Maureen Tod: Wife. Mother. Organizer. Volunteer. Born June 18, 1928, in Windsor, Ont.; died May 13, 2024, in Ottawa, of bowel cancer; aged 95.
Maureen Tod.Courtesy of family
Maureen Tod bought dented tins, day-old meat and bread and could make leftovers last an eternity. She mended clothes and darned socks. She clipped coupons. She saved pennies and invested. She taught herself how to play the stock and bond markets and did so with aplomb.
Maureen Warren was the youngest of three children; she grew up chasing after her sister and brother for the attention that was lacking in the home of an alcoholic. The Great Depression and Second World War would always frame her view on life – work hard, save and help others.
Maureen was smart and had ambitions for a higher education but she quit high school when her parents said they would only allow her brother go to college.
She met Charles Tod, a war veteran and McGill University graduate on a blind date in 1951. She had been set up by her girlfriend who couldn’t keep her date with him. Charles took Maureen to a YMCA dance and said many times since that he could see right away how bright and industrious she was. Her tiny waist, curly auburn hair and infectious smile would have sealed the deal.
Charles sold his car to buy her the engagement ring. They were married six months later in Windsor by Maureen’s great-uncle, the Venerable Archdeacon Palmer Westgate.
The couple set up house in Windsor where Charles was working as a mechanical engineer at Ford Motors. The family followed his career to Ottawa, when he joined the federal government in 1963. They lived carefully off his income so Maureen could stay home with their two daughters, Cynthia and Melanie.
Maureen was most proud of her volunteer, after-school gig teaching children how to cook in the basement kitchen of her youngest daughter’s public school. The kids learned how to make homemade macaroni and cheese, potato soup from scratch, and grilled cheese sandwiches from stale bread.
In the late 1980s she earned a college Certificate of Volunteer Program Management. She finally got the higher education she had wanted for more than 40 years.
Maureen loved being the Chief Everything Organizer and did it exceptionally well. She delivered Welcome Wagon baskets, was president of the Engineers’ Wives Association of Ottawa, helped at a women’s shelter, organized luncheons for political candidates, was president of a riding association, and then president of the Ottawa Centre Breakfast Club. Maureen led hundreds of volunteers supporting a national political policy convention in Ottawa and received a handwritten thank-you note from then prime minister Brian Mulroney.
When Maureen discovered she had a rare blood type that is safe for babies, she became a lifelong blood donor. She also liked to stay busy and was always knitting mittens for fundraisers, and the children of neighbours and friends.
Sometimes she became overwhelmed by her to-do lists. After some tears and unnecessary drama, she would straighten herself out and get back on track. But not always. For more than one dinner party she left a key dish in the oven, only finding it when she cleaned up after the guests had left.
Maureen liked to save money (she would grimace when her daughter called her a cheapskate), but she was able to make a generous donation to the Ottawa Hospital later in life.
When her husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, they both moved into a retirement home. “After nearly 60 years, why wouldn’t I let someone else cook and clean for me?” she smiled. When Charles died in 2012, Maureen had more time on her hands and started organizing again: this time the folks at her retirement home – tables of bridge, gourmet dinners, speakers and musicians.
In the weeks before she died, Maureen liked to talk about how rich she felt – she had saved her pennies so she could give them away, and gave her time to enrich the lives of others.
Melanie Tod is Maureen Tod’s younger daughter.
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