Obituary of Winifred Rowatt (née Hyland) McAfee
May 13, l933 - January 22, 2024
Win was a proud step-mother, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother to a large and loving family.
Children:
Lynne Hubbard (Mike), Clem (Kathy), Christine Hayhoe (Danny), Andy (Arran), and Heather
Grandchildren:
Christopher (Holly), Greg, Stephen (Marisol), Jennifer (Andy),
Seth (Erin), Ben (Angela), Rachel (deceased), Joanna (Joe), Jessie (Rodney), Mary Jane (Andy),
Anita (Andre), Jonathan (Maggie), Nathan (Melanie), Joel, Trevor,
James (Alison), Ryne (deceased), Jackson, and Drew.
Great-Grandchildren:
Claire, Liam, Raewyn, Sebastian, Basil, Mikel, Nolan, Xavier, Zora, Lyra,
Rae, Sammy, Teagan, Conner, Brooke, Dylan, Scarlet, Ava, Autumn, Ariella,
Chloe, Alex, Lyla, Eden, Trevor, Levi, Grady, Ellie.
ThankYOU too to the many loving nephews & nieces who visited her & two surviving sisters-in-law Elva Janes & Betty Hyland.
Win grew up in Ottawa, Ontario in a loving home, the daughter of Harold and Kathleen (Braithwaite) Hyland with one older brother Warren (Betty) where she spent many happy years both there and in Rideau Ferry, where the family built a cottage on Bass Lake.
She completed her nursing degree at the Toronto General in l954 and enjoyed a career in public health nursing for 30 years. Win married Raymond, a widower with three children, in June of 1961. They completed their family with two more children, living on Hayhoe Avenue in Pine Grove for 11 years before relocating to the village of Kleinburg in 1975. Win was a patient accounting/hockey coach wife throughout their marriage. They lived together in Kleinburg until Raymond’s death and Win remained there for a number of years after that.
Win was widowed in 1992, after 29 years of a marriage that was rich in happy family times, long walks with dogs, and traveling far and wide. On these travels (which included trips to Nigeria), they purchased land in PEI, where they planned to build a home together. Win built that home after Raymond’s death and spent the next 30 summers, attending the Summerside Bible Chapel where she made many close friends and enjoying a growing community of other cottagers in Malpeque where she was fondly referred to as the “mayor on the hill”. She entertained constantly! She returned to Ontario for the colder months where she was equally busy as a leader at Bible Study Fellowship in North York and an active participant at both the Schomberg meeting and Westside Chapel in Etobicoke. She loved cooking delicious meals for friends and family. We always knew our favourite food would be on the menu when we went to visit.
Win moved from Kleinburg to Etobicoke in 2005 and spent the last 4 years of her life at the Village of Humber Heights on Lawrence Avenue where she was lovingly cared for by the wonderful staff there.
She will also be remembered for unselfishly sharing her financial resources with people from around the world and her family. She changed lives in Malawi (where she was fondly known as Gogo McAfee), through her support of education, she gave extensively to charities, and her grandchildren especially looked forward to birthday cards filled with money and Bible-verse-acrostic messages of their names and her money cakes. She was also famous for her maple pudding, flappers and apple pies, and cinnamon buns. She was a delight to visit with right until the end. Her wonderful text emojis were a joy for her to send and for us to receive. She was tireless, even after her 90th birthday, in sending texts and prayers out daily. So was deeply loved and forever in our hearts.
A Celebration of her life will be held on MAY 25th, at 2pm at the Westmount Bible Chapel - 59 Kingdom St, Toronto, ON M9P 1W4
In the summer, on the East Coast, she will be buried on July 11th in Lorneville, NB with her beloved Raymond with a Celebration of Life to follow in PEI on July 13th. We’ll share more details once we have them.
Those wishing to make a donation are welcome to donate to fvm@fvm.on.ca as it was something Win liked to support, or to the charity of your choice as Win supported a great many organizations.
the photosynthesis of healing
what will become of this story
inside my chest?
will i excavate it from my bones
give it light?
and water
and air?
let it bloom
into a garden of flowers
in your name?
or will i let it stay
and let you
bury me?
this is the question
i am always asking myself:
what will become of my stories -
gardens
or
graveyards?
~ emory hall
