Amy Fowler was born August 3, 1927, in Peru. Her parents were Canadian and had met there, her mom being a nurse and her father a mining engineer. Sadly her mom passed away prematurely when Amy was only age 13. Amy was then sent to Canada, under the care of relatives living in Quebec. She was mainly on her own, receiving a lot of her education at boarding school.
Amy could speak English, French as well as Spanish because of her early adventures. She went on to receive a degree in economics from McGill University and it was through being a member of the McGill Choral society, that she met Keith Quirk, who was a medical student. They had three great years there as sweethearts, but ultimately went their own ways. They both married and had wonderful children, but thought of and kept track of each other over the years.
In November of 1999 Keith, then a psychiatrist, called Amy on impulse, while attending a conference in Montreal. When the phone rang, Amy almost passed out for she was certain of who it was. They found out that Amy was widowed for five years, and Keith was separated for five years, and divorcing. They quickly picked up where they had left off, first by daily emails, then regular visits. Then, Keith accepted an offer that came out of the blue for a full time job with the North Eastern Mental Health Center’s outreach community program ACTT, which would start January 1, 2002. The job meant a move to North Bay. Keith and Amy were married in North Bay in August of that year. They both loved the City, lived happily here until sadly, cancer carried her away to the next world on April 17, 2010.
Amy lived a life of caring and service to social causes. In addition to raising three wonderful and successful children- Glen, Dale and Heather, she was the ultimate volunteer, and no task was too small or challenge too large. She had a deep concern for social justice and the rights of women. She became in turn, president of: the Montreal Council of Women, as well as the National Council of Women (NCWC) and also Zonta International. Amy represented Canada on the International Council of Women on which she was vice-president. As President of NCWC she was a full time advocate and voice of Canadian women, on issues of health, education and the environment. She chaired a two year study of the financial status of older women across Canada and then led a successful lobby that resulted in fundamental changes to the Pension legislation for older women at both the Provincial and Federal levels. For this, and many other community contributions, she received the Order of Canada in 1985.
In addition to being the perfect loving wife for Keith, resulting in truly “Golden Years”, Amy also made a lot of friends in this community. She took a very active part in community groups, including the Canadian Federation of University Women, Living Fit and the North Bay Baha’i Spiritual Assembly. She also joined the waterfront Heritage Gardeners and helped out with their weekly maintenance ‘down to earth’ activity.
Amy and Keith loved the waterfront from day one, and were very excited about the redevelopment steadily taking place over the years. Amy would be most happy to know that we are supporting this Pergola Leaf project in her memory.