Leah BATTY

1923 - 2021

LEAH BATTY (née Broadhurst) January 28, 1923 December 5, 2021 Leah, Granlea to her grandchildren and great- grandchildren, died on December 5, 2021 in hospital in Guelph, after a short stay, having lived independently until then. She leaves her four children: Helen (Klaus) and granddaughters, Liz and Carol; Penelope and grandson, Thael (Hannah) and great-granddaughters, Claudia, Esme and Margaret, and granddaughter, Roquela (Carl) and great-grandsons, Max and Vesper; Derek (Maria); and, Jonathan (Alison) and granddaughter, Lydia. She was predeceased by her husband, Donald (1921 to 1996), whom she married in 1947 in England and immigrated to Canada with in 1952. Leah was born in Gorton, a suburb of Manchester, on January 28, 1923 and was the only child of Flo and Jack Broadhurst. He was killed in a workplace accident when Leah was only seven. Leah excelled at school and upon her graduation did not attend university but successfully competed to work in public service at the treasury office of the Manchester Corporation Transport Department. Public and community service, in one form or another, was an enduring aspect of her life. Leah enlisted in the Royal Air Force in 1943 and was a corporal in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. While in training, she survived a direct hit by a V-1 flying bomb on her barracks in London. Upon the completion of her training, she served as a wireless technician for a Coastal Command squadron stationed on Plymouth Sound. After immigrating to Canada in 1952, Leah and her family first lived in Windsor, then London, Tillsonburg, and Vancouver. After a brief return to England, the family moved in 1958 to work abroad at the Toquepala copper mine in the Peruvian Andes. They returned to Canada in 1959 to live in Georgetown, Waterloo, and then Etobicoke. Leah moved to Guelph after Don's death. Her early travels were necessitated by Don's work as a civil engineer. The family's transatlantic crossings in the 1950s were made by ship, sometimes with Leah travelling alone with her three young children as Don went ahead to start work. Their return travels from Peru included flying through the Andes to Iquitos, hopping down the Amazon in a Catalina flying boat, and then embarking on an aged steamer bound for Liverpool. Leah's community service included supporting and organizing scores of school, church and community events. In later years, she served as a member and then Chair of the Etobicoke Library Board. Leah was an accomplished artist in a range of media that included watercolours, quilting, rug hooking, sewing and knitting. Family and friends over the years have enjoyed and treasured her works. She frequently combined her artistic and organizational talents to set up community arts groups. Her legacy is particularly commemorated by the Neilson Park Creative Centre that she helped establish in 1992 and continued to actively support. Though frail, Leah remained astute until her very final days before going in to hospital. She read, closely followed the news, listened to music, wrote articles, edited newsletters and provided advice to her condominium board. Our family's memorial observances will be private and anyone who wishes to commemorate Leah's life is invited to contribute to the Neilson Park Creative Centre in Etobicoke.