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Gwynneth Powell (nee Sinclair)
August 19, 1914 - June 3, 2014
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<div itemprop="description">Peacefully at her home surrounded by her family on Tuesday, June 3, 2014 in her 100th year. Beloved wife of the late Charles William Powell; dear mother of David Robert Powell (Kate Kitchen), Cynthia Anne Edghill and Susan Elliot Powell; loving grandmother of Alexis Susan Whalen (Brett), Marisa Lynn Edghill (Elias de Souza); Zoe Leigh Mager, Andrea Lauren Mager, and James William Mager; beloved &ldquo;Great Granny Ginty&rdquo; of Amy Brooke Whalen and Bryce Alexander Whalen; loving sister of Robert McKenzie Sinclair and the late Amie Muriel Osburn; special aunt to Jayne LaPointe (Ray) and Peter Osburn, Rob Sinclair and Stacey Zahary (Joe). <br /> <br />Gwynneth was born on August 19, 1914 on Castlefrank Crescent in Toronto and attended Branksome Hall School for Girls. She spent her summers as a camper, and later as a counsellor, at Camp Tanamakoon in Algonquin Park. Along with her sister Muriel (&ldquo;Moonie&rdquo;), she developed a lifelong love of nature and explored all that the North had to offer. <br /> <br />She graduated from Branksome in 1933 as Head Girl and began her studies in Household Economics at Trinity College at the University of Toronto. After attaining her undergraduate degree, she completed a year at the Faculty of Education at St. Hilda&rsquo;s College, U of T, where she obtained a teaching certificate. <br /> <br />Ginty&rsquo;s first teaching assignment was in Beamsville, Ontario but she soon returned to Toronto to teach night school for several years while helping her widowed father, Robert Ardagh Roe Sinclair, &ldquo;Gammy&rdquo;, raise her younger brother, Bob. She then returned to full time employment as a medical technologist in the &ldquo;lab&rdquo; at Toronto General Hospital. <br /> <br />Persuaded by her husband, Charles, to leave the test tubes and start a family, Ginty stayed at home to raise her three children, David, Cynthia and Susan. Not one to miss an opportunity, she supply-taught at the childrens&rsquo; school, Bennington Heights Pubic School, and was the Chair of the Parent Teacher Association. <br /> <br />Ginty maintained her fond connection with Branksome Hall by serving on the Alumnae Association Executive, including as President. She subsequently acted as a Guidance Counsellor for students at the school. <br /> <br />Retirement was not yet on Ginty&rsquo;s horizon as she then began to work as a Volunteer Coordinator for St. Christopher&rsquo;s House. After a couple of years she moved on to act as Volunteer Coordinator for the Visiting Homemaker&rsquo;s Association until 1993. During her time as Coordinator, a summer day-program for seniors was established on Ward&rsquo;s Island, a program that continues today. Ginty continued to work as a volunteer with the program for eight years after she resigned from the VHA. <br /> <br />In her later years, Ginty continued to serve her local community by reading to Grade One students at Bennington Heights. The children lovingly referred her to as the &ldquo;granny in the rocking chair&rdquo;. She was also an active participant and presenter of informative papers to the World Affairs Group of the Canadian Federation of University Women, East York-Leaside Branch. In 2003, she was honoured by Branksome Hall with the &ldquo;Most Outstanding Graduate Award for The Decade -1930s&rdquo;, during the school&rsquo;s centenary celebrations. <br /> <br />Throughout all of her volunteer and working life, Ginty remained a devoted and loving matriarch and a warm friend to a great many people. She leaves behind a long legacy of love for family, for nature, for the environment and especially for lifelong learning. She shall be dearly missed. <br /> <br />In lieu of flowers, please consider a memorial donation to the Victorian Order of Nurses - https://donate.von.ca/donatenow</div>