LINDA VAN DUZER SAUL
1941 - 2021
Linda was born, raised, educated, raised her family, worked, lived all her life, with the exception of a year in Paris and two years in Tanzania, within Toronto's Avenue Road/University Avenue/Yonge Street corridor. She was born at the Toronto General; raised in North Toronto, along with her brother, John, by Jack and Isobel, who was known as Bud Van Duzer and educated at St. Clements School, Trinity College at the University of Toronto, and the Sorbonne. She met her husband, Bill, on the deck of the SS Franconia on September 27, 1963, as each was off to pursue their post-university adventures. After reaching Europe, they each went off in different directions, but over the next few months they met for eight days in Paris, for five weeks of hitchhiking around Spain and for 10 days bussing around Morocco. They then went off again in separate directions, reconnecting several months later in Toronto, where a few months after that they got married at the Trinity College chapel. Never a loud or strident feminist, just someone who adopted the objectives and values of the Second Wave as guidelines for her own life, saying that she had two priorities in life, her family and her career. She succeeded in both pursuits. She raised her two sons, Brian, who now lives in Vancouver, and Graham, who now lives in Ottawa, in the Republic of Rathnelly, where she and Bill lived for 48 years. She was pleased that she had helped both become quite solid citizens. She made a special effort to ensure that both Brian and Graham's teenage posses felt welcome and respected in her home. The basement became their redoubts. She was pleased to know that her grandchildren, Ezra, Eli and Dora of Vancouver, are also well on their way of becoming solid citizens. And she recognized that she had won the daughter-in-law lottery when Brian married Andrea Thorpe and Graham married Liz Bernstein She decided early on that she would eschew the convention of the day, which called for women to become homemakers; instead, she pursued a career. After a short, unrewarding stint teaching, she started her career in Marketing Research at McKim Advertising. A career that lasted until her retirement in 2002 and included being Manager of Marketing Research at General Foods Canada, a Vice President of Environics Research and a Partner in Commins, Wingrove. During the '70s, '80s and '90s, she was regularly sought out for personal advice and counsel by members of the wave of younger women who were attempting to make inroads into Toronto's male dominated consumer marketing industry. Her only real pursuit other than her family and career was the design, development and maintenance of her perennial gardens. When she ran out of space in her Toronto backyard, she bought a 37-acre farm on the banks of the Grand River and planned, developed and maintained an even bigger one. Having met travelling, she and Bill developed the habit of traveling each year to somewhere they had never been before, except Paris and the Serengeti where they returned from time to time. Afterall, as her coffee cup said, "Paris is always a good idea" and she always voted for the Serengeti when the family debated, "If God exists, which she very seriously doubted, the only question was whether she lives on the side of Mt. Kilimanjaro or in the Serengeti." After suffering a wide variety of health issues over the past 25 years, she succumbed to endometrial cancer on October 27. Thanks to the legions of nurses, administrators, receptionists, nurses' aides, doctors, technicians, PSWs and physiotherapists who helped her benefit from Canada's amazing health care system. Her ashes will be spread over the next while in equal portions in the Seine off the embankment across from Notre Dame; at some kopje in the Serengeti; in the Grand River upstream from Belwood; in Coboconk Ontario's small, serene village graveyard and in a perennial garden somewhere in the Avenue Road/University Avenue Road/Yonge Street corridor. It is unlikely that there will be a memorial service held, but if one does take place, Molson Stock Ale, if indeed it still exists, will be the exclusive beverage served. Sleep warm. Xoxoxo. Memories can be left at mountpleasantgroup.com.