'Greta' Elsie Margaret Torrie

December 24, 1922 – October 8, 2023

Greta, our stylish and elegant, multi-talented mother, grandmother and aunt died on October 8. She was an artisan (weaver, knitter, seamstress, carpenter, gardener, decorator), and also a dedicated bridge player and sportswoman who loved “her island”, camping and catching Muskie, was a good bookkeeper and a long-time community volunteer. She was a great cook and could whip up a gourmet dinner on a dime, set a beautiful table, had a closet of to-die-for shoes but also always had her rubber boots. Her dislikes were easy to live with: cantaloupe, brussel sprouts, broccoli and cabbage, along with hospitals, funerals, and open coffins.

At eighteen she had left McCreary, Manitoba for Angus Business School in Winnipeg and, soon recognized for her bookkeeping skills, was recommended by the school for a good job foregoing her shorthand. In December 1942, she applied to the newly organized Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRCNS or "Wrens"), by spring was learning to march at Conestoga in Galt, Ontario, and by early summer, living in barracks and working at headquarters in Halifax where she was quickly promoted.

Early in 1944 at a dance in Halifax she took off her glasses and met her love Allen. They courted mainly through letters until in early June, walking up the aisle at King’s College Chapel, she had a momentary panic thinking “what am I doing???? I’ve only met him in person a couple of times!!!” Even though he spent their honeymoon in Bermuda by himself (he was in the Navy too and that’s where his ship had gone), their mutual admiration and love was constant and they shared a happy life. She had an innate personal style which is in evidence across the decades of photos. And as Allen used to say, “don’t you love those legs”.

Demobilized through Chippewa in Winnipeg at the end of the war, she had no problem finding work while Allen enrolled in pre-medicine at the University. Every summer, even after Jill was born, she would take the bus to Vancouver to find a job and live with her parents for free, while he ran the Navy’s sea cadet camp on Town Island. In 1951 they began their life on the Lake of the Woods lucky to find a house in Keewatin with the housing shortage.

Many years later, long after the early 1950s, they realized it had never crossed their minds that she might have continued her education after he had finished. Although never certified in what was then the new field of interior decorating (now design), she focused on her own houses undergoing renovations and those of friends and family with her great sense of spatial layout for walls and furniture, which also made her an excellent seamstress and occasional carpenter. In practice, her seeming rule was that the organization of furniture more or less changed with the seasons. In 2004, following a coronary angiogram on a Friday afternoon which showed 3 major blockages, one very critical, the doctor said, “Now I don’t want you to get out of bed until I can operate first thing on Monday morning”. Greta replied, “and to think, but for the tv and the big carpet, I completely reorganized the furniture layout in the condo just yesterday”.

Survived by her daughter Jill (Ignatius); son Bob; granddaughter Jayme (Lee) Blyth with Tucker and Beckett; grandson son Kyle (Kristy) with Morgan; grandson Jordan with Jocelyne; grandson Jeremy (Tanya) with Xavier, Hunter, Semiah and Ruby; grandson Jonathan; sister and brother-in-law Pamela and Allan Abercrombie; Welland nieces and nephews (Michael, Daniel, Tony, Anne, Christopher, Brenda, Christauria, Pamela, Deborah, Douglas, Katherine); and sister-in-law Lillian Torrie.

Predeceased by “the best husband ever” Allen in 2005; daughter Susan in 2010; parents Mabel in 1986 and Bert in 1955; brothers Doug in 2002 on October 8, Ted in 2006 and Bob in 2010; sisters-in-law Margaret, Stephanie, Rhoda, Margot, niece Beth and nephew David; as well as her three Torrie brothers-in-law.

In later years, it was the help and companionship of supportive friends, neighbours and caregivers which allowed Greta to continue to live comfortably in her own home: Pat McDougald, Helen Bateman, Carolyne “Granny Hanny” Hansen, Frank Miclash, Pam Loeb, Lisa Degagne, Sherry Wykes, Kim Tintinelli, Janice Parmeter, Jaye Wesley and her “baker, Kelly Warren

In 2021, Greta moved to Pinecrest and the family would like to thank the staff and especially her special nurse, Brenda Robertson.

A graveside service was held on October 12, 2023 with Pastor Cathy Giroux officiating, music from Les Filles d’Ésprit, friends and neighbours participating and all closely watched by a deer and an eagle and periodic rays of sunshine.

If desired, tax-receipt donations can be made to the Dr. Jim Beveridge Kenora Community Hospice at District of Kenora Home for the Aged, 1220 Valley Drive, Kenora P9N 2W7.

"'May flights of Angels sing thee to thy rest.” (Shakespeare: Hamlet)

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.brownfuneralhomekenora.com for the Torrie family.