On January 6, 2021 Margaret Hope LeNore (Jamieson) Halfnight passed away peacefully at Belmont House, Toronto, aged 98. In her final days, she was surrounded by loving family, in-person and virtually, all present in spirit. The family’s thanks go out to all the nurses, other staff and management at Belmont House for their extraordinary care and assistance during LeNore’s last days and throughout her time living at Belmont.

LeNore was pre-deceased by her husband Bob, is mourned by her sister Eleanor, and her children Sharon, Jamie and Todd along with the Jamieson and Halfnight families.

LeNore was born in Cookstown, Ontario April 9, 1922, to LeRoy and Norah (Robson) Jamieson. The Jamieson family – including siblings Bill, Jack, Eleanor [Oreto] and Sylvia [Wilder] - were very close. The main family homestead was a large wheat farm near Loreburn Saskatchewan, but mother Norah had travelled back east to the family farm and property at Thornton, Ontario for LeNore’s birth. LeNore spent her early years on the prairies and often talked fondly about the farm life, including many happy hours learning to groom and ride horses, as well as helping mother with indoor chores and caring for her younger sisters.

The scourges of the late 1920s – locust plagues, drought, blinding sandstorms, followed by the Depression - tested the Jamieson family life and eventually led to their leaving the prairie farm; LeNore always credited her parents with the courage and will to survive these crushing blows. In 1933, most of the family returned to their Ontario roots, re-establishing their lives in Thornton. LeNore recalled vividly the adventure of the train trip east, the three older children clandestinely travelling in the CPR freight boxcar (in a small tent within the boxcar) amongst the family’s worldly possessions (including animals!), to save money.

LeNore was enrolled at Cherry Hill School in January 1934 – the typical one-room Ontario schoolhouse. After grade school, she attended Thornton Continuation School, graduating with a high school diploma in 1939, whereupon she entered the work force rather than attending university. Although LeNore did not pursue higher education until much later in life, she always gave great importance to education for her children, all of whom successfully completed graduate and professional education levels. Music was an important part of LeNore’s childhood and adolescence; the family piano was a centre of activity, especially given LeNore’s mother’s talents as a pianist and trained vocal soloist. LeNore participated avidly in the church choir, in her school’s operettas, and in singing gigs at weddings in the area.

Attending the Anglican Church and church young people’s group activities occupied much of her time and instilled a life-long love of and participation in church life. Sports were also important, including skating and hockey in the winter and baseball games and gardening in the summer. In late high school, LeNore worked summer jobs in Port Carling and at the grand Royal Muskoka Hotel (well before it burned down in 1952).

In 1939, LeNore left home for Toronto, facing the new challenges presented by the big city. She quickly obtained a job at National Life Insurance Company on University Avenue, a job which she held for 2 years during WW2. She lived on St. George St., walking to work daily. These were the years of attending and singing choir at Church of the Redeemer at Avenue Road and Bloor, joining an AYPA group which presented several plays and musicals at U of T to raise money for the church, volunteering for the Red Cross, and of course some active social life with boyfriends, skating at Varsity Arena and much bridge-playing.

In 1941, LeNore moved to a job as a dental assistant to Dr. Roach on Danforth Ave. By October 1945, the war had ended and the servicemen were returning. Fatefully, a friend fixed LeNore up for a date with Bob Halfnight, a returning aviator and this lead to a courtship involving dinners and dances at various Toronto nightspots. By Christmas, Bob had proposed and LeNore agreed to marry – but only once she had met the Halfnight family! Bob and LeNore were married on May 10, 1946 at Wycliffe College Chapel in Toronto, in a ceremony presided over by Rev. Robert Dann; Bob Dann became a life-long friend of the Halfnight family and presided at or attended many family occasions through the years.

