Tillie Klotz Mullie

December 2, 1932 – May 22, 2021

Tillie Mullie (nee Klotz) passed away peacefully on May 22nd in Beaconsfield, Quebec. Tillie was raised on a farm in Vibank, Saskatchewan, the second youngest in a family of five girls and one boy. She liked to share memories of these early years, not only about the hard work of farm life, but also lighthearted tales of adventures with her sisters, how they rode their beloved bull Ferdinand, and their day-to-day power struggles with the nuns who ran the convent boarding school they attended. These were formative years, and decades later, if her own children failed to finish dinner, Tillie liked to remind them just how fortunate they were because—at the convent—their leftovers would be served to them again at breakfast the next morning.

After high school, she enrolled in Teachers College and upon graduation, got a job teaching children in grades one-through-six in a one-room school house, and insisted her students never gave her any trouble whatsoever. It was at teacher’s college that she met Joe and they were married in 1956. They soon moved to London, Ontario, while Joe completed a master’s program.

Tillie raised five children and the family moved back and forth between Toronto and Montreal over the next couple of decades. As her kids grew into teenagers, Tillie developed a keen interest in cooking. Dinner transitioned from Hamburger Helper to Ossobuco, and the evening meal became the heart of family life. Tillie’s hospitality was legendary in the neighborhood, and with cousins, aunts and uncles strewn across the country. There was always a gaggle of long-haired teens playing pool or listening to music in the basement, often raiding the pantry for her sought-after leftovers. For Tillie, a dinner party for 18 was a breeze—or so she made it seem. In later years, when grandchildren came on the scene it was mandatory for each meal to be followed by a ginormous platter of “squares”, a medley of butter tarts, Nanaimo and Oh Henry’ bars, and brownies.

Christmas was a grand clamorous affair, full of family traditions, and celebrated with Uncle Gil and Auntie Ruth, cousins Fred and Carol, a long-lost relative from Belgium or France, a rotating mix of the Mullie kids’ girlfriends/boyfriends, and any unsuspecting wanderer who might otherwise spend the day alone. Tillie served turkey—with all the fixings—and cabbage rolls capped with an extra-special festive dessert. This grand finale once featured unexpected pyrotechnics when her Cherry Jubilee set the table cloth on fire. Christmas dinner was followed by a rousing game of Pit, and raucous rounds of charades that ran into the wee hours. Although Tillie enjoyed her signature screwdriver, she would occasionally have to lock up the booze if the festivities were deemed to be getting out of hand.

Tillie loved to sing, and for years sang alto in the St. Patrick’s Basilica Choir. In her spare time, she cooked for Meals on Wheels, hunted for and refinished antiques with Joe, and read voraciously, her bedside table typically stacked with her favorite murder mysteries. Tillie’s MO was to operate in the background—planning, organizing, and delegating behind the scenes—never wanting to be the center of attention. She suffered—terribly at times—from rheumatoid arthritis but never complained. She could be seen driving about town in her AMC Spirit, with her best pal Chandra, the family’s Old English Sheepdog, always along for the ride. Her devotion to Chandra was demonstrated in spades when, despite not knowing how to swim and having a life-long fear of water, Tillie jumped in to the frigid waters of the family backyard pool one early spring day to rescue the waterlogged dog who had accidentally fallen in.

To the outside world, Tillie was a model of decorum, but to her children her deadpan sense of humor was her singular trait. Right up until her final days—even during a stint in palliative care at Lakeshore General Hospital—Tillie could dish up a one-liner that packed such a wallop, it left whoever witnessed it wondering, did she really just say that?

She was predeceased by her husband of 49 years Joseph Mullie in 2005. She is survived by her sister (Carrie Sparling), her five children, Stephen (Susan Mullie), Adele (Dave Shutler), Christine (Nigel Mott), Jennifer, Paul (Michelle Mullie), her 8 grandchildren, Thomas and Daniel Mullie; Danielle, Michael, and Ava Mott; Lina, Isabelle, and Ryan Mullie, and many nieces and nephews.

Mom, because of you they really were “the good old days.”

We’d like to thank Sunrise of Beaconsfield for their exceptional and compassionate care of our mother over the last five years.