Magahay, Lois (1928-2022)

Author of:

Assets in Ashes

Mayors of the Town of Lindsay

Directory of marriage notices appearing in the Ontario Gleaner, Cannington, ON, 1888-1925 by Lois B Magahay

Directory of birth and death notices appearing in the Ontario Gleaner, Cannington, ON : births, 1888-1925, deaths, 1888-1935

Dunsford Cemetery : Lot 6, Con 3, Verulam Township, Victoria County

Directory of birth, marriage, death notices appearing in Fenelon Falls & Bobcaygeon ON newspapers : births, 1880-1905, marriages, 1880-1920, deaths, 1880-1930

Directory of birth notices appearing in Lindsay, Ontario, newspapers, 1883-1899

Directory of marriage notices appearing in Lindsay Ontario newspapers, including parental information, 1900-1925

Directory of marriage notices appearing in the Woodville advocate & Beaverton express, 1878-1925

Directory of death notices appearing in Lindsay, Ontario, newspapers, 1883-1899

Directory of birth and death notices appearing in the Woodville advocate & Beaverton express : births, 1878-1910, deaths, 1878-1935

Directory of death notices appearing in Lindsay, Ontario, newspapers, 1900-1919

St. Aloysius Roman Catholic Cemetery : Lot 23, Con 3, Verulam Township, Victoria County by Marlene Clancy Diamond

Tidbits from our past : “little bits of this and that”

Directory of marriages appearing in Lindsay Ontario newspapers, 1920-1929

Directory of marriage notices appearing in Lindsay, Ontario, newspapers, 1900-1919

Lakeview Cemetery : Kirkfield, lot 43 con 8, Eldon Township, Victoria County

Directory of birth notices appearing in Lindsay Ontario newspapers, 1900-1919

Directory of death notices appearing in Lindsay, Ontario newspapers, 1920-1929

Directory of marriage notices appearing in Lindsay, Ontario, newspapers, 1920-1929

Directory of marriage notices appearing in Lindsay, Ontario, newspapers, 1883-1899

Obituary for Lois Magahay

Lois Blanche Magahay (https://www.mackeys.ca/memorials/lois-magahay/2923318/index.php)

August 6th, 1928 – September 14th, 2022

Lois Blanche Magahay passed away at the age of 94 in Kingsville, Ontario on September 14th, 2022. Lois was born on August 6th, 1928 to Marshall Stephens and Blanche Stephens (nee Sisson) in Lindsay, Ontario where she grew up and went to school. On December 26th, 1946 she married Joseph Edwin (Ted) Magahay, also of Lindsay. Together they had three daughters, Sharon Jane, Stephanie Sue and Deborah Joy. Ted’s employment took the family to Parry Sound and then on to Sudbury where Lois was employed by the CIBC, working in Garson and Capreol as a Branch Manager. When Ted retired they moved back to their home town of Lindsay. Ted predeceased her in January 2002. Lois was active in genealogy as a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and held the Professional Learning Certificate from the National Institute of Genealogical Studies and the University of Toronto. She was a founding member of the Friends of the Lindsay Branch Library serving as Fund Raising Coordinator, Speaker Coordinator and Chair (for four years). In 2007 she was designated as a Life Member. She published several books and articles on local and provincial history and her research archives now reside at the Lindsay Branch Library. She will be sadly missed by daughters Sharon Gauthier (Raymond, predeceased), Stephanie Wright (Clifford, predeceased) and Deborah Ethier (Michael), five grandchildren, several great-grandchildren and many friends and relatives. Lois’ family would like to thank the wonderful and caring staff at Chartwell Royal Oak in Kingsville. A Celebration of Life will be held at Mackey Funeral Home, 33 Peel Street, Lindsay on Thursday, October 13th at 6pm. Memorial donations may be given in Lois’ name to a charity of your choice.

Dorothe Comber

Born Dorothe Mary St. George Comber on November 4, 1902 in Bobcaygeon, she was the only child of Walter Thomas Comber and Georgina Amelia St. George.

Dorothe attended school at her father’s private primary school, Hill Croft School in Bobcaygeon. She attended school in Lindsay and then progressed to the University of Toronto. She graduated in 1939 and became a teacher in Arnprior and Wingham (Heron County.)

When she retired, she returned to Bobcaygeon, where she lived next door to another Kawartha Lakes writer, Harry van Oudenaren.

Around the time of the country’s centennial celebrations, Comber, with a committee, captured Bobcaygeon’s history in the booklet, Bobcaygeon History: Amy Ellen Cosh Memorial. The book was dedicated in rememberance of Amy Cosh, beloved librarian to Bobcaygeon and friend to Comber.

In 1977, Comber recorded an interview with Doug Tangney, discussing some of Bobcaygeon’s history.

The Hill Croft School was started by Walter and Georgina Comber as a private school for the boy children of the Boyd family. Then, it was a “school for small boys.” When the boys aged, it became a high school, operated by the Combers until 1918. In 1929 the building was reopened and operated as Bobcaygeon Continuation School until 1956. From 1958 to 1976 the building was Hillcroft Private Hospital, owned and operated by Lorne and Orlie Stewart. Then in 1976 the building became Hillcroft Haven retirement home until the 1990s and then it became a medical centre, i.e. a cluster of offices for doctors. Now it stands abandoned.

After the school ceased at Hill Croft, Walter Comber went to teach at Ashbury College and then at the Lower School of Ridley College in Toronto. Walter was born in England in 1874 and had been educated at King’s School, St. Bury Edmond’s and Wadham College, Oxford. He joined the staff at Ridley in 1919 and was considered one of “Ontario’s finest history teachers. The Lower School loved him and would miss him greatly.” (Ridley: a Canadian School, Richard A. Bradley and Paul E. Lewis, 2000.)

Georgina was born in 1870 in Ireland and emigrated to Canada when she was seven. She married Walter Comber in 1900.

Dorothe Comber passed away on November 1, 1982. She left her collection of history about her family, the Boyd family and Bobcaygeon to her friend Harry van Oudenaren.

Book:

Bobcaygeon History: Amy Ellen Cosh Memorial, 1972.

FURTHER:

Bobcaygeon: a picture book of memories, Harry van Oudenaren (1992).