hilda Chynoweth
1 March 2010 (b. 13 February 1910)
A member of the Norland Chynoweth family who reached her 100th birthday on 13 February 2010. The Fall 2011 newsletter (p6, "Update from the Norland Guild" by her granddaughter Tracey Howard) gives the exact date of death, 1 March 2010, and adds that she was instrumental in starting the Norland Guild in the late 1970s, demonstrated leathercraft at the Kinmount, Bobcaygeon and Fenelon Falls fairs, and was still doing leatherwork up to the end.
Laura Bush
2009-2010
A Director of the Society and a member since 1972, died at 91. Reported in the Membership section of the 2011-61st-annual-meeting-reports (minutes of the 60th Annual General Meeting, May 2010): "one of our Directors, who has been a member since 1972... passed away at 91." No more precise date given.
Emma Windatt
c. 2009
A popular Norland member (“Auntie Em”) who brought poetry, dancing, and enthusiasm to the Society's Annual weekends.
Jean Pickering
18 January 2008
A member of the Woodstock Branch who served for several years as its Treasurer and as a Director of the Society, quietly creating superb pieces for the Weston Trophy and the Biennial exhibitions.
Dorothy Muma
15 November 2008
A Charter Member of the Society and, with her late husband Robert, among its organizing members in the early 1950s. She held many offices — President, Treasurer, Chair of the Council of Fellows, and Director — and was instrumental in writing and revising the Society's Constitution.
Joy Hutcheson
December 2007
A former Woodstock Branch member, active in the Society from at least 1969: Woodstock Branch Secretary (1969-70), on the Executive Council (1970-71), Newsletter Editor (1971 and 1974-75), and a repeat Craftsman Ribbon/Award winner from 1978 to 1984. The Winter 2007-08 newsletter (p2-3) reports her death: "Woodstock lost another former Branch member in December 2007, Joy Hutcheson. Joy had a touch with leather that would highlight the beauty of the leather with simple, elegant design." No exact date given beyond the month.
Don MacLeod
17 February 2007
Born in 1925; a Bell Telephone employee who joined the Mississauga Leather Group in 1983, served five years as its President and later as a President of the Society, and co-edited the Society's newsletter. Known for his covered buckles and lacing ponies; the Don MacLeod Belt Buckle Award is named for him.
Audrey Gorton
28 October 2007
A longtime Hamilton member who served on the Hamilton and CSCL executives, held a secretarial position, and edited the Society's newsletter.
Nora Huyck
May 2006
A Fellow and Honourary Life Member, at Huntsville. Formerly of the Barrie branch; known for nature-themed filigree work.
Gladys Riddell
8 June 2006
A Fellow and Honourary Life Member, in her 96th year; a long-time Toronto member.
Jessie Little
26 October 2005
A longtime champion of the Society: Fellow (1972) and Honorary Life Member, longtime Toronto Branch member and executive, judge at Exhibitions and Annuals, and a contributor to the Newsletter. Died in Orillia; survived by son David Little and daughter Margaret Munro.
Betty Heacock
before 2005
Treasurer of the Society in 1961 and a member as late as the 1997 membership list; of Sharon/Barrie. The Spring 2005 newsletter (p3) records that her husband, Fred Heacock, made a "generous donation making the ‘Betty Heacock Award’ a reality," calling her "the late Betty Heacock" — placing her death between the 1997 list and Spring 2005, no closer date found. The award (for a new or novice member’s best piece) is renamed the "Betty Heacock Memorial Award" from the 2010 newsletters on. The same woman as "Elizabeth Heacock, Barrie" in the 1969 newsletters.
May Corbett
June 2004
A Past President of the Society and a longtime member of the Barrie Branch and Member-at-Large. A contemporary account (newsletter 2004-fall p2) has her President of CSCL around the time the editor joined the Society, about 1974, and an active member of the Barrie Branch.
Kevin Armstrong
September 2004
A past Secretary, Treasurer, Bulletin co-editor, and Archivist of the Society, of the Mississauga Branch. A contemporary account (newsletter 2004-fall p2) remembers him, of the Mississauga Branch, as "a meticulous Secretary and Treasurer for CSCL as well as the chronicler of the CSCL archives."
Jack Meharg
September 2004
A Past President of the Society and a beloved member of the Toronto Branch; the Jack Meharg Award for the best belt is named for him. A contemporary account (newsletter 2004-fall p2) remembers him as a member, demonstrator and mentor of the Toronto Branch who had faithfully attended CSCL Annuals since 1975; the September 2004 Executive meeting closed as he would have, "I move to adjourn."
Lois MacPherson
early June 2000
A Mississauga Branch member and demonstrator, died very suddenly. She loved to travel to see her daughter Tina and grandchildren in Montreal; survived by daughters Arleigh (Mississauga) and Tina (Montreal) and a son Glen (Vancouver). She was still awarded Craftsman and Salon Ribbons at that year's 50th Annual, entered before her death.
