Alphonse Dirse Fund

Alphonse Dirse came to Canada in the late 1940s, having left his native Lithuania to avoid the Russia invasion. Born in 1913, the eldest of five children, he completed his schooling at 15, worked on the family farm and served in the army before making his decision to emigrate. Eventually, he found employment in the mines of Northern Manitoba and worked underground until a mining accident intervened. He then moved to Ontario and finally settled in Hamilton where he worked in a factory until his retirement in 1978. To keep busy, he continued to work whenever possible, usually on the Hamilton docks during the shipping season.

Upon his death in 1989, the Foundation learned of his bequest, a gift for general charitable purposes in the community.

Excerpt from 1991-1992 Annual Report

E. Francis Dennee Fund

Francis Dennee

Edward Francis Dennee is remembered by his many friends as a warm and gregarious man, one who was always concerned about the needs of others. Born in Hamilton in the early 1920s, Frank Dennee served in Burma during the Second World War. Later, he continued his education and worked in finance at Stelco. Mr. Dennee traveled extensively and developed a discrimination taste for opera, dance and theater. He was a well-known bridge player and a valued member of the Board of Players’ Guild.

He died in 1993 and, without any immediate family to consider, left his estate to friends, and to several local organizations involved in the arts, health care, social services and animal welfare. The Foundation also received a gift.

Excerpt from 1994-1995 Annual Report

Mary Margretta Day

Mary Day graduated from McMaster University and worked with National Trust in their real estate division throughout her business career. She lived on Fairleigh Avenue South with her parents, Edwin and Maple, and greatly enjoyed her English gardens and her cats. Miss Day was a devoted member of the Church of St. Peter and Past President of the Y.W.C.A.’s “Happy to Serve” Club, a group of senior business and professional women.

Excerpt from 1990-1991 Annual Report

Walter & Mildred Danby Fund

Originally from a farm near Mt. Forest, Ont., Mildred Leanna Gilstorf was a physician’s house keeper before her marriage to Walter Danby, a Hamilton homebuilding contractor. Together, they built a substantial trust fund for causes of deep personal concern, including severely burned children, church and missionary work, and health problems such as arthritis, cystic fibrosis and mental disabilities. The Walter and Mildred Danby Fund supports several named organizations working in these areas. Following her husband’s death in 1978, Mrs. Danby stayed on in her Florence Street home, which Mr. Danby had built some 60 years earlier, until she passed away in 1988.

Excerpt from 1988-1989 Annual Report

Vangie M. Crosthwaite Fund

Vangie Crosthwaite took a great interest in documenting her family’s early history in the Hamilton area. Her ancestors settled in Bartonville, and today a street in that area bears the family name. As was the custom, she stayed at home on King Street East to look after her parents, Nellie Gage and Harvey Franklin Crosthwaite. Her garden was a source of great pleasure, not only to her, but to others who nominated her for several Trillium Awards.

Excerpt from 1989-1990 Annual Report

Donald A. Cooper Fund

Donald Armstrong Cooper died at the age of 86, was a well-known and respected teacher and administrator within the Hamilton Board of Education.

A 1928 graduate of Queen’s University, Mr. Cooper taught mathematics and became Principal of Hamilton Central Collegiate Institute and was Superintendent of Secondary Schools at the time of his retirement in 1969. He was past President and life member of the Ontario Educational Association. Mr. Cooper was also a musician, singing with the Bach Elgar Choir and playing violin in the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra.

His bequests to arts and cultural organizations, hospitals and educational institutions, as well as his gift to the Foundation for general purposes, reflect his lifelong interest in culture and learning, and his concern for the well-being of his fellow citizens.

Excerpt from 1991-1992 Annual Report

Florabel Condy Fund

Florabel Condy

Florabel Condy was an energetic and dedicated member of many local groups – Women’s Art Association, Head-of-the-Lake Historical Society, IODE, Women’s Canadian Club and the Art Galleryof Hamilton, to name a few. She was also an avid traveler and student; detailed notes from all the Couchiching Conferences she had attended, for example were discovered among her papers.

During World War II, the federal government’s national Selective Service took Miss Condy from her accounting position in a glass firm and made her responsible for placing disabled women in suitable jobs – an assignment of which she was very proud. Later, she became Director of Public Relations for Amity.

She was a native Hamiltonian, having descended from a Scottish family, which had settled in 1842 in Bartonville, a community along King Street East in the Rosedale-Cochrane Road area. When Miss Condy died at 92, several local organizations were notified of legacies, including the Foundation.

Excerpt from 1994-1995 Annual Report

Harold E. Clarke Fund

Harold E. Clarke

Born in Liverpool, England in 1904, Harold Clarke trained as a banker before emigrating to Canada where he joined the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. He was happiest, according to his friend and neighbour Karen Harrison, when tinkering with broken equipment whether it was cars, sump pumps or radios. His skill with radios was in demand during the Second World War when he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and later, the Royal Air Force in England where he was assigned to work on radar equipment. With the RAF, he also served a ten-year stint in India.

Harold Clarke and Nancy, his wife of 50 years, eventually settled in Fruitland. They loved dogs and lavished affection on Princess, their German Shepherd. Predeceased by his wife, Mr. Clarke died in 1997. A year later, the Foundation received the residue of his estate.

Excerpt from 1997-1998 Annual Report

Margaret Eleanor Chetter (Tschetter) Fund

When friends and family recall Margaret Chetter, they describe a kind, generous , loyal and assertive person.

Born Margaret Leitch in Burlington, she was educated at Branksome Hall in Toronto and served as executive secretary of the Downtown Hamilton Rotary Club for 12 years. She was in her forties, when, making her way through a supermarket checkout line, she met Andrew Chetter, a widower who she married in 1959. Andrew’s job as sales agent for a jewelry company allowed the couple to travel extensively, with regular trips to the Caribbean and South Africa.

After Andrew died, Mrs. Chetter remained in her Burlington home with the help of homemaker, Valerie White. “Margaret became a mother to me and befriended my whole family. She was extremely generous. One Christmas, my husband was on strike and my son had just announced he was getting married. She insisted on buying dresses for me and my daughter to wear to the wedding. That’s just the way she was. ” Mrs. White recalled. A nephew, Ken Waters, remembers his aunt as a very private person, financially and politically astute, with eclectic interests – antiques, theatre, concerts, current events.

Always wanting to help others. Margaret Chetter left the Foundation the residue of her estate.

Excerpt from 1997-1998 Annual Report

M. Jessie Chagnon Fund

Born in 1897 in Green Valley near Ottawa, Ont., Jessie MacDonald nursed First World War veterans at Toronto’s Christie Street Hospital where she met her husband-to-be, Elmer Stanley Chagnon, a lieutenant in the Canadian Infantry who had won the Military Cross for bravery in the battle at Amiens, France. The Hamilton Tigers’ championship quarterback was never to play football again as a result of a disabling hip wound. By 1933, he had qualified as a chartered accountant and joined forces with C.K. MacGillivray, a former Executive Director of The Hamilton Foundation, to form Chagnon & MacGillivray.

After her husband’s death in 1953, Mrs. Chagnon remained in their Burlington Northland Ave. home for many years. In her Will, she left generous legacies to various health and social agencies, Roman Catholic Charities and The Hamilton Foundation.

Excerpt from 1988-1989 Annual Report