On October 10, 2024, after a short stay in hospital in Pointe Claire, Quebec, Gwendolyn Heinrich (née Ford) died of heart failure, two months shy of her 99th birthday.
Gwen was born in 1925 of British parents and was raised from the age of 8 in Bristol, England. After the family moved to Canada in the summer of 1940, Gwen attended the Montreal School for Girls, appeared in light comedies with the Montreal Repertory Theatre, took up stenography and went to work as a secretary at the wartime RAF Transport Command, at Dorval airport. She met Heinz Heinrich there, they married in 1946 and then moved for work to Winnipeg, returning to Montreal in 1949. The birth of their three sons followed – in 1956, 1959 and 1962 – and in 1964 the family relocated briefly to the south of France before returning to Canada and settling into their new home in Hudson, Quebec.
The six decades that followed were punctuated by cultural outings, work and education, and frequent trips abroad. After broadening her knowledge in the humanities at Montreal’s Thomas More Institute in the mid-1970s, Gwen enjoyed a long career as a travel agent, right up until her early ‘90s. In her leisure time, she played doubles at the Royal Oak Tennis Club, enjoyed cross-country skiing on Mount Victoria, volunteered with the Hudson Village Theatre and on local house-and-garden tours, and for many years sang soprano in the St. James Church Choir. She was a regular at Montreal’s Centaur and Segal theatres, the MSO and the Ladies Morning Musical Club, as well as at the Stratford and Shaw festivals and the National Arts Centre.
Predeceased in September 2022 by Heinz, her husband of 76 years, Gwen is survived by their sons Mark (Charmian), Christopher (Josiane) and Jeffrey (Donna), and by grandchildren Carl, Anthony, Dorothy, Thomas and Luke.
To celebrate Gwen’s life, a memorial service will be held December 18, 2024 at 2 p.m. at St. Mary’s Church in Como (Hudson).
Anyone wishing to make a charitable donation in Gwen’s memory is invited to contribute to the Anglican Parish of Vaudreuil’s ‘We Rise Again’ fundraising campaign to rebuild St. James Church.
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