Ray Potter
19 June 1999
Aged 82. One of the founding fathers of CSCL and a Life Member; a wizard at design, carving and bookbinding who made the cover of the Annual attendance and registration book. Survived by his wife Marian and two daughters.
Glenn Nelson
spring 1999
Suddenly, at home. A long-time Member-at-Large and a former member of the Executive who did beautiful work and taught it to others at workshops at the Annuals.
Bea Rushton
early 1999
From Kingston; a Member-at-Large since the Kingston chapter closed some fifteen to twenty years earlier. Her daughter wrote to report her death.
Bea Austin
mid-summer 1999
A former long-time member of the Executive and one of the original members of the Hamilton Guild; a long-time Fellow of the Society. She judged by running her fingers over the edges of a piece and deciding at once.
Robert Quinn
1 January 1998
An ex-member of the Mississauga group, to which he belonged for about five years. His wife predeceased him by about two years.
Kay Cloughley
spring 1998
One of the original members of the Society's Barrie chapter, which had ceased to exist about six years earlier. She drew the pen sketches of the Weston Trophy entries for the Society's newsletter in 1992 and 1993.
Margaret LaChappelle
1997
A member of the Society in Toronto for over thirty years; her other interests were dolls and stamps. Reported alongside Bob Millford's death in the same notice (Spring 1997, page 1; Summer 1997, page 3.)
Harold Booth
1997
Proprietor of Booths Hobby Store, Hamilton, and a longtime Hamilton Guild member from at least 1958 (gave the Guild a talk on leather types and uses that year). "Longtime member Harold Booth passed away" in 1997; no further detail given by that source.
Fletcher Maurice Windatt
early July 1997
Known as Sandy; husband of the Norland member Emma Windatt.
Bob Millford
1997
1934-1997. Born in Ormstown, Quebec; he bought his first horse in 1968 and began making and repairing tack. After moving to Ontario he joined CSCL and the Mississauga branch and worked for Tandy. His love of horses was always first.
Winnifred Comfort
1996
Of Smithville; a founding member of the Hamilton Leathercraft Guild in 1956, present at its 35th-anniversary charter-member gathering in 1991. "During 1996, the guild lost a founding member, Winnie Comfort from Smithville"; no further detail given by that source. The Society's certification records carry her as Winnifred Comfort (Associate, 1961); both forms are hers, and "Winnie" is kept here since it is what this source and the branch's own 1991 anniversary retrospective print.
Viola Harris
6 July 1996
In Toronto, aged 93. Honourary life Fellow and President of CSCL 1963-65, and a past President of the Ontario Crafts Council. An OCC volunteer and accountant for the Canadian Guild of Crafts, she began at the Guild Shop on Bloor Street West in 1965 and worked at North York General Hospital's craft shop until she was 84.
George McPhail
1996
A longtime member of the Toronto branch and an Honourary Life Member of the Society. A bookkeeper by occupation, he assisted at many CSCL sales at the CNE and was the Society's Treasurer 1986-91 — the span the Spring 1996 newsletter gives, and the one his own rows bear out. His death is reported there as recent news, with no date; the notice is the archive's only source for it.
Howard F. Brock Sr.
16 March 1995
Of McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, aged 80; a retired chemical operator from USS Chemicals, leathercrafter, firearms instructor and a 65-year veteran Boy Scouting scouter. A CSCL Member-at-large, he was founder and president of the "Pitt Pounders" leathercraft guild, succeeded by Chris Kearns. An annual award was to be presented in his memory. Submitted by his son, Howard (Bud) F. Brock Jr.
Helen Wheaton
28 August 1995
A Fellow of the Society, in her 86th year. Active in leathercraft from 1948, a charter member of the London Leather Carvers Guild, Associate 1954 and Fellow 1965, and a President of the Society. An excellent teacher, generous with her time and knowledge.
Fred Brown
1995
Frederick Williams Brown (1912-95). An early contributor to the Society and a Fellow of long standing; taught turned-edge and skiving technique and headed the Arts, Crafts and Hobbies building at the Canadian National Exhibition. The Fred Brown Award, for the best dyed article, is named for him. The obituary in the Spring 1996 newsletter (p5), written by Ray Potter with excerpts from Canadian Leathercraft vol. XXIV no. 4, adds: born in Toronto; met his wife Phyllis at Bloor Collegiate; the two were avid horticulturists and came to leathercraft through his sister, a craft instructor with the Canadian Women's Army Corps. In 1951 a handful of Etobians met at the Browns' home and founded The Etobicoke Art Group. He taught for North York Parks and Recreation, at Central Technical School and in senior citizens' classes, and did volunteer work at Cummer House; in 1965 he took the position of manager of the C.N.E.'s Arts, Crafts and Hobbies Building. In January 1976, at the Group's 25th anniversary, he was named Etobian of the Week. His seat on the Etobicoke Arts Committee is what gave the Society its City Hall displays, the last of them Leather '94, where he saw the Fred Brown Award for colour presented. He leaves his wife Phyllis, son Eric, and grandchildren Greg, Scott and Lisa.
