Obituary of Gwendolyn Thorburn
Gwendolyn "Wendy" Thorburn (née Montgomery) died peacefully in her sleep on Monday, 3 December, 2018 at Kingston General Hospital. She was ninety-one.
Wendy was born on June 10, 1927 in Toronto, the fifth of six children. She is pre-deceased by all of her siblings and by her husband, Hugh. She and Hugh met as fellow students at the University of Toronto and were married in 1950 at Knox College Chapel, Toronto. In the first years of their marriage, they moved to a number of universities for Hugh's job - Columbia; Mount Allison; and the University of Saskatchewan - before settling at Queen's University in Kingston, where they remained for the rest of their days. She leaves behind six children and ten grandchildren.
Wendy was a woman with a fiercely independent streak and intense passions. Her academic interests were wide and various: she maintained a life-long passion for philosophy, completing a master's degree at the University of Toronto and pursuing doctoral studies at SUNY Buffalo; she began studies in law at the University of Saskatchewan (ended by a move to Kingston which, in the day, had no law faculty); and she completed a Bachelor of Education at Queen's. She taught in several disciplines and at almost every level: university (philosophy and sociology), high school (French), and nursery school.
Wendy's passions were clear and long-standing. She was a devoted lover of music. In her youth, she was a member of the Leslie Bell Singers, Canada's best-known choir of the 1940s and 50s. For many years, she was an organizer of the Kingston Kiwanis Music Festival and she was the longest-serving convenor of Kingston's Junior Music Club. In her later years, she served as president of the Kingston Opera Guild.
She was also a passionate defender of French language rights. She served for many years as one of Kingston's first French-language school board trustees, where she championed the creation of new French schools. Together with her family, she spent several years in Paris, whose every aspect she embraced with gusto.
She was also a dedicated humanitarian. She volunteered and raised money for many causes: the Kingston Unemployment Help Centre, the Elizabeth Fry Society, UNICEF, and many more. She was also a great lover of Canada, Canadian politics and Canadian history. She was a long-standing and active supporter of many public policy organizations; she was active for many years in the Kingston Gaelic Society; she was a longstanding member of the Kingston branch of the Canadian Federation of University Women; and she was the first president of the Frontenac County Schools Museum, playing an instrumental role in bringing that museum to life in its present home in Barriefield.
In the last few years of her life, Wendy retreated from most of her civic engagements. Even when she had moved to a long-term care home, however, her spirit was indomitable: she became president of the Residents' Council of Arbour Heights and was elected to the Ontario Association of Residents' Councils, advocating for better care of seniors in long-term care facilities. In her last years, she began to write her memoirs, drawing together the strands of her life, her passions, her influences, and some of the day-to-day details of her nine decades of life. She had summed up what she believed in and what she wanted to accomplish. She made clear in the days before her death that it was her time to go.
A celebration of Wendy's life will take place at the JAMES REID FUNERAL HOME, RECEPTION AND CELEBRATION CENTRE, 1900 John Counter Boulevard from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, 15 December, 2018. (Please enter the Reception Centre from the rear parking lot). In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution to an award in Wendy's memory at the Kingston Kiwanis Music Festival: P.O. Box 35004, Kingston Centre, K7L 5S5.
