B.A., M.A., RPDt (retired)
died peacefully on December 24, 2010 at Lady Minto Hospital on Salt Spring Island from metastatic breast cancer at the age of 71. She leaves her beloved husband John to carry on Scottish Country Dancing, walking with the Trail & Nature Club, caring for her Labrador retriever Sandy, and giving love and advice to their children and grandchildren. Bob Heddle and his wife Paula of Kirkland, WA and their newborn daughters Tesla and Cashel will miss her dazzling smile and throaty chuckle. Catharine Heddle and her husband Terry Lee of Toronto and grandchildren Colin (7) and Simon (5) will miss her wisdom, exuberance, and sense of adventure, most especially when at the family cottage in Bala.
Judy was born in Toronto to Olive Lavina Campbell and Peter John (Jack) McArthur. She was educated at the University of Toronto (Victoria College, Home Economics, Nutrition), and took her first job teaching at the University of Tennessee, where she supported John’s doctoral studies. After a year in England and five years in San Francisco, where Bob and Catharine were born, they moved to Kleinburg, Ontario. She worked for the Canadian Diabetes Association and the North York Health Department, established the Diabetes Education Centre at Doctor’s Hospital, and later managed the York Region Heart Health Program. Judy was active in the Home & School and served as president of the Kleinburg Chapter of the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW). After 33 years in Kleinburg, they moved to Salt Spring Island, where she became a VP of the local CFUW chapter and president of the dance club. She remained in constant touch with her incomparable collection of friends wherever they were, and knitted her extended family together through letters, visits, and holiday dinners.
She loved fun, friends, food, family, Christmas, literature, art, music, politics, travel, great discussions, and the great outdoors. She expected everyone to do the right thing. She loved churches, hymns, choir music, and the Christmas spirit of generosity. She was the proud artist of The Unfinished Quilt, almost perfected her piano rendition of Ain’t She Sweet, and was just getting rolling on her makeover of John’s office. She never stopped trying to foster a love of music in her children, and was glad when one of them developed a love of opera. She had wonderful memories and oft-repeated stories of her friends from her time in California, England and France, of her very close friends in Kleinburg, and of her classmates at the University of Toronto. All who knew her will miss her open, friendly intelligence, her enthusiasm, and her generosity of mind and spirit.
We are enormously grateful to Dr. Sharon Allan of the BC Cancer Centre and Dr. Robert Crichton and the staff at Lady Minto Hospital for their exceptional care and skill, and to the many friends who brought soup, stew, cookies, and cheer in equal measure. Donations can be made to the BC Cancer Centre or the Lady Minto Hospital Foundation. Friends may gather at Salt Spring United Church in Ganges, B.C. on Thursday December 30 at 3:00 p.m. or at the McMichael Gallery in Kleinburg, ON in early January.