Grubb Family Tree

STANSFIELD, Ellen Edith Grubb -- Died peacefully at the Griffith McConnell Residence in Montreal on December 7, 1999 at the age of ninety-two. She was teh daughter of the Late Dr. Alfred Stansfield, Professor of Metallurgy at McGill University and Ehtel E. Grubb. She was predeceased by her sister, Nancy Neild Stansfield.

As a young child she travelled extensively with her parents in Canada, United States, the British Isles and Europe. In 1915 she was the first student to be admitted to the The Study School, founded that year by the Late MaargaretGascoigne. She matriculated from The Study in 1924 and subsequently graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1929 and thereafter, a Master of Arts degree in 1931.

In her lifetime Miss Stansfield taught at King's Hall School in Compton, Quebec; Strathcona Lodge School in Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia; Weston School in Montreal; and Trafalgar School fro Girls in Montreal. She was a close associate and long-time personal friend of the Late Jean Harvey, former Headmistress at Trafalgar.

Miss Stansfield is survived by her first cousins, George Grubb of Olympia, Washington, Dr. Hugh Stansfield of Richmond, British Columbia, David Stansfield of Portland Ontario, and Elizabeth Hedden of Las Vegas, Nevada. She is also survived by numerous other relatives in Canada, England and the United States as well as her friend, Beverly Moorish, of Hudson, Quebec.

Funeral services will be held in the Wray Walton Wray Funeral Home Chapel on Friday, December 10, 1999 at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations to the chartity of choice would be appreciated.

Letter from David Stansfield
P.O. Box 107
Portland, Ontario K0G 1V0
December 18, 1999
Dear Silvia and George
Bonnie and Hugh
Dorothy and Frederic
Ursula and Mike (in no particular order!)

Ellen died on Tuesday morning, December 7. A brief death notice, with the time and place of the funeral service, was in the next day's Montreal Gazette and Toronto Globe and Mail, and the more complete obituary (enclosed) in the same papers on Thursday.

The funeral service, Friday afternoon, took place in the chapel of a dignified, solid, and unostentatiious funeral home in downtown Montreal -- the scene, I believe, of both Ethel's and Alfred's funerals in 1940 and 1942. Ellen had chosen it herself, years ago, left a record of exactly what kind of funeral she wanted, and prepaid all costs. I think she would have been very happy indeed with the end result of her thoughtful pre-planning.

I was not aware, until I saw the funeral notice in the paper, that it would include the formula about flowers being gratefully declined and memorial donations to charities of individual choice appreciated. In my experience, that is routinely ignored by "family", and - with only one family couple able to attend in person -- I'm very glad it was ignored in this instance. Apart from a handsome spray of red roases and white carnations placed by the funeral home on the simple coffin, there were only the family flowers. All her beautiful arrangements, almost identical in proportion, and (by great good fortune) not clashing at all with each other or with the flower-covered coffin, which I think would have looked a little stark and loneyly without them. Finally, all the flowers were removed immediately after the service and put on Alfred and Ethel's grave in the Westmount Cemetery, where Ellen's ashes were later to be buried.

I expect we will be notified in due course that there have been memorial donations to various worthy causes.

More people came than I had expected -- and they sang the hymns so vigorously it sounded like full chapel. Among those present were Ellen's lawyer, Bob Johnston, doubling as representative of her old school, "The Study" (he's a former chairman of the board of governores), a representative of Trafalgar, where Ellen served the greater part of her teaching career, Mrs. Beverley Moorish, who exercized Ellen's power of attorney (accompanied by her brother-in-law) a representative of the Girl Guides (or whatever they call themselves now) in whose work Ellen remained active long after her retirement, and a fair number of simply old pupils. There were no actual teaching contemporaries -- if any are still alive, I haven't heard of them.

I was a little concerned when the presiding clergyman, the Rev. William T. Blizzard, rector of St. Matthias Church, Westmount, introduced himself, a few minutes before the service and announced that all he knew about Ellen was what he had heard from an old pupil of hers he had happened to meet on the way to the chapel. I need not have worred. In five minutes' conversation with people as they arrived for the service, he briefed himself for a tribute to the deceased which was a tour de force. He started with the old pupil's praise for an inspired and inspiring teacher; he cited Ellen's mixed English and Irish background as ideal for someone choosing English literature for her principal subject; he spoke of the irreverent but never hurtful sense of humor -- itself possibly and Irish trait -- which friends mentioned as a notable feature of Ellen's character; he threw in a mention of the Grubbs who were prominent citizens in this part of the world at the time of the 1837 rebellions and the Durham Report (I recall that Dorothy knows more about this period of Canadian history ahan most Canadians do); and, finally, he picked up my own story of Ellen surprisingly quoting Macbeth's whole "I have lived long enough" speech, just a month before she died, as the valedictory of a person who had lived a full and fulfilling life and had no regrets, but who was not sorry to be moving on.