Edith Melchior-Hawkins
Monday, 31 July 1995 (b. 1922, in her 74th year)
An accomplished leathercraft artisan and Fellow of the Tillsonburg Branch; a Life Member of the Society. The contemporary notice (1995-fall p7, submitted by Beula Reynolds) adds: she joined CSCL shortly after it was formed and earned her Associate and then Fellow standing; instrumental in forming a Tillsonburg branch that carried on for several years; an exceptionally good teacher, a gardener known for miniature roses and pressed-flower classes, and often played the organ at Woodstock branch gatherings.
Art Harris
May 1995
A recent member of the Hamilton Leather Guild and CSCL, known for carved belts and assembled photo albums. Survived by his wife Eva, also a CSCL member and past membership chairman of the Hamilton Branch.
Lorna Robson
November 1994
An Associate of the Society and a member and Past President of the Hamilton Leather Guild. Born in the Niagara Peninsula, she joined CSCL and the local guild in the 1950s and studied leather technique at the Banff School of Fine Arts.
Lea Love
November 1994
A long-time CSCL member of the Toronto Branch and later founding member of the Mississauga Branch. Known for his leather carving and tooling; a chartered accountant, he was a faithful CSCL executive member and treasurer from 1984 to 1994, putting Toronto Branch's finances in order as well as the Society's.
Art Morris
1994
A Hamilton Guild member and Weston Trophy and Craftsman Ribbon contributor through the 1970s-80s. "The guild learned of the passing of Lorna Robson and Art Morris" in 1994; no further detail given by that source.
Sherle Bottrill
9 August 1993
At the Barrie hospital. Associate 1962, President of the Barrie Branch, Corresponding Secretary of the Executive Council, and an Honourary Life Member from the 1985 Annual. Her notice was printed in the Fall 1993 newsletter.
Robert Muma
22 February 1993
Charter member of the Society, master bookbinder, and long-time chair of its Teaching Standards Committee; namesake of the award for best tooled or coloured piece, first presented months after his death. The Society's adieu was printed in the Spring 1993 newsletter. The 43rd Annual's own Membership Report gives the exact date, 22 February 1993 (the 1993 Annual Meeting booklet p.6).
Jessie Strain
autumn 1993
Of the Hamilton Guild, remembered for her gardenia flower pins and card case holders. Her passing was recorded in the Fall 1993 newsletter; the Hamilton Guild's own history dates it to October 1993.
Clarice Packham
July 1991
A Fellow and Life Member, living into her nineties. Co-founder of the Weston Leathercraft Guild with Edith Roscoe and Isabel Hanna, and a charter member of the CSCL on its merger; a glovemaker taught by F. O. Baird, and top judge at the CNE. Her tribute, by Nora Huyck and Gladys Riddell, was printed in the Summer 1992 newsletter.
Bob Myles
Fall 1991
Of the Mississauga Guild, which he joined "early in it's development" after starting out as a member of the Barrie Guild. "His humour and friendship are greatly missed." No further detail given.
Mary Whately
reported Summer 1989
A Toronto Branch member, wife of Executive member Ralph Whately, with whom she tallied and sorted the C.N.E. sale for years (“the complicated task of tallying all the sales, sorting the work, and seeing that all was returned to owners safely,” Fall 1982) and helped rebuild the Society's C.N.E. booth. She contributed to the newsletter herself, including a review of a book on Stonehenge and prehistoric leatherwork. The Summer 1989 newsletter's Obituaries notice (p. 7) reports her death together with Gel and Lorna Brigden's — already carried in fuller obituaries in the previous Fall issue — as “three Toronto Branch Members,” suggesting this was a later, consolidated notice rather than fresh news of the Brigdens.
Helen Newton
reported at the 39th Annual Meeting, May 1989
Named by President Ruth Haig alongside Mary Whately and Gel and Lorna Brigden — "our regards are extended to the families of Helen Newton, Mary Whately, Gel and Lorna Brigden" — in the 39th President's Report. The other three are named in full in the Summer 1989 newsletter's own obituaries notice, which names only "three Toronto Branch Members" and does not mention Helen Newton by name; not the same person as Jean Newton, who died in 1985. No further detail found.
