Phyllis Isabella Robinson Fund

For more than 40 years, Miss Robinson was a kindergarten teacher at W. H. Ballard School in Hamilton. Agnes Robinson remembers her sister-in-law as a bright, understanding person with a strong feeling for her community. “Phyllis drove for Meals on Wheels. She worked at a summer camp on Lake Erie. She was president of the YWCA and head of the teachers’ federation. Phyllis loved children and would take her nieces and nephews to collect marsh marigolds in the spring. She was a modest person and a positive thinker who always tried to cheer others up.” Miss Robinson sang in the choir of St. Giles Church and was often in demand as a wedding soloist. Phyllis Robinson left a gift to her community by making a bequest in her will to the Foundation.

Excerpt from 1996-1997 Annual Report

James and Mary Phin Fund

James and Mary Phin

When the serious, courtly Major James Philip Phin married fun-loving Mary Stewart MacMillan in Pembroke on August 27, 1940, the couple intended it to be a quiet affair. The wartime wedding of two well-known Hamiltonians was difficult to ignore, however, and members of the battery who were stationed at Petawawa Military Camp attended the ceremony enmasse. James Phin’s impressive achievements included being Commanding Officer of the Eleventh Field Battery (the city’s first militia unit originally formed in 1856), alderman, host to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1939 and member of Baritone Masonic Lodge. During the Second World War, he would add to this distinguished record of service by being the only Canadian to command field artillery, antiaircraft and antitank units. On the 50th anniversary of the war’s end, he received a medal for his involvement with the liberation of Brittany.

In 1944, he returned to civilian life and resumed his position with the Mixed Concrete and Supply Company, later known as RED-D-MIX Concrete. At this time he was approached to run for the federal Conservatives and numbered Ontario Premier John Robarts and Prime Minister John Diefenbaker among his friends. Later confined to a wheelchair due to severe arthritis, but fiercely independent, Major Phin remained in his own home.

Mary had predeceased him as the result of a severe asthmatic attack. After Major Phin’s death, the foundation was notified of the couple’s generous plans for the community they had served so well in life — bequests were made to the Hamilton Community Foundation.

This fund forms part of the Community Health Education & Research Fund, supports several specific charities and also supports the unrestricted Community Fund.

Excerpt from 1995-1996 Annual Report

Dr. Alexander A. Numbers Fund

Dr. Alexander Anderson Numbers, a long time Hamilton general practitioner who devoted his life to his patients and family, was still making housecalls into his late 80s.

Born in Scotland, he emigrated to Canada at 15 and served his new country in France during World War I at military headquarters, not as a doctor, but as a stenographer. Medical school came later, as did special studies in hematology. During his years of medical practice, Dr. Numbers held posts as chief of medical staff at both the Hamilton Civic Hospitals and St. Peter’s Centre, and he was honoured by the Hamilton Academy of Medicine as one of the first two recipients of the first distinguished achievement award in recognition of his remarkable career and his leadership in developing the Academy’s archive and museum.

Dr. Numbers died in 1989.

Excerpt from 1992-1993 Annual Report

Catherine C.H. Murray Fund

Catherine Constance Hull Murray came to Dundas from England as a child at the turn of the century. Having experienced extreme poverty in her early years, she became a generous supporter of several local charities.

A graduate of the Hamilton General Hospital in 1930, she nursed in Britain and Belgium during the Second World War and later worked to help reintegrate service women into civilian life.

She was the widow of Dr. J . Kenneth Murray, a Hamilton surgeon.

Excerpt from 1987-1988 Annual Report

Frederick J. Mills Fund

Frederick James Mills died in 1970. He enjoyed a first-hand relationship with the Foundation, having been elected to the Board in 1964.

Mr. Mills served in Italy during the First World War, attained the rank of Captain and was awarded the Military Cross. Subsequently, he joined the family hardware business and was active in the Gyro Club, a local service organization. Like his father Charles, a well-known architect, Fred Mills had an eye for design which he put to use in building his home on Hillcrest Avenue.

 Excerpt from 1989-1990 Annual Report

Samuel & Dora McFarlane Fund

Audrey Kershaw

Audrey Kershaw

“I love to see things grow and bloom,” said Audrey Kershaw. The Flamborough resident is referring to her garden, but the sentiment can be equally applied to her philosophy on charitable giving. When she retired from the Board of Education, Mrs. Kershaw began reviewing her charitable giving. Confronted with so many choices and worthy causes, Mrs. Kershaw looked to the Community Foundation for a solution.

