Flora MacDonald CLARK

FLORA MACDONALD CLARK December 29, 1933 - April 2, 2018 Flora died peacefully in her sleep in her 85th year, with her husband of 63 years by her side. She was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, the youngest of four children. The family lived outside London during the war, with the father away in RAF operations. At a young age, Flora endured the frequent bombing, often alone. In August of 1946, her father obtained his discharge in Canada, and brought his family over. They boarded the RMS 'Aquitania' for the journey from Southampton to Halifax, where they were processed at Pier 21, and joined their father in Toronto. The family then moved to Montreal. Severe family problems resulted in Flora leaving high school, and obtaining clerical employment. Attending night courses, she obtained her secondary school certificate. She found work at McGill University, and this was when she met David, her future husband, then a third year medical student. They moved to Kitchener, where David interned; then to London for his military service, then to Sault Ste. Marie for general practice. In these years, their three sons arrived. They then moved back to London, where David took the Royal College residency in psychiatry. Fifty years ago, they moved to Barrie, where he began his practice in psychiatry. Flora decided that this was the time for her to consider her own academic aspirations. Despite the demands of raising a family, she began taking courses part-time. In 1979, she graduated from Georgian College with a diploma in Design Arts and Creative Arts. She obtained her Bachelor's Degree from the University of Toronto in 1980, and then her Master Of Education Degree at OISE in 1986. She was employed for twenty years at Innis College at the University of Toronto, achieving the position of associate registrar as well as student counselor. She spent many hours commuting by bus to work. She retired at 67 in October 1999. Flora and David had decided to continue living in their home of fifty years. Flora missed the challenge of working with students. To celebrate what she had achieved through hard work, often in the face of adversity in her career, she bought her yellow Volkswagen beetle, Marigold. The boys were all away from home, and Flora had more time to engage in her lifelong interest in art. A talented artist, she produced many beautiful paintings. Over the next decade, her health began to fail. She suffered increasingly with pain and debilitation from a number of afflictions, with progressive limitation of her interests and activities. She was eventually forced to give up driving and her beloved VW bug. David had since retired from practice, and provided daily care, assisted by home service providers from local agencies. Flora continued to face adversity bravely. She felt despondent that she would never again recover her health, relegated to being totally housebound, and eventually bedbound. She frequently shared her feelings that death was the only answer to her chronic suffering. As Flora was progressively weakening, she struggled to stay alive as long as possible. There were frequent episodes of severe pain which responded to medication changes. But, the inevitable occurred. Flora leaves a grieving husband; her sons, Ian and Michael; her daughter-in-law, Lori; her beloved granddaughters, Andra and Kathleen; her good friends including, Valerie and Guy Hachey; and many of the workers who attended her at home, particularly Flor Escobar from HomeInstead; and her committed physician, Dr. Devon Turner. Flora's wishes were maintained: cremation has occurred; no service was required. Flora wanted her ashes to be with her dearly loved cats, Siggy and Tristan, who had been buried behind the clump of oak in the backyard. In the future, a time and place will be arranged for friends and relatives to gather to commemorate Flora's life. The following are derived from a song Flora used to sing to the boys when they were little, which closely reflects her philosophy of life, that she was part of the universe: Somewhere, over the rainbow, skies are blue... Some day, I'll wish upon a star, And wake up where the clouds are far behind me.... Bluebirds fly over the rainbow, That's where you will find me.