Bob and LeNore commenced a family life together, first in Guelph (1946 to 1952) and then in Etobicoke/Toronto (1952 on). They lived their suburban dream, first buying a newly built home on Dunrobin Drive and eventually building their special home on Totteridge Road in Etobicoke. The family attended St. Georges-on-the-Hill Anglican Church which became the centre of many family activities. LeNore was the homemaker as she and Bob raised a family of three children: Sharon, born 1947; Jamie, born 1950; Todd, born 1962.

A significant change took place in LeNore’s life in 1968 when the Etobicoke house was sold to fund her and Bob’s start-up business, a development which called for a move back to Guelph. Over the next 7 years, she and Bob worked hard to establish the business, but they were ultimately unsuccessful. During these years, LeNore returned to the workforce, taking up a position in the dental department of the Wellington Public Health Unit; she also enrolled in a university program at the University of Guelph. Bob later entered the civil service, becoming the Director of the Kitchener office of the Ontario Government’s Business Development branch; from that position, Bob was promoted to Queen’s Park in Toronto – and this eventually lead to a spectacular change in LeNore’s life with Bob.

LeNore and Bob moved to Frankfurt in 1978, as a result of Bob being further promoted to the international trade and investment development side of Ontario’s Ministry of Industry and Tourism. Four years living in Germany, followed by stints in Toronto (with extensive, business-related travel to South America and the far East), then several years living in New Delhi, introduced LeNore to a range of experiences far beyond what she could have expected as a young woman. Throughout, LeNore mastered the arts of elegant homemaking, diplomatic socializing, and international living and travelling. During their Toronto period, they lived downtown at Harbourfront and LeNore secured a job in the bridal registry of Birk’s store at the Eaton Centre, a job which she found both interesting and flexible (for more international travel!).

The couple returned to living in Etobicoke in 1988 and the next year they both entered retired life together, a life which lasted until Bob’s death in 2009. They became much involved in their community, in pursuing family genealogy, in church life (at St. George’s and then at St. Giles Kingsway) and in friends and family. They maintained and expanded a wonderful circle of friends in the west end and elsewhere in Toronto and further, as well as actively engaging in travel around the world. After Bob’s death, LeNore spent her widowed years in Etobicoke and then at Belmont House in downtown Toronto.

LeNore’s immediate family grew from her three children to eventually include ten grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren, by the time of her passing. She took special delight in her grandchildren and stepgrandchildren: ¬Rhea & Devon (Sharon /Edward LeFlufy); Ashlin, Christopher, Erin & Drew (Jamie/Robbin Sturges); Sarah, Alex & Matthew (Jamie /wife Sheila McKinlay); Taro, Shen & Aria Dema (Todd /wife Terry Fiddick). In her later years, LeNore was able to meet and enjoy her great-grandchildren: Drew’s daughters Grace, Freya and Sasha Halfnight (/Yasmin Hartung); Ashlin’s sons Kai, Theo and Cody Halfnight (/Jessica Cummings); Rhea’s sons Owen and Sean Dermer (/George Dermer); Erin’s sons Remy and Henson Stockalper (/Doug Stockalper); Chris’ daughter Sloane Halfnight (/Meredith Forlenza).

LeNore’s strong Christian faith truly guided her throughout her life, which was full of many good friends, a wide network of family, and great appreciation from all those who knew her. Her 62-year marriage to Bob, and the family arising from that marriage, was the centerpiece of a long and fruitful life. She will be missed greatly by us all.

Burial at St. Georges-on-the-Hill took place on January 9, 2021 in a Covid-limited family service, Ministered by Tim Bruneau of St. Giles Kingsway Presbyterian. The family plans a memorial service for all family and friends to be held at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, donations in LeNore’s honour are welcome at
• The Dorothy Ley Hospice, 3-170 Sherway Dr., Etobicoke ON M9C 1A6; https://www.dlhospice.org/
• The Book of Remembrance, Christ Church, St Jude's, Ivy, ON L0L 2N0 (a Jamieson family memorial). https://www.parishofnorthessa.ca/
• Save the Children Canada. https://www.savethechildren.ca/how-you-can-help/ways_to_give/