Dorothy Liddle Memorial Bursary

Dorothy Eileen Liddle (nee Carruthers) was born in Toronto May 28, 1927 and passed away May 24, 2020 in Huntsville at the age of 92. With her passion for life, it seems fitting that she will live on through this bursary. Dorothy would be honoured.

In the early 19th century men ruled the work force and university graduates were mainly men. It was common for girls to graduate from high school, work, marry and have children. So according to plan, that is exactly what she did. Dorothy married her high school sweetheart at 21 and had three children. In this new day and age, a gal is expected to graduate from high school with grades that will send them on to university, begin a career, and fit marriage and children into the equation.

Harbouring within Dorothy was the potential to guide her own destiny, but she had not recognized it until her early 40s when an opportunity arose to begin a new chapter involving a partnership with her husband in a family business.

It was Dorothy, the risk taker who convinced her husband to bite the bullet and reach for the stars. The business flourished from 1973 to 2012, during which it afforded them the opportunity to travel the world. The business was closed in 2012 when another opportunity arose to sell the land to developers affording the family to all retire comfortably.

There were hiccups along the way that almost crushed her. In 1992 her daughter was injured in a car accident that resulted in a spinal cord injury and in 1993 at the young age of 66 her husband passed away from cancer.

Dorothy rebounded in 1998 when an old high school crush knocked on her door. She was fortunate to find love again and they spent the next 20 years together. Her two sons carried on with the business so Dorothy could spend her winters in Florida and summers at her Muskoka cottage with her new love.

Dorothy loved to socialize, party, dance, play bridge and spend time with her three children, her six grandchildren and her seven great grandchildren. She always had a sparkle in her eye. Dorothy was not famous, but to her friends and family, she was special.

Dorothy once said “I have so many memories, I can’t remember them all.”

If Dorothy knew that this bursary might help, make a young person’s dreams come to fruition she would be “tickled pink”.

A special lady she was

Son Tom, Daughter Debbie, Dorothy, Son Derek