Incidentally, I thought the reference to early 1800's Canadian Grubbs a little wide of the mark, since those were Scottish rather than Irish Grubbs, though no doubt linked up "way back'. But oddly, when Madeleine and I were sorthing through some of ellen's papers the next day, we came on a bound offprint of an article on the Scots-Candadian Grubbs, which an unidentified friend had sent "To E.E.G.S." with the G underlined.

Also among Ellen's papers we found a considerable number of thank you notes which Ellen had saved -- and who could blame her? -- from graduating pupils who wrote in terms similar to those used by the lady Mr. Blizzard had met. I unclose a copy of one that Ellen should have found particularly gratifying.

Ive wandered away from the funeral service. People arrived early, remained a while afterwards, chatted animatedly about their memories of Ellen, and the atmosphere was affectionate and appreciative, and not really sad at all.

I'll be sending a thank you not to Mr. Blizzard.

Taking advantage of the date: the best of seasonal good wishes to all, from both of us!
-David

January 25, 2000

Dear David --
Many thanks for your full account of Ellen's funeral, including mention of those who attended, the clever Rev. William Blizard, flowers, and description of the funeral home. Particularl appreciation to you and Madeleine, who have carried the responsibility of seeing that Ellen has been well looked after during her late years, and now have had to see that she went to her final rest in the way the she wanted.

It is too bad that the continent is so big that families get scattered at such distances, so that even at important milestones people can't get together. We wish we could have been there to offer some support, or at least a presence. Silvia and I have many memories of happy association with Ellen. My earliest is about 1931 or 1932 in Montreal; Ellen took me and my sister to ao chilren's play at McGill. It may have been Peter Pan. That was a spsecialday for us, as our parents weren't much given to playgoing and would not have thougoht of taking us! During my boyhood years in Montreal there were frequent family gatherings (especially at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, at Aunt Ethel and Uncle Alfred's house, or my parents' place, or -- less often -- at my Uncle Reginald Grubb and Aunt Edna's apartment. Ellen was nearly always there, so my sister and I weren't completely alone amongst the elders! After Ethel and Alfred died and Ellen sold the big house on Westmount Boulevard, she lived with my parents for several years -- perhaps four -- in our house on Cedar Crescent, off Queen Mary Road near L'Oratoire St. Joseph. I as away in the U.S. Army during that time (1942-1946), but Silvia and our son David, then about 6 months old, were there for 3 months early in 1946.

We saw little of Ellen after that until the summer of 1965, when silvia and I and 4 of our 5 children landed in on her in her duplex on Beaconsfield Ave, having just returned to Montreal on the S. S. Ryndam after several months in Europe and the U.K. Ellen gave us generous hospitality for a number of days, and also tookin Davaid when he turned up several weeks later, having stayed longer in Europe.

Ellen visited my parents in Los Gatos, California during the late 1960's and perhaps during the '50's also She stayed with us once during one of those visits, after we had moved to Los Gatos in late 1965.

We came to Olympia in 1979, and very soon after our arrival in October of that year, with teh house full of boxes but fortunately, with our bedroom in working order, Ellen came across from Victoria to Port Angeles and we had some good times together. A couple of years later, she was here again, with Jean Harvey.

In the fall of 1986 we had a nice week with Ellen, during which we all 3 drove to Quebec City and had a very pleasant 3 days or so. It was cold, I recall! There was a special exhibit of Russian art at the museum near the Plains of Abraham. Again, in Oct. 1990, we spent a couple of days with her, then drove ourselves around Maine, the Gaspé, and back to Montreal for 2 or 3 more days. We stayed at B+B places during these visits; in 1990 Ellen was at the point of selling her house and moving into the Griffith-McConnell Home. Correction: Silvia reminds me that she was already living in G-M in 1990. We may have made a 3rd visit that I don't recall--but it was when Jean Harvey was still living.

Well, I daresay you really didn't want to know all this, but thought it might fill in a few blanks for you. We used to talk with Ellen by phone fairly often until it became to hard for her to hear us.

I will send copies of your thoughtful letter and teh obituary and student tribute to my sister, Elizabeth Hedden, in Las Vegas, and to our own children. Our grandson Christopher Grubb, David's son, near 16, has taken big interest in familly genealogy, and will cull your letter for info to add to the extensive compute rbank (is that the right term??) he has compiled of the family trees of al his parents + grandparents + relatives near and far.

We plan a 3 week a trip to California Feb 5-28 to visit both daughters + their families, also Libby + Gerry Hedden. This very late response to your letter is beause we were gone Dec 22- Jan 5 in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and Spokane to be with our sons Peter + David and their families -- hence your letter eventually came to the top of the pile that accumulated while we were gone. I apolgize for the tardy reply, and thank you again for you trouble in keeping in touch. We will find out how to contact the Girl Guides (or whatever, as you say) in Montreal and send a memorial contribution.

With all best wishes to you and Madeleine
- George