Endel Ruberg
died during the Christmas season (year not stated on the page; reported Fall 1989)
An Estonian-born Fellow (Associate 1954, Fellow 1955) with sixteen records in the archive's award ledger, from 1954 into the 1970s — among the most prolific winners the Society's competitions ever produced. Born in Virumaa, Estonia, in 1917, he trained at the Ateneum in Helsinki and in sculpture and woodcarving, worked in occupational therapy in Finland, then in leathercraft in Umeå, Sweden, for the store Nordiska Kompaniet. Seen at a Swedish Consulate arts exhibition in 1951, he was invited to Canada through a contact of the Birks family and arrived in Montreal in March 1951, within a week working on commissions for Birks and entering a Canadian Handicrafts Guild competition. In February 1953 he and John Opariek were the Montreal exhibitors in the Society's display at the 1st Canadian International Hobby Show in Toronto. His work — repoussé in leather with dyes of his own formulation — went to Ottawa Birks for presentation to heads of government and industry: a guest book for Emperor Hirohito's delegation, a picture frame for Dwight D. Eisenhower, a presentation book for Richard Nixon, a box and gold-tooled folder for Vincent Massey. He took First Prize for Best Original Entry at the 1954 C.N.E. — apparently the first time a leathercraftsman had won it — and in 1955, the year of his Fellowship, won “Tooled or Carved” plus Honorable Mention in Best Design and Best Original Entry. He taught leathercraft at the Finnish-Canadian Centre until his death. The two-page obituary (Fall 1989, pp. 2–3) is by Rene Hackstetter and names him beside Don MacKinnon, Bob Muma, Edith Roscoe, Clarice Packham and the Larmours as one of the Society's founding pillars.
Lorna Brigden
13 November 1988
A Life Member of the Society (honoured 1975 “in appreciation of her many years of services”) and, by profession, a lawyer — Past International President of the Alpha Gamma Delta Fraternity and Past President of the University College Alumnae Association. The Fall 1988 obituary (p. 3) credits her legal expertise with the Society's Constitution and By-Laws. Died 13 November 1988, five weeks before her husband Gel, in her 91st year, after a 60th wedding anniversary the previous March.
Gel Brigden
20 December 1988
A Life Member and Associate (1974) of the Society for all of its 39 years by the Fall 1988 obituary's count, and, during his long service on the C.N.E. Board of Directors, the man who persuaded the Board and Administration to set up the Arts, Crafts, Hobbies Show — which grew from a small start into its own building. Also active in weaving, silversmithing, pottery and woodcarving; many C.S.C.L. Executive meetings were held at the Brigdens' Forest Hill home. Died 20 December 1988, a week short of a year after his wife Lorna, in his 91st year (Fall 1988 newsletter, p. 3). The newsletter gives his full given name, Geldard, in the obituary's own heading; the Society knew him elsewhere as Gel, the form the archive already used for his 1975 Life Membership and his Associate designation, and keeps for continuity.
Bill Strain
reported in the Hamilton Branch's 1987-88 annual report
Jessie Strain's husband; named among four losses the branch "regretted" that year (Irene Lane and Olivia Smith, named in a fuller Autumn 1987 notice, are not repeated here). No further detail given.
Olivia Smith
reported Autumn 1987
A Fellow of the Society, remembered in the same Autumn 1987 issue (p. 5) as Irene Lane and Clara Cavanagh, in a tribute by Jeanie Little. Olivia Smith had trained in elocution and music, and worked across leather, metal and clay; her trays, boxes, belts and coasters were admired for their finish, which she credited to "spit and polish." She met regularly with former colleagues from her days at the C.P.R., and continued attending Society meetings even after she could no longer work at her craft.
Irene Lane
16 August 1987
A member of the Hamilton Branch “for many, many years,” reported in the same Autumn 1987 notice (p. 4) as Clara Cavanagh's, written by Mildred Kemp. She had 54 years' service with Eaton's, continuing part-time after her official retirement, and is remembered alongside her long-time companion Betty Henstridge, a fellow Hamilton member who predeceased her.
Clara Cavanagh
reported Autumn 1987
Founder of the Barrie Branch, whose adult night-school class became its nucleus in 1958; an Associate of the Society from 1955 and a Fellow from 1956 (her 1987 obituary gives 1953 and 1955), and for a term President of the Council of Fellows. The Autumn 1987 obituary (p. 4), by Kay Cloughley, gives no date of death, only that she had had little use of her right hand for four years beforehand "due to pain in her thumb" and worked on with her left; her husband Ken and daughter Helen are named. The page spells her surname with the extra u, Cavanaugh; the archive keeps Cavanagh, the spelling used in 145 of the 159 instances the Society printed of it.
Jean Hunter
9 June 1986 (a memorial notice in the same issue gives 6 June)
A Fellow of the Society (Associate 1975, Fellow 1981) and, at the time of her death, Vice-President of C.S.C.L., Chairman of the Council of Fellows and Editor of the newsletter. The Fall 1986 In Memoriam notice (p. 2) says she “was tragically killed near her home in Snelgrove, June 9, 1986, in a car accident”; a Memorial Display notice on the same page, honouring her work at the Society's Biennial Show, gives “a car accident on June 6, 1986.” The two figures are not reconciled on the page. She taught in the Peel schools and in Brampton and Bramalea, taught leathercraft in the secondary system, and after retiring worked with a handicapped group in Bramalea; the Society already carries her own “Who's Who in Leathercraft” profile, printed Summer 1981. Many of her projects won prizes.
