Margaret Patricia Hilton

Margaret Patricia Hilton

Without a doubt, my mom had the most beautiful smile ever. It is what everyone remembers about her. She radiated kindness and warmth and made everyone feel special just being around her. She was the life of every party and she KNEW how to have a good time - no matter what.


Mom was born May 24, 1925, only child of Frank and Hannah Hilton. My grandparents ALWAYS called her Margaret, never a diminutive. When referring to her, they called her Our Margaret, a true Lancashirism. For years, my sister and I thought her name actually started with an "R"!


Mom was named for both of her grandmothers, who were Margarets, and for her aunt, Margaret Ellen Whittaker Sharples. She was the much loved honorary daughter for her aunt, who never was able to have children of her own. Mom became the centre of the universe for four doting adults.

Without a doubt, my mom had the most beautiful smile ever. It is what everyone remembers about her. She radiated kindness and warmth and made everyone feel special just being around her. She was the life of every party and she KNEW how to have a good time - no matter what.


Mom was born May 24, 1925, only child of Frank and Hannah Hilton. My grandparents ALWAYS called her Margaret, never a diminutive. When referring to her, they called her Our Margaret, a true Lancashirism. For years, my sister and I thought her name actually started with an "R"!


Mom was named for both of her grandmothers, who were Margarets, and for her aunt, Margaret Ellen Whittaker Sharples. She was the much loved honorary daughter for her aunt, who never was able to have children of her own. Mom became the centre of the universe for four doting adults.

My mother has told me of an idyllic childhood. She adored her father and said he was the warmest, kindest parent a child could have. Although the Hiltons were certainly not well off, Mom wanted for nothing and enjoyed going to baseball games every weekend with her Uncle Bill Sharples, husband of her aunt. Every Christmas, there was a new dolly or some other treasured toy for her under the tree. Mom never realized until many years later that the only gifts under the tree were for her. 

circa 1929

circa 1930

circa 1931

Mom loved living in Meaford, on the southern shores of beautiful Georgian Bay. Her best friend, Frances Eberhardt, daughter of the local doctor who had delivered Mom, lived across the street. Mom always delighted in telling us the story of how she and Frances learned to smoke as young children by rolling up leaves and smoking them behind the garage.

Mom's House, 115 Trowbridge Street

Frances' House, 86 Trowbridge Street

About 1933, my grandfather took a job as a department manager for the Dominion food store chain. He was moved to Parry Sound, on the eastern shores of Georgian Bay, where he worked for about two years before being promoted to manager of a store in Owen Sound, on the west side of Georgian Bay. The family didn't stay long in Owen Sound before returning to Parry Sound, where they settled permanently.


The Hiltons first lived on Gibson Street in Parry Sound, beside Alf and Lucy Forth. Alf was my grandmother Prosser's brother! Alf and Lucy had only one daughter, Shirley. Shirley became a teacher and eventually wrote a book I have relied on for a LOT of my research, "A Dutch Cooper's Legacy: An Ouderkirk Story From 1660". Shirley was a very studious sort and she was serious about piano lessons too. Mom had to take piano lessons because my grandparents just loved music. Mom loved music too, but she was much happier out playing baseball than practicing piano. She could hear Shirley's daily practicing next door and my grandmother would always say, "Why can't you be like Shirley next door and remember to practice EVERY day?" Needless to say, Mom was not fond of Shirley. Who wanted to do scales when there were ball games to play?

Mom attended Parry Sound High School and was an excellent student. I attended this same school from 1963-1965. It was known at that time as Gibson Street Senior Public School. My class was the last to graduate from Grade 8 as the school was demolished in the summer of 1965. It was replaced by a much larger K to 8 elementary school, William Beatty Public School, built to serve the entire town of Parry Sound. That school has since been replaced as well. More proof that time marches on and I am getting old.

Mom attended Parry Sound High School and was an excellent student. I attended this same school from 1963-1965. It was known at that time as Gibson Street Senior Public School. My class was the last to graduate from Grade 8 as the school was demolished in the summer of 1965. It was replaced by a much larger K to 8 elementary school, William Beatty Public School, built to serve the entire town of Parry Sound. That school has since been replaced as well. More proof that time marches on and I am getting old.

Mom was top of her class until her final year of high school. In Grade 12, she discovered that she and French would NEVER get along. When the French teacher told Mom she would never pass French as long as she was the teacher, Mom left school to work at her first job - as a teller at the Bank of Nova Scotia. Mom was always good with figures (and she always hated French). It wasn't long before she was ready to leave the sleepy little town of Parry Sound and she headed off to Toronto to work at A.V. Roe in Malton in the payroll department. There she met two lifelong friends, Joan Williamson and Jean Thompson.

