Catherine Gourlay

A Celebration of the life of Catherine Gourlay

November 21st, 1904 – December 22nd, 2006
Wilson’s Funeral Home, Cornwall
December 28th, 2006 at 11:00am

Gourlay, Catherine Margaret( Fraser), 102, of Cornwall, formally of Williamstown, died Friday, Dec. 22, 2006 at Glen-Stor-Dun Lodge in Cornwall.

Catherine was born Nov. 21, 1904 in Williamstown where she attended school in the 4th concession and the Maple Leaf School. She attended high School in Williamstown. Following completion of high school she lived at home until moving to Montreal where she worked for Sun Life Insurance. She lived in Montreal until 1931 when she married Hugh Gourlay.

Following their marriage, Catherine and Hugh moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan where they lived until 1935. In 1935 they moved to Hamilton, Ontario and then to Dundas. They remained in Dundas until 1939 when they moved to Edmonton, Alberta. The family lived in Edmonton until 1955, at which time Hugh, Catherine and their younger son, Gord moved to Toronto. Catherine worked for Canadian Facts in Toronto from 1955 until her retirement in 1970.

Following her retirement, Catherine and Hugh moved to Williamstown into a new home designed by their son, Gord, who was an architect. This was their first and only experience at owning a home. Catherine had a true “green thumb” and it was no time until the yard and flowers were a real showpiece, one she was very proud of. As she aged and became unable to care for her flowers, the condition of her yard was a real concern to her.

Catherine had many talents. In addition to being an excellent cook and seamstress, she was an accomplished artist. She was very active in the community, particularly in Edmonton and Williamstown. She established a Green Thumb Club in Williamstown for gardeners as well as a reading group. She worked for several years at the N’orWester Museum in Williamston.

In 1997 Catherine sold her home in Williamstown and moved to Cornwall. She has been living at Glen-Stor-Dun Lodge since 2001. Survivors include her brother, D.A.Fraser of Cornwall; her sister, Eileen Kirker of South Lancaster;, her son Hugh Gourlay and his wife Janyce of Palm Harbor, Florida; her daughter-in–law, Sharon Gourlay of Toronto; five grandchildren, five great grand children and one great great grandchild and many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her husband, Hugh and her son, Gordon.
Rev. Andrea’s Reflection:

I got to know Mrs Gourlay in the latter years of her, during a time when her memories were of the distant past, or the current moment; or since I always told her I was from Williamstown, stories centered in Williamstown.

~’Williamstown is such a wonderful place. I’d move back there if I could’ she would say, and she would ask, ‘Do you like living in Williamstown?’ Of course, there’s only one right answer to that question!

She told me that her mother had died when she was born, and that her step-mother was a wonderful woman.

She told me about growing up in Williamstown, particularly attending high school, traveling into the village on Sunday nights, boarding during the week, and going home again on Fridays.

I didn’t hear details about her earlier school years, of having milk packed in her lunch box every day, and concealing this apparently embarrassing fact by not drinking her milk at lunch, but on her way home, so that neither her friends nor her mother were any the wiser.

I did hear about her father-in-law, John Gourlay, being a minister, but I forgot some of the details about that until speaking with Hugh and Jan. It was nice being with Kit, because if I forgot things, she didn’t mind either, or she would tell me the stories again.

One story she told several times, was of a time when her husband Hugh was going to give a speech, and on the way to the gathering he still didn’t know what he was going to say, creating a degree of anxiety to Kit, who was accompanying him. She reported, however, that it was the best speech he ever gave.

She also spoke about her garden at her home in Williamstown, and the man who stopped by to tell her she had the nicest garden in the village. She didn’t tell me, though, that she established the ‘Green Thumb club’ in Williamstown.

I didn’t hear about

- all the joys of becoming a mother, a grand-mother, a great-grand-mother, and a great-great grand-mother

- the sadness of losing her husband, her son, Gordon, and other family and friends over the years.

- all those moves – to the States, out west, and Toronto, or the car that broke down on that move from Edmonton to Toronto, with her china in the trunk

- the hard work in earning an income and caring for her family after her husband, Hugh, had a stroke in his late 40s, or the challenges of having some rather strange borders in her home, renting the spare room.

- her first flight in 1958 in a ‘prop-job’ – with engine failure? on a journey to go and see her first grand-child in Seattle.

- the courage it took to learn to drive a car in Toronto at the age of 55, when Gordon had gone to Edinborough, or the joys and challenges of traveling on trips to Ann Arbor, Michigan and Vermont with Hugh Sr., to visit Hugh Jr & Jan.

- Christmases spent with family in Toronto, or winters spent in Florida after her husband, Hugh’s death

- all the activities at the local seniors’ centre in Florida, a centre to which Kit place her first phone call upon arrival, or the return trips, carrying 70lbs of Florida grapefruit, which she must have thoroughly enjoyed, even if her friend, Edith Major, only ate her grapefruit out of love for Kit.

- I didn’t hear about her trips to exotic places like Nova Scotia, Scotland, Spain, & Morocco.

But I did meet a spunky woman who was a joy to be with, and who had a wonderful outlook on life.

I would like to hear what she has to say about her ‘new home’ in the next life. I wonder if it measures up with Williamstown. If wonder if she will have had as many people to greet her in heaven as she had at her 100th birthday party. I’m sure she would at least say, “This is a nice place.”

I wonder what wisdom she might share with us from the next life. But, then again, maybe she shared that wisdom in this life

- to approach life with a positive outlook

- to work hard, when necessary, without complaint

- to accept love and joy and delight in what is good

- to live through the hard times

- to share one’s talents

- to love and invest in one’s family and community

- to take each day and year as it comes, although not many of us expect to live to 102!

Kit has now returned to that great source of all life, that oneness of being that we can only dream about in this life. Kit has now made her way home.