In Memoriam
← History & Records · 44 members remembered
Members of the Society remembered in its records, with the dates the record preserves.
Phyllis McHale
13 September 2021
A member of the Society.
Dorothy McPherson
24 February 2021
An Honourary Life Member; an international folk artisan and writer who joined the Society in 1990 and tirelessly promoted leathercraft.
Loreen Manuel
2020
An Honourary Life Member of the Society.
Marion Kehoe
17 January 2019
A Life Member and Member-at-Large from London, Ontario, in her 99th year.
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.
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.
Gloria Cousins
31 July 2012
A member of the Society.
Ruth Haig
3 September 2011
A Fellow and Life Member of the Society, at Dundas, Ontario. Winner of the 2005 John Mather Award. Her published obituary (Marlatt Funeral Home, Swackhamer Chapel) records her death at St. Joseph's Hospital on 3 September 2011, in her 83rd year.
Hilda Darbyshire
1 March 2010
A Fellow of the Society, in her 101st year. She had donated a case of leather tools and supplies to the membership.
Hilda Chynoweth
2010 (b. 13 February 1910)
A member of the Norland Chynoweth family who reached her 100th birthday in February 2010.
Bill Whittingham
c. 2010
A member whose estate left tools and a bequest to the Society.
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.
Marion Bridge
c. 2007
A longtime member of the Hamilton Branch, in her 90th year.
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 bulletin. 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 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
c. 2005
A longtime champion of the Society.
May Corbett
c. 2004
A Past President of the Society and a longtime member of the Barrie Branch and Member-at-Large.
Kevin Armstrong
c. 2004
A past Secretary, Treasurer, Bulletin co-editor, and Archivist of the Society, of the Mississauga Branch.
Jack Meharg
c. 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.
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.
Glen 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.
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 bulletin in 1992 and 1993.
Marg Weldon
summer 1997
Of Ancaster, a former active member of the Hamilton Guild.
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.
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.
Margaret LaChappelle
autumn 1996
Of the Toronto branch, a member for over thirty years. Among the many things she made were shoes; she also collected dolls and stamps.
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 served as the Society's Treasurer.
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.
Edith Melchior-Hawkins
1995 (b. 1922)
An accomplished leathercraft artisan and Fellow of the Tillsonburg Branch; a Life Member of the Society.
Lorna Robson
November 1994
An Associate of the Society and a member 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.
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 bulletin.
Robert Muma
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 bulletin.
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 bulletin; 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 bulletin.