Surrounded by her loving family, Lee Norton Hayden (née Burnham), 84, died peacefully May 15, 2024, in Toronto. Lee is survived by her husband, Peter R. Hayden, Q.C., of 58 years, and daughters Katie Hayden (Scott Jeffery) and Jenny Hayden (Lisa Roman), and grandchildren Tessa and Zoë Jeffery-Hayden, and Rafa and Gabriel Hayden-Roman. She will also be missed by her sister, Anne Burnham, sister- and brother-in-law Lynda and John Diakiw, and sister-in-law Diane Bews, and her nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents.

Lee was born on January 7, 1940, to Dorothy (née Quiri) and Frederick Burnham in Boston, Mass., and grew up in Boston and Chicago. She received her BA from Wellesley College in Massachusetts in 1962 with a focus on English, Art History and Zoology. She later met Peter while teaching elementary school in Boston. She laughingly described how Peter, the gregarious “Canuck,” hogged her guitar and left beer stains on it at a folk party … and the rest is history. The pair married in Cambridge, Mass., in July 1965, and moved to Toronto soon after, where Lee worked as a book editor and elementary school teacher until she and Peter had their daughters.

She was a passionate 45-year volunteer with the Toronto Symphony Volunteer Committee and Junior Women’s Committee, and was honoured by the province of Ontario in 2011 for her 40 years of service to the Symphony. She was committed to her TSVC music education work and offered leadership in such programs as the Preludes, Student Concerts, Adopt-A-Player and Morning with the Symphony. Her grandchildren lovingly remember attending Young People’s Concerts with her, and holding hands and snacking on TicTacs through the “scary” parts.

Lee was also a devoted volunteer at her daughters’ schools, and helmed the parent councils at both Oriole Park P.S. and North Toronto Collegiate. She believed in access to quality education for all — and this was reflected in her engagement in the public education system. Other highlights of her 50+ years in the North Toronto community include hosting Christmas Eve parties at #50, longstanding tennis, exercise and bridge groups, programs with the CFUW North Toronto, volunteering with POINT, 1950s Rock ‘n’ Roll parties at Eglinton Park, Eastbourne Maple Syrup Festivals and tending her gardens in the company of her treasured poodles, Bonnie and Lucy.

Lee lived for her and Peter’s annual pilgrimages to her favourite islands, Sanibel and Nantucket. Weeks in Sanibel were spent filling her fanny pack with tulips, olives and alphabet shells on the beach at sundown, spotting roseate spoonbills and night herons at the Ding Darling, and grabbing fresh fish at Gramma Dot’s. Summers in her beloved First Mate cottage in ‘Sconset were spent catching up with life-long U.S. friends, bunny walks down shell streets, celebratory lobster fests, caring for her prized windowboxes and lazy afternoons jumping in the waves at her favourite beaches.

The family would like to thank her dedicated and compassionate caregivers and staff from Home Instead, as well as the attentive care teams at Sunnybrook Hospital.

A celebration of life will be held Tuesday, June 11 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Funeral Centre at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, 375 Mt. Pleasant Rd., Toronto, M4T 2V8.

If desired, memorial donations may be made to Pathways to Education or the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.