Eunice BENNETT

BENNETT, Eunice (nee Denby)
Passed away peacefully (for a fighter...) on Monday, December 9th, 2002, at her home in Toronto, with her family around her, aged 87. She had miraculously fought off 2 earlier cancers but succumbed finally to metastatic cancer of the breast. Eunice leaves her husband and business partner of 54 years Jack Bennett, her daughters Carolyn Bennett (Peter O'Brian) of Toronto, and Jill Bennett (Jeff Wilson) of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, her grandchildren Jack, Ben, Jeremy and Julianne, and her lifelong friends especially Margaret Chambers and Mary Stratten. She will be dearly missed by a great many friends and admirers, in particular the current and former staff of Eunice Denby Flowers and her cherished Soroptomists and Aquabelles. Born Eunice Denby on May 10th, 1915, at Lindsay, Ontario, the daughter of John and Caroline Denby and younger sister of the late Mildred Denby, she was educated at Toronto Model School and Northern Vocational School. At sixteen, she went to work at her beloved mother's The Violet Shop at St. Clair and Yonge. With her mother's help she opened her own flower shop on Eglinton Avenue West in 1936 at aged 21. She was joined by her husband Jack in 1948 and they opened Eunice Denby Flowers in their new building at 453 Eglinton Avenue West in 1950 with the signature purple trucks. Throughout her life she demonstrated the love of artistry and quality, the satisfaction of hard work and the importance of true friendships. Like her mother, she had an infectious smile and loved to be with people - she was larger than life. The family is extremely grateful for all the friends and caregivers who helped make her last 5 bonus years as full of joy as they have been. Special thanks to Jean Marmoreo, Darlene Roth and Nora Suratio.
Friends may call at the MORLEY BEDFORD FUNERAL HOME at 159 Eglinton Avenue West (2 stoplights west of Yonge St.) on Saturday December 14 from 2 until 7 pm. Funeral services will be held on Sunday, December 15 at 2 o'clock at FOREST HILL UNITED CHURCH, 2 Wembley Rd (at Bathurst St. just north of Eglinton) Private family interment Monday. Donations will be gratefully received in her memory by the Centre for Research in Women's Health at Women's College Hospital, 76 Grenville St., Toronto, ON M5S 1B2; the Havergal College Foundation, 1451 Avenue Rd. Toronto, ON, M5N 2H9, or the Soroptomist Club of Toronto Trust care of Lorraine McLeod, P.O. Box 1324, Haliburton, ON K0M 1S0.

'Friends are flowers that never fade'