Eileen Dolden

DOLDEN, Eileen (nee Johnson) - Died peacefully on Monday, June 28, 2010. Her family was with her when she passed away at Perram House, a palliative care home in Toronto. Beatrice Eileen Johnson was born August 13, 1920 in Asquith, Saskatchewan. In 1942 she travelled east by train to Ottawa to marry Victor Sydney Dolden, of Maymont, Saskatchewan. They settled in Montreal during WWII. During the course of the next 30 years, they raised a family and lived in Toronto, and in Cleveland, Ohio, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, St. Louis, Missouri, Barcelona, Spain, San Juan, Puerto Rico and New York City before permanently returning to Toronto. In 1975, Victor Dolden died. Eileen continued on in her career in residential real estate, begun in the early 1970s, and then she practiced in Toronto for many more years. In addition to her family and work, Eileen offered her efforts as a volunteer throughout her life and many 'homebases' - in Cleveland she was very involved with efforts to raise funds for furthering research into cures for cystic fibrosis and polio and in Toronto she dedicated time and effort over many years to the Canadian Cancer Association's Daffodil Day and many other development efforts for The United Way and for her church, Timothy Eaton Memorial. Perhaps one of her greatest contributions was the gift of sharing both her wonderful musical ability at the keyboard of the piano and the delight she took in sharing that music - and the comraderie it fostered - with her family and her large circle of friends. This was especially true in the last 5 years during which she lived at Hazelton Place in Toronto and regularly played for her friends and the residents there. Eileen is survived by her children, Daniel Dolden of Roberts Creek, British Columbia, Daryl Levy and Beverly Bellegarde of Boston, Massachusetts and Mary Dolden-Veale of Greenwich, New York and Doha, Qatar and their spouses. She is also survived by her devoted niece Cheryl Rowlands and nephew Brian Goodfellow in Toronto and many other nieces and nephews in Canada and the United States. She was the beloved grandmother of Michael Fraser, Jennifer Dolden, Katherine Gately, Timothy Dolden, Benjamin Keeler, Philip, Chloe and Jonathan Levy and Emily and Lauren Bellegarde. She was a great-grandmother to eleven of her grandchildren's children. A memorial service will be held at Timothy Eaton Memorial Church's East Chapel on August 9, 2010 at 11 o'clock. Contributions in her name may be made to Timothy Eaton Memorial Church, 416-925-5977.