On May 17, five days past our 59th wedding anniversary I lost Shelagh, my love, the centre of my life. I met Shelagh Carol Parker February 5, 1960., a date we celebrated every year. She was a devoted mother to Jordan (deceased 2010), Andrew (Olga) of St Michael’s Parish, Barbados and Jeremy (Diane) of Markham. She was adored by grandsons Parker, Alexander, and Thomas and granddaughter Shaughnessy. Shelagh had an amazing gift for making and maintaining lifetime friendships with people met in her teens and throughout her life. She was always keen to keep in touch with her cousins and was welcomed and loved by the O’Neill clan the day she was introduced to the family. She was a most gracious hostess and enjoyed entertaining, providing beautifully prepared meals, good wine and plenty of conversation.
She was an active member of Milne House Garden Club and supporter of the TBG, also a keen gardener at our former home on Owen Boulevard, producing materials for use as a talented floral designer. Her love of floral design led to study of the art and qualification as a judge of both Floral Design and Horticulture.
She had a keen interest in travel visiting interesting places, at 21 travelling and camping throughout Europe with three friends, a small car and a tent. Together we travelled across Canada and the United States, to four other continents and rented houses in off the track places in Europe, sometimes with special friends, sometimes on our own. We enjoyed winter breaks in South Carolina and especially Arizona.
Shelagh is survived by her loving husband, John, her surviving sons and their spouses, her grandchildren and her dear sister Ginny Burrow of Stratford.
No funeral is planned, cremation is planned, burial arrangements will be private when the family is able to gather in Toronto at the York Cemetery. If donations in her memory are made, we suggest the Sunnybrook Foundation