Winifred Coombs
reported Spring 1985
A Toronto member, Chairman of the Society's Membership Committee from 1958 to 1960. The Spring 1985 newsletter (p. 11) reported that “Toronto members, Winnifred Coombs and John Trops have also recently passed away.” The notice is hand-written and spells her first name with the double n; the register keeps the Winifred of the executive lists, as it does for Winifred Barratt, whom the Society also printed both ways.
John Trops
reported Spring 1985
A Toronto member, and the winner of a Salon Award for an album at the International Assembly of 1969. The Spring 1985 newsletter (p. 11) reported his death and Winifred Coombs’s together, as recent. Name confirmed as "John Trops" (also the spelling on the 1973-summer Weston Trophy sketch plate, p11); a stray repeated trailing "s" in the name field ("Tropssss"/"Tropsss") corrected.
Jean Newton
Christmas Eve, 24 December (the newsletter gives no year; the notice appears in the Winter 1985 issue, which follows Fall 1985 in the same volume, so most probably 1985)
One of the Toronto Branch’s original members — an Associate of the Society from 1954 and a Fellow from 1957 (Spring 1957 newsletter, p. 11) — and, over the years, a presenter at Annual Meetings of some of its senior honours, including Reta Larmour’s Honorary Life Fellow Membership in 1965 and Bea Austin’s Life Membership. The Winter 1985 In Memoriam notice (p. 4) is hand-written and hard to read ("memhenrns" for members, "Baanch" for Branch), but the name itself is clear. The same short notice extends sympathy, not a further death, to May Corbett on the loss of her husband and to Gladys Riddell on the death of her aunt, Dorenda Durey — bereavements, not members.
Evelyn Austin
reported Spring 1985
A long-time member of the Hamilton Branch, whose “recent passing” the Spring 1985 newsletter reported (p. 11) in a hand-written In Memoriam alongside three others. The same notice extends the Society's sympathy to Bea Austin, the Hamilton Fellow and Director.
Emma Knowles
reported 1985
Barrie Branch President 1977-79, Treasurer 1975 and Secretary 1982; her work won Craftsman Ribbons in 1977 and 1981. The 35th Annual's President's Message (1985) reported her death, and five other members', in the same sentence.
Alvin Haig
reported Spring 1985
A long-time member, formerly of the Hamilton Branch, elected an Associate of the Society at the Annual Meeting of 1962. His death was reported as recent in the Spring 1985 newsletter (p. 11).
Sylvia Gerster
reported Winter 1984
Of London, Ontario — Associate of the Society from 1960, on its Executive Council in 1964 and Vice-President of the London Branch in 1969, and a prize-winner at the Western Fair of 1963 in gloves, belts and small articles, where the prize list named her as Mrs. Carl Gerster. The Winter 1984 newsletter (p. 3) reported the deaths of “two of our leathercrafters. Sylvia Gherster of London, and Emma Rothenburger of Ingersoll. They will be missed by all their friends in the Society.” No date is given. The scan of that page spells her surname Gherster; the archive keeps the Gerster of the earlier notices, which the Society printed for her four times between 1963 and 1969.
Emma Rothenburger
reported Winter 1984
Of Ingersoll, Ontario, whose death the Winter 1984 newsletter (p. 3) reported together with Sylvia Gerster's: “They will be missed by all their friends in the Society.” No date is given. The President's Message to the 35th Annual Meeting counts her among the members lost during the 1984-85 season; those two notices are the whole of the record.
Rose Meers
26 March 1982
Of the Belleville Branch, reported alongside Gladys Cooper's death in the branch's 1981-82 annual report to the 32nd Annual Meeting: "another of our members, Rose Meers, died on March 26th."
Helen Anderson
1982/83
A long-time friend and member of the Barrie Branch. Named in the branch's own report to the 1983 Annual Meeting among the losses of the past year; no more precise date is given by that source. (the 1983 Annual Meeting booklet, p.18.) A noted Barrie Branch teacher alongside Nora Huyck, by the branch's own 1990 retrospective (1990-summer p4); hosted a branch barbecue at her home in Longford Mills before the 1965 summer recess (1965-spring p2).
Gladys Cooper
19 February 1982
Of the Belleville Branch, which reported her death in the Spring 1982 newsletter (p. 10) as that of “a very faithful member”: one of the first Belleville members, she had remained active in the Branch until confined to a nursing home in the previous year.
