SHIRLEY JONAS

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SHIRLEY JONAS December 25, 1929 - March 24, 2015 Shirley passed away at Victoria General Hospital in Winnipeg, Manitoba on March 24, 2015 at the age of 85. Born in Belleville, Ontario in 1929 and raised in the High Park area of west Toronto, she married Bill Jonas in 1952. They immediately moved "north" as Bill followed his forestry career. She and Bill spent 15 years in various small logging communities northeast of Thunder Bay, Ontario in "blackfly and bog" country, until their move to Terrace, British Columbia in 1966 and then later to The Pas, Manitoba in 1969. They spent the following 45 years in The Pas, until their recent move to Winnipeg in August 2014. Shirley followed in her father's footsteps and graduated from the University of Toronto, and then Normal School, as a teacher. She taught school when she wasn't busy raising their three children. This ranged from a one room school in the bush camps, to more typical school settings in Terrace and The Pas. She had a great love of the cottage life gleaned from many years spent in the Haliburton Lakes country north of Toronto at the beloved Varty summer residence. In 1984 she finally purchased her own cottage near The Pas on Clearwater Lake. She and Bill built a new home on the property in 1998 where they resided until their move to Winnipeg. Shirley enjoyed camping and canoeing in her younger years as well as playing bridge, curling, gardening, and refurbishing antique furniture. She was a great fan of CBC radio (much to Bill's dismay), Coronation Street and classic movies. Shirley loved to travel, and she and Bill spent many years in pursuit of distant horizons including all of the coasts in Canada (west, east, and north). They drove through and saw most of the U.S. as well as spots in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, visiting friends and acquaintances along the way. Shirley leaves behind her husband Bill, her children Margaret (Keith Donohoe) of The Pas, Marilyn (Don Larson) of Saskatoon and Bob (Linda Loftus) of Jasper, Alberta. She also leaves six grandchildren including Gwen Donohoe (Casey Oldershaw) and Amanda Donohoe in Winnipeg, Neil Donohoe in The Pas, and Katelyn, Jeremy and Justin Larson in Saskatoon. Shirley was predeceased by her sister Virginia, and her mother and father, Ruth and George Varty, of Toronto. Her sister Eleanor (Gerry Fairhead), and her brother-in-law Ron Haines and his wife Joan, still reside in the Toronto area. A celebration of Shirley's life will be held in The Pas, Manitoba in late May, with further details to come. NEIL BARDAL FUNERAL CENTRE 204-949-2200 neilbardalinc.com

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Apr 04, 2015