Laura LEWTHWAITE

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LEWTHWAITE: Laura Christina Lewthwaite, age 97, passed away peacefully at the Delwynda Court Personal Care Home in Deloraine on Oct. 4. Laura (Jack) was born on the dining room table in the home of her parents, Stella Pearl Haskin and James Jack, on Mulvey Avenue in Winnipeg on July 25, 1915. Her orphaned father came to Canada with his older brother from Glasgow, Scotland in 1893 at the age of eight, a Bible and a paisley shawl his only possessions. Laura had one brother, Murray, born in 1920, whose family continues to live in the United States. She attended Kelvin High School where, in Grade 11, she received the Governor General’s award for the highest mark in English in the province. She took her bachelor of arts at United College (U of W) and education at the University of Manitoba. Laura put herself through college working in a drugstore afternoons and evenings for $10 a week. She made donations to the University of Winnipeg for more than 70 years. In 1937, at the height of the Depression, the principal of the new Flin Flon school went to Winnipeg to the Department of Education looking for unemployed teachers to teach in Flin Flon. He was sent directly to Laura’s house and she took the job immediately, not knowing where it was she was headed. When she arrived by train two days later, there was no place to live. Laura met Chubb Lewthwaite, the blasting boss at the Hudson Bay Co. mine in Flin Flon, in the church choir. They were married Sept 2, 1939 in Winnipeg — the day before the Second World War was declared. The Lewthwaites left Flin Flon in 1945 to live in Regina where Chubb worked for Tommy Douglas — a hero of Laura’s, with her strong belief in social justice and equality for all. In 1947, with hardware in Chubb’s family background, they went looking for a store and bought Ford’s Hardware in Deloraine. It became the 13th Marshall Wells store in Western Canada. After 30 years in the hardware business, they retired in 1977. As well as homemaking and working in the store, Laura returned to teaching English at Deloraine Collegiate for several years. Marrying into the Lewthwaite family ensured Laura’s strong love of music. Singing in the Deloraine United Church choir was a tradition and Lewthwaite family gatherings always included music and meringue cookies. She was one of the founding members of the Deloraine Border Festival — the Lewthwaite Tudor Bowl for excellence in singing was a testament to her commitment to the arts in the community. Laura was one of the first recipients of Deloraine's Citizen of the Year Award. Among her many volunteering activities in the town, she was one of the original editors of the two Deloraine history books. Laura had a wonderful welcoming manner to all newcomers to town and was genuinely interested in other peoples’ lives and opinions. Women’s Institute, UCW, the quilters and the bridge crew were a few of the many organizations and groups she enjoyed. Sundays were often spent at the family cottage on Lake Dromore, sweeping cob webs and correcting the newspaper. She had incredible patience for ‘teaching’ some of the more obscure rules of grammar. Laura was a champion of the underdog, and tutored dozens of students who found school a struggle, empowering them and giving them dignity. In that act of kindness, she changed many lives. Laura was pre-deceased by Chubb (Jan. 1, 1989) and Sue Tjaden (Dec. 21, 1999) and is survived by family: her daughter Claire (David) Day and their children Scott (Ann) Day and daughter Alex, and Cathey Day (Derek Weidenhamer) and their sons Jacob, Ben and Luke; her son Jim (Karen) Lewthwaite and their children Patrick and Andrew (Krista) Lewthwaite and their daughter Natalya, as well as many nieces and nephews around the globe. The family wishes to thank the caring staff at Delwynda Court and her friends from Border Hills and the community for your friendship and caring. A celebration of Laura’s life, filled with music and laughter, was held Oct. 9 in the Deloraine United Church, with Rev. Allan Gairns leading worship and interment at Deloraine. Laura was truly an active participant in the ‘Greatest Generation’ that settled so many of our small, rural communities. We hope she will continue to inspire all who knew her. Memorial donations can be directed to the SW Regional Foundation, Box 338, Deloraine, MB. R0M 0M0 or the Mission and Service Fund of the United Church of Canada, c/o Pat Whiteside, Deloraine, MB, R0M 0M0.

As published in Brandon Sun on Oct 27, 2012