Del Jacombs
1982/83
A member of the Barrie Branch who "maintained an interest in our activities even after ill health precluded her participation." Named alongside Helen M. Anderson in the branch's report to the 1983 Annual Meeting; no more precise date is given by that source. (the 1983 Annual Meeting booklet, p.18.)
Neil Little
Palm Sunday (year not stated on the page; the most recent Palm Sunday before this Spring 1980 issue was 30 March 1980)
Husband of Jessie Little, F.C.S.C.L. — the two farmed north of Brampton before moving to Snelgrove, and had a son and daughter together. Reported in her "Who's Who in Leathercraft" profile: "The sympathy of the members of C.S.C.L. went out to Jessie upon the loss of her husband on Palm Sunday." Not otherwise named in this archive.
Edith Roscoe
reported January 1979
A charter member of the Society and, with Clarice Packham and Isabel Hanna, a founder of the Weston Leathercraft Guild, whose first president she was. The January 1979 newsletter announced her death under the heading In Memorium: “It is with regret that we announce the death of Mrs. Edith Roscoe who was formerly with the Weston Leathercraft Guild. She subsequently moved to Xenia, Ohio where she passed away after a lengthy illness.” No date is given. She had written to the Society on 2 July 1952 enclosing the minutes of the founding meeting of the Toronto Branch, and the Spring 1970 newsletter records that it was she who gave the Weston Trophy to the London Branch in 1957.
Anne Hook
1 November 1978 (reported January 1979)
Born in Ireland and in Canada from 1922, and one of the Society's most decorated craftsmen: three times winner of the award for the most original entry at the C.N.E. with the Canadian Guild of Crafts, including Best in Show for her lidded jar in 1974; the Chatelaine Award of 1971; awards at the Western Fair in London and the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver; and three times winner of Best Functional Design in the Society's biennial Exhibition, the last of them at Leather '78, where she also took the Ontario Crafts Council award for the most outstanding piece in the show. Largely self-taught, though guided by the art staff of Central Technical School in Toronto and helped by the public libraries, she held scholarships from London, the United States and Toronto, and worked in oil, watercolour, tempera and leather as well as in lino-cut, woodcut, serigraph, etching, aquatint, lithograph, drypoint and impasto relief; her nine-block lino-cut “Gentian” was the 1960 Presentation Print of the Canadian Painter-Etchers and Engravers. She was represented in Hart House, the Edmonton Art Gallery, the University of Maine, the Windsor and London art galleries and the Melbourne Museum. She became a Fellow of the Society in 1958 after studying with Reta Larmour, was elected Chairman of the Council of Fellows in 1974, and “gave many demonstrations both in Canada and the United States”. Her obituary fills a page of the January 1979 newsletter, headed “ANNE HOOK — IN MEMORIUM” (the newsletter's own spelling); The 29th Annual Meeting programme (1979), reprinting the Council of Fellows' report for 1978, gives the precise date: "On November 1st... Everyone was greatly saddened by the news that Anne Hook had passed away that morning" — confirming and dating the death the January 1979 obituary itself left unstated. The archive files it under the year of the notice.
Jim Courneya
April 1978
A Hamilton Guild member since at least the early 1960s (entered the Sanitarium as its second member to do so, competed and won ribbons through the 1960s). Named alongside Evelyn Burgess among the Guild's losses in April 1978; no further detail given by that source.
Evelyn Burgess
9 April 1978
Who “passed away on April 9, 1978, at her residence R. R. #22 Waterdown, Ontario, while attending her animals, her labor of love.” She came to Hamilton from England in 1951; her talents, the Summer 1978 newsletter says, were many — she taught voice and violin, lectured for the Hamilton Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and, in southern England during the Second World War, on food production for the British Department of Agriculture. She kept a small crafts shop at her home selling her leatherwork and the produce of her land, and for about five years taught leathercraft to senior citizens in Burlington and district. Active in the C.S.C.L. Artisans, the Hamilton Leathercraft Guild and the Hamilton Horticultural Society, and a member of her church choir: “A real loss to us all.” The tribute is by Muriel McKnight.
Don MacKinnon
reported Summer 1978
A Charter Member of the Society and one of the two men given Honorary Life Fellow Memberships in 1962. His speciality was life-like carved pictures of early Canadian scenes, “authentic pictures of history, all skillfully carved”, exhibited across Canada and the United States, and he taught leathercraft at home, at Central Technical School and Northern Vocational School, and in a summer course at McMaster University — “a patient teacher—his students speak of him with pride.” The tribute in the Summer 1978 newsletter is by Jean Newton, who wrote that he was “a ‘Fun’ man in his well years” whose latter years were sad ones, that listening to him recall the early years of the Society made plain “the great debt of gratitude we owe to the Charter Members”, and that she remembered him as “An Unforgettable Character”. No date of death is given. His widow, Mae MacKinnon, was remembered by the Society in her turn.