After discussions with Foundation staff about her own personal charitable goals, Mrs. Kershaw set up the Samuel and Dora McFarlane Fund, to honour the memory of her parents. This allows Mrs. Kershaw to make contributions on a regular basis. Occasionally, she makes an additional in memoriam donation when someone dies. “It has given me great peace of mind knowing I’m helping more people this way. I’ve watched the fund grow and eventually, I would like to specify that it be directed to the needs of students.”

“It gives me great satisfaction”, she adds, “to read the annual report and see who benefits or to attend a theatre performance and realize it was made possible thorough a Foundation grant. I think the Foundation attracts good, decent people who emit a feeling of good will.”

Excerpt from 1998-1999 Annual Report

Jane C. LeWarne Fund

Jane LeWarne’s nursing career started with the Red Cross in Dryden in 1938 and took her to many communities across Northern Ontario. She loved the north and became a keen observer of birds and plant life, a pastime which gave her much pleasure through her years. In 1977, upon retirement from her supervisory position at the Runnymede Hospital, a long-term care facility in Toronto, Miss LeWarne moved to Hamilton to live with her sister Elizabeth, who established this memorial fund to perpetuate her sister’s tradition of support for the needs of young people.

Excerpt from 1992-1993 Annual Report

Francis Spence Hutton Fund

Francis Hutton

Hamilton-born Francis Hutton attended Delta Collegiate before heading to the University of Toronto where he studied civil engineering. In 1941, he married Bette Margaret Brown, a girl he had met at the Hamilton Figure Skating Club where the two shared a passion for ice dancing. The following year, he left his bride behind to serve with the Royal Canadian Engineers in France and Germany where he helped to rebuild bridges when were destroyed during the Second World War. Returning to the CNR in 1946, Mr. Hutton held a variety of positions that kept him on the move.

His family, which grew to include daughters, Deborah and Margo, lived in many cities across Canada. Eventually, Oakville became home and Mr. Hutton immersed himself in the community by giving his time and expertise to various boards. “My father was a patient, thoughtful and astute man. Emotionally, he was very even. He was on dialysis for the last nine years of his life and he coped with this difficult challenge with a great deal of dignity and courage, ” daughter Margo recalled.

Mr. Hutton’s generous bequest to the Foundation was one of the many in his will.

Excerpt from 1995-1996 Annual Report

Helen Gertrude Harrison

Helen Harrison was born in Hamilton in 1905, graduated from Loretto Academy and took a job as a secretary at Firestone. Her first big summer holiday was a trip to New York City, but when she married Chester Morgan Harrison, the couple fell in love with the tranquility of Ontario’s north, especially Algonquin Park. “Parts of the park were quite inaccessible, so Helen and Chester would hire a guide for canoe trips in the remote areas. She really loved to get out doors and leave civilization behind,” recalls her cousin Mary Lees.

An amateur artist, Mrs. Harrison did pen and ink drawings of plants and animals. She was also an accomplished pianist with tastes ranging from classical to jazz. Although an intensely private person, her home was always open to family visitors according to her nephew Peter Brown. “My aunt was an avid Scrabble and card player who also loved crossword puzzles. Uncle Chester and I had lively discussions about Shakespeare, ” he reminisced. Predeceased by her Husband, Mrs. Harrison lived the last seven years of her life at Highgate Manor in Ancaster. After remembering many family members and charities in her will she left a share of her estate to the Foundation.

Excerpt from 1997-1998 Annual Report

Heels Family Vocal Award Fund

Heels

Mary Josephine Heels, born August 25, 1908, had a life-long passion for music, and church music in particular. An accomplished pianist and singer, Mary was the contralto soloist at Zion United, Central Presbyterian and Binkley United churches. In the late 1920s she and her sister Ellen – later the Rt. Honourable Ellen Fairclough – entertained each week on their own half-hour radio program. Mary’s daughter, Dr. Joan Heels, said the $5 they were paid for each show was immediately used to purchase sheet music for the following week.

Her mother was vivacious and full of life, Dr. Heels said, and she loved to hear and tell a good joke. A graduate of Commercial High School in Hamilton, Mary worked full time at the Fairclough Printing Company and was busy every night of the week with community activities. A president of the Zonta Club Hamilton 1 and president of the Women’s Ad and Sales Club, she also established a scholarship with the Hamilton Kiwanis Music Festival in the church solo class.

As a tribute to her mother, Dr. Heels, a vocal teacher herself, established a fund at the Hamilton Community Foundation this year for worthy young music scholars.

“I was able to have piano and singing lessons as a child because my mother worked and I feel this is a way to honor her memory. I hope it will help students further their music education,” says Dr. Heels. The Hamilton Community Foundation, she added, is a safe place for the fund. “They have the expertise and will take care of it when I’m gone.”

Excerpt from 2000-2001 Annual Report