Sadly, Jean's life wasn't a long one, but before she died, she and Mom spent a memorable week at Clearwater Beach, Florida, on a holiday they had won at the Canadian National Exhibition earlier that year.


I remember vividly begging Mom and Aunt Jean (we called our parents' close adult friends uncle and aunt rather than using Mr. and Mrs.) to fill in the ballot so they could go to Florida as neither had been there before. I am not sure if either of them had even flown before! After listing so many reasons why they needed this vacation (my mom had just been divorced), Aunt Jean's eldest son, Kirk, and I finally convinced the best two friends to go for it.

Sadly, Jean's life wasn't a long one, but before she died, she and Mom spent a memorable week at Clearwater Beach, Florida, on a holiday they had won at the Canadian National Exhibition earlier that year.


I remember vividly begging Mom and Aunt Jean (we called our parents' close adult friends uncle and aunt rather than using Mr. and Mrs.) to fill in the ballot so they could go to Florida as neither had been there before. I am not sure if either of them had even flown before! After listing so many reasons why they needed this vacation (my mom had just been divorced), Aunt Jean's eldest son, Kirk, and I finally convinced the best two friends to go for it.

When Mom went to put the ballot in the box, the man running the booth took the ballot and said he would put it in for her. Honestly, I was NOT surprised when it turned out they had won. I think the sponsor loved overhearing the story of why these two women deserved such a holiday and he decided they should be the winners!


While Mom was working at A.V. Roe, she made a life-altering decision. On one of her days off work, she took a streetcar to downtown Toronto. While browsing the shop windows, she came upon a billboard that showed a girl of her age and the slogan, "The Navy Needs YOU". She immediately walked into the recruiting office, which was conveniently located next to the billboard, and filled out the necessary papers to join the navy! What better way to see the world she thought.


Mom worried a little about what her parents might think of her desire to join the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service - known colloquially as WRENS after the Women's Royal English Naval Service. In fact, her parents were thrilled. Her father, a World War I veteran, was too old to join the war effort, but was exceedingly proud to send forth his only child, a daughter, to help in any way she could.

Like others before her, Mom did her basic training at H.M.C.S. Conestoga in Galt. From November 22, 1944 to March 18, 1946, she worked as a WREN Writer pre-audit clerk at H.M.C.S. Bytown in Ottawa. She lived at the barracks at H.M.C.S. Carleton, WREN Block. The barracks housed both men and women and although they lived in separate blocks, they shared such things as the canteen and cafeteria.


Mom has always been very proud of the time she spent in the Navy, referring to it as the best time of her life (the only downside being that there WAS a war on!) She stood honour guard at the National War Memorial for Remembrance Day in 1945. She has marched in many a veteran's parade on Remembrance Day and has always been grateful to the Navy for the life lessons learned and the opportunities given. Being an only child, Mom felt the Navy gave her the opportunity to share things with other people and to learn how to get along harmoniously with those around her. While she may not have fulfilled her dream of "seeing the world" which was why she actually joined the Navy, she certainly was able to "do her part" and we are all indebted to Mom and young women like her for paving the way in what was then a man's world.

Like others before her, Mom did her basic training at the H.M.C.S. Conestoga in Galt. From November 22, 1944 to March 18, 1946, she worked as a WREN Writer pre-audit clerk at H.M.C.S. Bytown in Ottawa. She lived at the barracks at H.M.C.S. Carleton, WREN Block. The barracks housed both men and women and although they lived in separate blocks, they shared such things as the canteen and cafeteria.


Mom has always been very proud of the time she spent in the Navy, referring to it as the best time of her life (the only downside being that there WAS a war on!) She stood honour guard at the National War Memorial for Remembrance Day in 1945. She has marched in many a veteran's parade on Remembrance Day and has always been grateful to the Navy for the life lessons learned and the opportunities given. Being an only child, Mom felt the Navy gave her the opportunity to share things with other people and to learn how to get along harmoniously with those around her. While she may not have fulfilled her dream of "seeing the world" which was why she actually joined the Navy, she certainly was able to "do her part" and we are all indebted to Mom and young women like her for paving the way in what was then a man's world.

While visiting the barracks canteen one day, Mom took the eye of the fellow in charge, Donald Dixon. Donald, known as Tony to his friends, and Mom struck up a friendship that eventually lead to an engagement to be married. They planned their wedding for October 16, 1947, a year after they demobilized in Winnipeg, Don's home town.

Sadly, it was a wedding that was not to be. Just six weeks before the anticipated wedding, Donald Dixon, his sisters Patricia and Merle, and his parents Jim and Betty, were all killed in a tragic train crash in Dugald, Manitoba on Labour Day. What is known in Canadian history as the Dugald Train Disaster claimed thirty-one lives, wiping out two families entirely, the Dixons and the Simpsons. This needless tragedy changed the course of Mom's life. Who knows what might have been?