Irva Ford
11 October 1977
President of the Society from 1969 to 1972 and Charter President of the Hamilton Leathercraft Guild, which was formed on 11 October 1956 — twenty-one years to the day before she died. Born in the Hanover–Owen Sound area, she taught school in Toronto, married and moved to Hamilton, and was the mother of three professional musicians. She earned her Fellow standing in 1958 and was, in the Executive Council’s words, "the guiding force behind our first Prestige Exhibition"; she took awards at the Society’s own exhibitions, the C.N.E. Canadian Guild of Crafts, the Hamilton Artisans Guild and the International Assemblies in Canada and the United States. The Winter 1977 newsletter printed the Council’s testimonial: "Unsparing of herself and so wonderfully sure that you could do just about anything, yourself… We all feel we lost a friend when Irva left us so suddenly." The Society’s 1975 retrospective dates the first Prestige Show to 1969, at Toronto City Hall, where the testimonial says 1970; the archive states both rather than choosing. The Society’s memorial volume gives her full name as Emily Irva Ford; the "Irma" that recurs elsewhere in the record is a misreading, not the Society’s own usage. "The Heritage Hands of Irva Ford" (February 1985), a tribute written by her children, gives her full birth record and early life: born Emily Irva Pearson in Hanover, Ontario, 26 April 1905, to Mary and William Pearson, with a sister, Jessie; trained and worked as a public school teacher (Ontario Normal School certificate, taught 1925-28 at a one-room school near Hanover and then at William Burgess Public School, Toronto) before turning to craft work, having already won prizes for woodcarving in the early 1930s. She married Arthur Llewellyn Ford, a Hanover schoolmate and pharmacist, in 1936; their three children, all professional musicians, were Peter (b. 1937), David and Susan (b. 1942, later Susan Ford Ricketts). Her leathercraft training began with glove-making under Muriel Burnaby in 1935, continued with leather carving under a Mr. McDougall at the Humber Valley Leather Studio, classes at Central Technical School and a McMaster University summer school under Don McKinnon, and advanced work with Robert Muma at the Mumart Studios of Creative Leathercraft. The same document names her charter membership and first Presidency of the Hamilton Leathercraft Guild (1956-1958, now recorded on her officer record) and further Guild service through the 1960s and 1970s.
Sandy Coutts
1974
Of the Barrie Branch, husband of Eleanor Coutts, who had died in the autumn of 1973. The Spring 1975 newsletter remembers them together as "a gentle and lovable Barrie couple… deeply missed by all members": she an excellent craftswoman who won several awards, he a member of the executive council remembered above all for his demonstrations on adjusting, enlarging and reducing designs. The page names him only as "her husband Sandy"; the surname is hers. No date beyond the year is given.
Margaret Fader
18 May 1974
Of the London membership, who died on Saturday 18 May 1974. The Spring 1974 newsletter printed, in tribute, a poem written for her by her friend Doris Beacham of Dorchester — "THE LEATHER GUILD" — which the newsletter said showed "how her enjoyment of working with leather inspired her friend" to write it.
Eleanor Coutts
September 1973
A member of long standing in the Barrie Branch. The Branch report in the Winter 1973 newsletter, describing the two meetings it held in September to make up for the inactive summer, says that "during this period our branch was greatly saddened by the sudden passing of one of our members of long standing. Eleanor Coutts will be very greatly missed from our circle." The Fall 1973 newsletter carried the Society's notice: "We mourn the passing of two of our members, Eleanor Coutts of Barrie and Cecil Roebuck of Toronto."
Cecil Roebuck
reported Fall 1973
Of Toronto. Made an Honourary Associate of the Society in 1962 — "while Cecil is not a craftsman, he has" served it long — and remembered again in the Spring 1975 newsletter's account of the Society's honours. The Fall 1973 newsletter recorded his death with that of Eleanor Coutts of Barrie: "We mourn the passing of two of our members... Our sympathies go out to their respective families." No date of death is given.
Harold Murphy
February 1972
Named in the Hamilton Leathercraft Guild's own history among that year's losses; no further detail given by that source.
