Iris Margaret Sinclair

Iris was born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland in 1924.

Her mother Lily (née Erwin) and sister Joan (18 months) died when Iris was ten, and Iris and younger sister Olive were brought up by their father Mark Millar and his older sisters – Mary (Minnie), Susan and Sarah.

Iris’s family was very interested in music. Her mother was a piano teacher and performer. Aunt Madge, her mother’s sister, sang Gilbert and Sullivan in amateur productions. Her maternal grandfather further encouraged the family’s musical talents, and Iris was trained to sight read music, to play piano and sing. As a girl, she sang songs at church women’s guild meetings; she described these as sentimental songs – “Cherry Ripe” and “Johnny’s So Long at the Fair”. She would later sing Scottish songs for her husband.

Her father was the accountant of the local linen factory, J N Richardson Sons and Owden Ltd. He was very interested in horse genealogy, as his mother had been before him.

Iris’s education was paid for by her academic scholarships. She was educated at the local Elementary School and Friends’ (Quakers) School, Lisburn. The Friends’ School was taken over by the British military during WWII. She was very good at maths and received distinction for her efforts.

After school she worked at Stormont in the Home Office, and from there she volunteered for the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) in 1943.

She trained for the army at Ballymena; her first orders came for a Royal Artillery Battery, Helen’s Bay near Bangor. The women did various jobs including range finding, where they had to run through mine-fields to get to the guns. They were protecting the convoys that were coming into Belfast, bringing food for Britain.

At this time Britain and the Allies were preparing to attack Japan. A great number of troops — and for the first time ever British women, including many women from Southern Ireland — were deployed to the Far East. The ATS were to provide clerical support for the headquarters of Lord Mountbatten (Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia).

She sailed from Southampton on a Canadian liner (she remembered a lovely, big Canadian apple at every place setting) with 60-80 women. It was a troop ship of sailors heading for India. While on their way, Mountbatten changed his mind and decided to launch an attack on Japan from Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Iris landed at Colombo, disembarking on a tender there before taking a train to Kandy further north. While they waited for Mountbatten to catch up, she worked for the Australian War Graves Commission: British and Australian troops found Allied soldiers’ graves as they took ground back from the Japanese, and these needed to be registered. As a Senior School Certificate holder Iris got a job in the financial advisor’s office. She was checking the deliveries of supplies and the outfitting of the Indian army (many brought back from the Middle East) as organised by the Royal Army Pay Corps.

She met Donald Macdonald Sinclair in Singapore (he had been in India and Burma before that). He was a Paymaster in the Pay Corps, and his eventual rank was Captain.

Iris and Donald fell in love. She returned to the UK, and when Donald also returned, he asked Iris to marry him — which they did, in Scotland in 1947. Iris continued working in Sloane Square East, London at the ATS headquarters, where she was promoted to Staff Sergeant. In 1948 she was given compassionate leave to join Donald in Canada where he had emigrated. She was still suffering from malaria contracted in Ceylon. She hadn’t taken the anti-malarial Mepacrine pills provided, because they made her skin turn yellow. For this she was reprimanded by the ATS.

Iris sailed to Canada (Aunt Madge was at Liverpool to see her off). She arrived in Toronto, and Donald and Iris had their first child, Catriona, in 1949, delivered by the Toronto coroner (their regular doctor was away for the weekend). Iris worked in clerical jobs at Eaton’s and Simpson’s department stores.

Their second child, Mairin, was born in 1955. Donald joined Standard Life Assurance Company. He was transferred, and the family moved to Edmonton, Alberta.

Iris said that those were her happiest days. She ran the Junior Choir at St. Timothy’s Anglican Church and helped with the Girls’ Auxiliary which Catriona had joined. She also helped with the Girl Guides which Mairin had joined. Iris took up curling, and very much enjoyed the social life. Donald and Iris decided to add another child to the family, and they were delighted to adopt Patrick in 1964.

There was another transfer, back to Toronto, where Donald ran two branches. Iris went to Erindale College, Mississauga (University of Toronto) to study historical geography. She also attended Humber College, where she learned weaving, and she subsequently purchased a full-sized floor loom. Weaving was a fascination held from her childhood, when she was exposed to the workings of the linen mill where her father was employed.

Another transfer took them back to Edmonton where Iris worked at the Worker’s Compensation Board of Alberta.

Their final transfer took Donald and Iris to West Vancouver. There Iris attended the University of British Columbia in the religious studies programme. She was fascinated by religion, and attended Friends’ meetings and St Francis in the Wood Anglican church, and she was also interested in Buddhism. Through the Quakers she was involved in environmental issues and anti-Vietnam War activism. She joined the Raging Grannies, a social activist group located throughout North America and other parts of the world. “Grandmothers” dressed up in clothes mocking the stereotypes of older women; they would perform protest songs they had written, set to well-known tunes, concerning social activism and the environment.

Iris worked in the office of Marine Printers in Vancouver for many years. She greatly enjoyed this wonderful McKenzie family-owned company and the excellent personal service they provided to their clients. She retired from there to another important stage of her life — that of revelling in the lives of her four grandsons. She and Donald imparted their wisdom and provided influence and insight where appropriate. She was so very proud of the accomplishments of all the “Boys”.

Two great grandbabies (twins) arrived in recent years, providing yet more joy.

Sadly, Donald passed away in February 2019, and the loss of her great love — they had been married for seventy-one years — was insurmountable for Iris. She was able to remain in her home with the kind assistance of the Home Support staff from Vancouver Coastal Health, and in the past few months by the addition of the incredible Palliative Team, also from Vancouver Coastal Health. Iris’s family wishes to thank all of the caregivers who assisted with Mum’s care, especially support worker Diane and dear Nurse Mary, who was our guiding light. Iris died in the early hours of December 19th in her own home and in her own cosy bed after a day with the family; a day of poetry and songs (some a bit off tune), love and laughter.

You are so loved, Mum, and will forever be cherished. Thank you for your care and guidance and especially your unending love through all the years.

Iris was pre-deceased by her beloved sister Olive.

She is survived by her three children; Catriona Sinclair (Martyn Wade), Mairin McManus and Patrick Sinclair (Jeff Gibson); her four grandsons; Blake James McManus, Daniel Wade (Ruth Wade), Joseph Wade and Andrew John McManus; and her two great grandchildren; Chloe and Jacob Wade. Additionally, Iris is remembered by her niece Alison Sinclair and nephew Donald Starritt and their families in Northern Ireland. Her husband Donald’s family will also remember Iris with fondness, especially cousin Margaret Willis and her family in Vancouver and the lower mainland, nephew Iain Sinclair and his family in Vancouver, and Lexie Blair and family in Scotland.

A Celebration of Iris’s Life will be held on Wednesday, January 29th, 2020 at 2 pm at the Hollyburn Funeral Home in West Vancouver, at 1807 Marine Drive. There is on-site parking, as well as parking on the surrounding streets. A reception will follow.