Obituary for Margaret Dewar Boothroyd (Findlay)
Margaret Dewar Boothroyd (d. Dec. 9, 2020)
Margot died at home, sun streaming through the blinds – 93 years into a big, beautiful life.
The eldest child of Margaret Dewar Findlay (BA, Glasgow) and John Findlay, a Scottish farmer who had survived Gallipoli in WWI, she grew up on a Hertfordshire farm with brother John and sister Elizabeth. Captain of lacrosse and head girl at St. Helen’s School, Margot began a degree in medicine at London’s Royal Free Hospital in 1944. Despite V-rocket attacks, one of which blew out windows, injuring her classmates, she qualified in 1950, and in 1951, as a house doctor, met Lawrence Boothroyd, a young surgeon.
They were married in 1953 and emigrated to West Vancouver in 1955, buying a house near West Bay, where Margot and Boots raised four children: Wendy, Gillian, James and Susan (Sa).
Margot worked part time for the North Shore Health Unit when the children were small, then practised medicine downtown, before sharing a family practice with Boots, until retirement in 1991.
She had great friendships, which she nurtured over decades. A keen listener and curious (to a fault), she was sought out by friends and family as something of a mentor.
In her retirement, Margot volunteered often and cared for Boots, who suffered dementia in his final years. She was 88 when Boots died; she quickly moved into a seniors’ residence where she made new friends.
Aging did slow her down, ultimately separating her from those friends, but she handled its indignities with grace and wit. “Sprung” from a more sombre seniors’ residence, the first day of the COVID lockdown, Margot agreed to live with her liberator (Jill) and, occasionally “be dealt around like a pack of cards” to her other children’s homes.
The evening before she died, she sat with Jill for an hour looking at photos and talking about each of her seven grandchildren, whose lives she followed with keen interest.
The family will hold a celebration of life when allowed to do so, in the spring or summer. For information, write to MargotCelebration@yahoo.com. In lieu of flowers, please send a donation to BC SPCA.
Margot died at home, sun streaming through the blinds – 93 years into a big, beautiful life.
The eldest child of Margaret Dewar Findlay (BA, Glasgow) and John Findlay, a Scottish farmer who had survived Gallipoli in WWI, she grew up on a Hertfordshire farm with brother John and sister Elizabeth. Captain of lacrosse and head girl at St. Helen’s School, Margot began a degree in medicine at London’s Royal Free Hospital in 1944. Despite V-rocket attacks, one of which blew out windows, injuring her classmates, she qualified in 1950, and in 1951, as a house doctor, met Lawrence Boothroyd, a young surgeon.
They were married in 1953 and emigrated to West Vancouver in 1955, buying a house near West Bay, where Margot and Boots raised four children: Wendy, Gillian, James and Susan (Sa).
Margot worked part time for the North Shore Health Unit when the children were small, then practised medicine downtown, before sharing a family practice with Boots, until retirement in 1991.
She had great friendships, which she nurtured over decades. A keen listener and curious (to a fault), she was sought out by friends and family as something of a mentor.
In her retirement, Margot volunteered often and cared for Boots, who suffered dementia in his final years. She was 88 when Boots died; she quickly moved into a seniors’ residence where she made new friends.
Aging did slow her down, ultimately separating her from those friends, but she handled its indignities with grace and wit. “Sprung” from a more sombre seniors’ residence, the first day of the COVID lockdown, Margot agreed to live with her liberator (Jill) and, occasionally “be dealt around like a pack of cards” to her other children’s homes.
The evening before she died, she sat with Jill for an hour looking at photos and talking about each of her seven grandchildren, whose lives she followed with keen interest.
The family will hold a celebration of life when allowed to do so, in the spring or summer. For information, write to MargotCelebration@yahoo.com. In lieu of flowers, please send a donation to BC SPCA.