Ralph K. Larmour
2 October 1970
Died 2 October 1970, per the Society’s own contemporary obituary (Fall 1970 newsletter, page 7: "Dr. Larmour died October 2nd, 1970"), where the Spring 1975 retrospective gives the month only. The obituary adds: a Charter member of C.S.C.L.; Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (F.R.S.C.); the Canadian Baking Industry’s first Award of Merit; an Honourary Life Membership from the American Association of Cereal Chemists, who called him the "Dean of Cereal Chemists"; a Canadian delegate to the founding meeting of UNESCO in Paris; scientific adviser to the Canadian High Commissioner in London; a member of the National Research Council’s Defense Board (Food Section); joined the Maple Leaf Milling Company in 1947, working there fifteen years on Canadian diet and nutrition (the Monarch mixes among his work); and a professor at the University of Saskatchewan. The Society’s twenty-five-year retrospective in the Spring 1975 newsletter records that "he was greatly missed by all those that knew him when he passed away in October 1970" and that he "gave a great deal of time and energy to the development of C.S.C.L." The same retrospective places his Honorary Fellow Life membership at the annual meeting of 1970, where the contemporary notice in the Spring 1969 newsletter records it presented at the 19th Annual Meeting by Mrs. Nora Huyck; the archive keeps both statements. His tools and leather supplies were sold in three auctions for the Larmour Memorial Library, raising over $1,000 by 1974. The Toronto Daily Star's own obituary (5 October 1970, "Ralph Larmour, 75 leading Canadian cereal chemist") corroborates the October death date (he "died Saturday," i.e. 3 October, in a Monday paper -- a day off the Society's own 2 October, both kept as printed) and adds outside biographical detail: born in Arena, Ontario; taught school in Ontario and Saskatchewan before serving in the Winnipeg Grenadiers in the First World War, demobilized with a Military Medal; a master's degree in science from the University of Saskatchewan (1923) and a PhD from the University of Minnesota (1927); survived by his wife Reta, of Grimsby, daughter Anne, and son Dr. Peter Larmour of the University of Iowa. On his cereal-chemistry career the Star's own account is internally hard to square -- it has him becoming director of the National Research Council's Saskatoon laboratories and, "in the same year" (1945), the first director of Maple Leaf Mills' Toronto research laboratory, before leaving the NRC in 1947 to concentrate on Maple Leaf Mills work until retiring in 1963. Both accounts are kept as printed.
Arthur Ford
c. Fall 1970
Husband of Irva Ford, President of the Society at the time. "A genial kindly gentleman", a CSCL member himself for some time, whose support gave Irva Ford "the freedom to do so much for Hamilton and the C.S.C.L." No day-of-month date printed. "The Heritage Hands of Irva Ford" (February 1985) gives his full name, Arthur Llewellyn Ford, a pharmacist and Hanover schoolmate of Irva's who married her in 1936 and ran his own drug store in Hamilton for over 25 years; a musician himself (violin, and a tenor in the Masonic Men's Choir) and an amateur photographer who won three Awards of Merit at the Hamilton Branch of the Canadian Photography Association. Father of Peter, David and Susan Ford.
Daisy Carruthers
January 1963
A member of the Barrie Branch, which in the same season lost Herm Tomlinson. Her death is recorded in the Branch's annual report for 1962/63 in the Spring 1963 newsletter: the members "were very grieved in the passing of Herm Tomlinson in September and Daisy Carruthers in January." The Branch then had 23 members and an average attendance of 14.
Herm Tomlinson
September 1962
A member of the Barrie Branch. The Branch’s annual report for 1962/63, printed in the Spring 1963 newsletter, records that "the members were very grieved in the passing of Herm Tomlinson in September and Daisy Carruthers in January." No further detail is preserved. The given name is printed Herm, not Herb.
T. H. Kribs
reported Winter 1956
A member of the Society's Executive Council and an active Toronto leathercrafter who took part in most of the meetings of the Toronto Guild. The newsletter headed the notice EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEMBER PASSES and said he would be missed by both the Executive and the Guild; no date of death is given, and the notice says he had served "for the past year". The Summer and Fall 1955 Executive Council lists both name him as T.H. Kribs of Toronto; the notice itself is printed in the issue headed "Winter, 1956" (masthead Volume V Number 2).
Mary Zatyko
No obituary or death notice found; inferred only from the existence of a "Mary Zatyko Memorial Award" by the 1982 Biennial exhibition (Leather '82), bounded after her appearance on the Toronto Branch's 1979-80 membership list (there printed "Zatyko, Mary") and before 1982. Filed as a placeholder pending a firmer date; not a confirmed death record.
Marie Jonasson
Named among the same four Hamilton Guild losses. Likely the same "Marie Jonasson" named Hamilton Branch Treasurer in 1975 (from the 26th Annual Meeting programme, 1976); the spelling is kept as printed here, the two not read as one name.
Lila Balaban
The Hamilton branch's 1976-77 annual report: "we now have 34 members but were deeply saddened by the loss of Betty Henstridge and Lila Balaban, two really faithful people." No date of death given beyond the 1976-77 branch year.
Betty Henstridge
The Hamilton branch's 1976-77 annual report: "we now have 34 members but were deeply saddened by the loss of Betty Henstridge and Lila Balaban, two really faithful people." No date of death given beyond the 1976-77 branch year.
Art Brandreth
Named among four Hamilton Guild members lost "during this semester" (i.e. by the branch's March 1978 annual meeting), alongside Irva Ford (died 11 October 1977) and Jim Courneya (died April 1978). No further detail given.