- SMITH (Gordon), Elizabeth \'Joy\'
Left us peacefully in the early morning of Sunday, October 19, 2014, after spending a number of years suffering from dementia. She is now free. Joy was born in 1930 in MacGregor, Man., where she spent happy years riding sleighs under furs in winter to the one-room schoolhouse at which her mother, Blanche Wood, taught. She grew up having adventures on the farm of her kindly, but formidable grandmother Wood, as her Scottish father, Hugh Bissett Gordon, died when she was two. She later moved to and attended school in Winnipeg and Vancouver. She completed a degree in fashion at Ryerson in Toronto, then moved to Montreal to work for DuPont in consumer textiles. She loved the job, as DuPont was at the forefront of invention of new textiles, such as nylon, at the time and Joy travelled to market and sold these new products. The fishermen in Lunenburg were especially excited to see her arrive with nylon rope in the late 1950s! Also excited to meet her, skiing in Quebec’s Eastern Townships, was the newly-minted Dr. John Smith, her future husband, of Hantsport. The two made several of their lifelong friends in Montreal. After marrying in 1960, John and Joy returned to live in Hantsport and Windsor until a move to Toronto and finally, settlement back in Halifax in the mid 70s, where John worked at Victoria General Hospital. Joy was a very full-time mother with a husband out of the home for anywhere from 12-16 hours a day, but nevertheless the two created a home full of love and laughter, for which we truly thank them. Joy always had a sparkle. She loved skiing, tennis and her volunteer work for Meals on Wheels and the Halifax Ladies Musical Club. John and Joy retired to Hantsport in 2004.
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