In memory of
Heather Elaine Dau
May 21, 1937 - January 17, 2025
Heather Dau, beloved friend to many, has died, January 17, 2025, aged 87 in Mississauga, Ontario. In life she had a multitude of parents: born to the Blacks in New Brunswick, adopted by Bertha and Everett Dau, with whom she was raised on the southern California border, and finally as a teenager acquired by Rachel Cooke Wilson and Arthur Wilson, her aunt and maternal uncle, with whom she would spend the remainder of her childhood in Nova Scotia. There she started a 4-H club in Bass River and raised purebred Guernseys for exhibit and a neighbourhood milk-run.
She studied agriculture at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College in Truro, prepared for and was designated to the Diaconal Ministry of The United Church of Canada in Toronto, then became editor of a church youth magazine. As an adult, she studied history, literature and just about anything she could get her hands on at Concordia University in Montreal, where she worked in the language lab and learned how to say, “please turn over the tape” in numerous languages. In Montreal she co-founded, with Alice Foster, the communication and design company Foster & Dau. She also conceived of, and launched, the popular People and Pets radio programme. In Toronto, she continued to work in communications—using her remarkable design, writing, editing, interview and analytical skills.
In 1985, she crossed paths with Mary Rose Donnelly which began a life-long collaboration, first with the research and writing of Katharine, a biography of Dr. Katharine Boehner Hockin. From there, the two would form a life-long bond of uncommon companionship. In the 1990s, Heather created Company of Gardeners, and turned her colourist, design and horticultural gifts to the installation of numerous perennial gardens in southern Ontario.
An insatiable reader and searcher, Heather began a forty-year genealogical study of Rachel Cooke Wilson’s family, beginning in Bass River and tracing her lineage back to two Cook/Cooke brothers, Ulster Scots who emigrated to the Cobequid region of Nova Scotia in 1760s. Later she would use y-DNA testing to establish a third brother had settled in North Carolina and, much later, a cousin in Australia. It was a deeply satisfying pursuit that spawned a database, website, articles to the Nova Scotia Genealogical Society and in 2014 The Colchester Historical Society’s Heritage award.
In her later years, Heather took up non-objective painting under the direction and encouragement of Lila Lewis Irving, a friendship and mentorship she cherished and one that broadened the artistic space in her life.
Those who loved her are grateful to her amazing health care team, particularly Dr. Jordana Kline, Dr. Andrew Boright, Dr. Friedericke Quittnat Pelletier, as well as Dr. Sukhjeet Kaur Dhillon all of whom took compassion and care to an extraordinarily new level.
A gathering of friends will follow. Dress code: splash of colour.
Memorial contributions are invited to be made to the Colchester Historical Society, (Digital Archives Project), 29 Young Street, Truro, NS, B2N 3W3, 902-895-6284,
https//colchesterhistoreum.ca
She studied agriculture at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College in Truro, prepared for and was designated to the Diaconal Ministry of The United Church of Canada in Toronto, then became editor of a church youth magazine. As an adult, she studied history, literature and just about anything she could get her hands on at Concordia University in Montreal, where she worked in the language lab and learned how to say, “please turn over the tape” in numerous languages. In Montreal she co-founded, with Alice Foster, the communication and design company Foster & Dau. She also conceived of, and launched, the popular People and Pets radio programme. In Toronto, she continued to work in communications—using her remarkable design, writing, editing, interview and analytical skills.
In 1985, she crossed paths with Mary Rose Donnelly which began a life-long collaboration, first with the research and writing of Katharine, a biography of Dr. Katharine Boehner Hockin. From there, the two would form a life-long bond of uncommon companionship. In the 1990s, Heather created Company of Gardeners, and turned her colourist, design and horticultural gifts to the installation of numerous perennial gardens in southern Ontario.
An insatiable reader and searcher, Heather began a forty-year genealogical study of Rachel Cooke Wilson’s family, beginning in Bass River and tracing her lineage back to two Cook/Cooke brothers, Ulster Scots who emigrated to the Cobequid region of Nova Scotia in 1760s. Later she would use y-DNA testing to establish a third brother had settled in North Carolina and, much later, a cousin in Australia. It was a deeply satisfying pursuit that spawned a database, website, articles to the Nova Scotia Genealogical Society and in 2014 The Colchester Historical Society’s Heritage award.
In her later years, Heather took up non-objective painting under the direction and encouragement of Lila Lewis Irving, a friendship and mentorship she cherished and one that broadened the artistic space in her life.
Those who loved her are grateful to her amazing health care team, particularly Dr. Jordana Kline, Dr. Andrew Boright, Dr. Friedericke Quittnat Pelletier, as well as Dr. Sukhjeet Kaur Dhillon all of whom took compassion and care to an extraordinarily new level.
A gathering of friends will follow. Dress code: splash of colour.
Memorial contributions are invited to be made to the Colchester Historical Society, (Digital Archives Project), 29 Young Street, Truro, NS, B2N 3W3, 902-895-6284,
https//colchesterhistoreum.ca
Funeral Details
Show location:
Memorial
Cornerstone Community Church
180 Nashville Road, Kleinburg, ON, CANADA, L0J 1C0
Get Directions
Saturday, 22 Mar 2025 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Info: The church is on the corner of Highway 27 and Nashville Road.