Upon her discharge from the navy in 1946, Mom went to work at the Parry Sound Town Office as a clerk. The town had offered jobs to three returning service women as thanks for their war efforts. Mom represented the navy, Joyce Blake the army, and Anne Jones the air force.


Mom met my dad, Art Prosser, at a dance in Parry Sound in 1948. They married September 3, 1949. Unfortunately, Mom then had to leave the town office, where she had loved working for three years, as married women could not work in public offices at that time. Oh how happy I am that I am living in a time when my daughter can be president of a tech company or anything else her heart desires!


Three years later, in 1952, I arrived. My sister, Kim, followed four and half years after that.

Mom and Dad's marriage was not a particularly happy one and ended in divorce in 1969. Mom never remarried, though she did meet another love, Ronald Stoodley. Mom and Ron were 'married' over the anvil at Gretna Green in Scotland in 1984.

Margaret Cunliffe, Ron Stoodley, Margaret Prosser, Tom Cunliffe

Ron hailed originally from North Sydney and would be Mom's companion for the rest of his life and the cherished companion of memory for the rest of hers. Together, they travelled Canada from coast to coast, took a trip to Hawaii and vacations and a cruise in the Caribbean. Upon Ron's retirement in 1994, they moved to North Sydney, Cape Breton, where Mom developed a great love for the area and the people she met. They built a house overlooking the ocean and enjoyed seven years of blissful retirement.

Mom and Ron returned to Ontario in 2002 as Ron had had a fall and he was worried that if anything happened to him there would be nobody there to look after Mom. They took up residence in Bracebridge. Less than a year later, Ron passed away unexpectedly. Six months later, on July 3rd, which was Ron’s birthday, Mom’s first great grandchild was born. Mom saw this as a sign that all would be well and that life goes full circle. Mom was a pragmatist.


I had been divorced recently and so I moved in with Mom right after Ron died. Mom went on even more cruises over the years (Mom LOVED to cruise) and drove around the lakes every Monday and Thursday nights to play bid euchre and euchre. She really enjoyed cards and the people she met there. She was never afraid to drive alone at night and didn't give up her driver's licence or her precious 'Bluick' until she was 89!


Eventually, I remarried and my husband, Rick, and I lived together with Mom until 2013 when she decided to move into a local retirement residence. Mom was well looked after. She loved it there and everyone there loved her. She got to do all her favourite things - drink sherry, watch Blue Jays games, play cards and bingo, do jigsaw and crossword puzzles and best of all enjoy people, as Mom was indeed a real people person. She served as president of the Residents' Association during her first year. Mom was a 'clothes horse' and had so many beautiful outfits that it was my job to rotate the clothes in her closet at her residence regularly as it simply wasn't big enough to hold her entire wardrobe.


When you think of a party girl, think of Mom. She loved to go to casinos and to dance and sing (though she didn't have a great voice) and she actually knew all the words to all the songs from the 40's. Whenever we would go anywhere in the car, we would put on the 40's station and Mom would belt out all the tunes. Even when her memory began to fail her, she remembered all the words! Memory is a funny thing.

Mom had the heart of a lion and lived through four hip operations from age 92-95. For the last one, a complete revision of her left prosthesis in July of 2020, she took nothing stronger than extra strength Tylenol. She became frailer and frailer but still lived every day to the fullest!

Sadly, we never expected that it would be cancer that would take Mom at the end of her days. Two and a half months after a diagnosis of colon cancer, Mom died on May 21, 2021, three days shy of her 96th birthday.

One day in 2008, Mom was reading the Toronto Star (it was a daily ritual for her, as it contained the crossword puzzle) when she happened to read about a young man who had won $35 million dollars in the lottery. He phoned up his business partner and said he wouldn’t be in that day because he had won the lottery. Simple and to the point.


Mom said that would be the perfect line for her one day. She hoped that one morning I would go to wake her up and she would simply be gone. It would then be my job to phone her friends and say, “Margaret won’t be at cards tonight. She has won the lottery.”


It didn't quite turn out that way, but that is how Mom felt about dying. It didn’t scare her in the least (few things, other than mice, ever did) and although she was not eager to be off on that last great adventure, she was prepared for it every day and always said we should never mourn her loss, but celebrate the wonderful life she had enjoyed, for she had enjoyed every bit of her time here with us. She had great faith that she would be reunited with those she loved who had gone before her, and so she never feared that last step. She left a wonderful legacy behind - two daughters, three grandchildren and four great grandchildren, all of whom she loved dearly.


I will always treasure Mom’s wisdom, her strength, her compassion, her joie de vivre and adventurous spirit, her love of music, dancing and games, and most certainly her acumen at cards. I know she will be the life of the party where she has arrived.

Love you and miss you more than I could ever have thought possible, Mom.



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