Obituary of Catherine Verrall

Mary Catherine MacGregor Fraser Verrall, first called Catriona (Gaelic), was born in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, although her ancestral roots were in Nova Scotia. Born in 1929, the year women were declared “persons” under Canadian law, she spent her life being the change she hoped to see in the world. On March 7, 2021 she returned to the mystery of creation. She will continue to be an inspiration to many. 

 

Catherine had a long and productive life full of wonder and love. She was ever-thankful for the mystery and magic, the universal energy that surrounds and upholds us all.

 

A virtual celebration of life was held on May 15, 2021. A recording of the service is available from the family on request. For her memorial she wanted us all wearing bright colours and singing together - and so we did.

 

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to support Every Bite legacy projects through Nature Regina https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/45915

 

Catherine was a life-long activist, writer and educator, who passionately engaged others to work on countless causes. In Halifax, Toronto, Hamilton, Brantford and Regina she took action, tirelessly advocating for a more caring and just society.  She was a teacher, a wife, mother and grandmother, but in no ways conventional. 

 

Even as a child she was an activist, putting on concerts to raise money for good causes. Her awareness of racism began as a young teen during World War 2 when she saw how her friend of Japanese ancestry was treated. She said her 14-year-old daughter inspired her in 1970 to go to her first ever public demonstration, the Amchitka anti-nuclear testing demo at the American Embassy in Toronto. She stood up against injustice her whole life. A seemingly diminutive woman with a sweet smile, she packed a punch when it came to defending peace, Indigenous rights, public transportation, environmental and food sustainability, economic justice, and human and environmental rights. She earned nicknames like “Catherine the Great” and “Grandma Dynamite”. She made every exchange into an opportunity to educate. 

 

In the 1950’s she earned a BA in Philosophy and English from the University of Toronto and met her great love, Arthur Verrall. She became the wife of a United Church minister, but she was never a “minister’s wife”. They had a long, loving and supportive partnership. Together they worked for social change and raised a family.  Ever practical, Catherine sewed her own wedding dress on the sewing machine Arthur gave her instead of a diamond ring. 

 

As a mother, grandmother and teacher, Catherine was a fierce defender of creativity, play, art and music in childhood development. In her first years as a mother in Severn Bridge, in the Muskokas in Ontario, Catherine created a kindergarten in her rural home. Her children and grandchildren were beneficiaries of her progressive approach to early childhood education.

 

After moving to Halifax in 1961 with three children under the age of four, the shock of the racism she witnessed motivated her to reach out to the New Horizons Baptist Church (formerly Cornwallis Street Baptist Church) around the corner from Brunswick Street United where Arthur was the minister. Together they formed a partnership to create Brunswick-Cornwallis Pre-School. It was the first inter-racial pre-school in the Maritimes, “where people at every level met on a basis of equality”. The pre-school started in the Verrall’s home and then moved to New Horizons. 

 

In Ontario in the 1970's and 1980’s she was an unconventional teacher in the conventional school system, challenging the status quo and inspiring young minds. Her writings on parenting appeared in Ward Seven News and Chatelaine Magazine. 

 

She overcame her natural shyness and fear of public speaking. Nothing seemed to deter her from doing what needed to be done for the cause – approaching strangers, knocking on doors, public speaking, singing protest songs and getting evicted from the shopping centre for collecting petition signatures. Her example gives us courage to speak up even when we feel afraid. 

 

In her “spare time” she was involved in learning, campaigning and publishing with the Canadian Alliance in Solidarity with Native Peoples (CASNP). When the family moved from Toronto to Hamilton in 1975, she co-founded the Hamilton branch of CASNP. Her teacher’s guide “All My Relations: Sharing Native Values Through the Arts”, created with Lenore Kesling-Tobias and Shelley Niro, was widely used. 

 

The 1990’s were her early ‘retirement’ years in Brantford where her activism reached a feverish pace. She organized to gather over 8,000 signatures for better transit service, and campaigned to stop a major access road from damaging the community and environment. She started the Brantford Raging Grannies and was involved in numerous environmental groups including the Brantford Transit Users' Group, the Ontario Better Transport Coalition, and the Brant Country Environment Group. She co-founded the Citizens for Clean Water. Even though there were city counselors and businesses that “felt the sharp end of Verrall’s activist stick”, in 2001 she was officially thanked by the City of Brantford for “Being a champion of peace, social justice, democracy, the environment and a healthy community”.

 

After moving with Arthur to Regina in 2001 she immediately started a Regina Raging Grannies group and joined numerous community groups including: Regina Peace Action Coalition, Regina Citizen's Public Transit Coalition, Transport 2000 Prairie Branch, Intercultural Grandmothers Uniting, Making Peace Vigil and the Environment committee of KAIROS. In 2003 she collected the most signatures of anyone (over 7,000) in a campaign against closing Regina Public Library branches. She worked with the Knox-Met Outreach Ministry on projects such as water awareness and other social justice issues. In 2003, at the age of 75, she worked with the Anti-Poverty Ministry and the Transit Coalition in support of a discounted bus pass for people living in poverty. She delivered - on her bike - letters to 52 local agencies to gain support for the discounted pass, which was finally supported by City Council in 2009. In 2010, age 80, she joined the protest to save the First Nations University, and spent the night in solidarity with students sleeping on the university floor. 

 

Since arriving in Regina, Catherine received numerous honours in recognition of her work: the Prairie Dog’s Best Citizen Activist and Best Volunteer Awards (2007), the Regina YWCA Women of Distinction Award for Science, Technology and Environment (2009), the Saskatchewan Seniors Mechanism Celebrating Seniors Award for Advocacy (2015), the Saskatchewan Council for International Cooperation Global Citizen Award and the Saskatchewan Eco-network Environmental Activist Award (2009-10).

 

She was featured in media stories over the years with enticing headlines such as: 

• “Halifax Woman is Doing Her Part to Dissolve Racial Discrimination” (Halifax Chronicle 1968)
• “"Unwanted” weeds useful for lessons, teacher contends” (by David Suzuki, Globe and Mail 1989)
• “Opponents of road proposal seek full environmental study” (Brantford Expositor 1992)
• “Grannies give advice to Tories” (Expositor 1997)
• “Clover lawn idea growing” (Regina-Sun Community News 2003)
• “Grandmother prepares to take to streets with other Canadians to protest war” (Canadian Press 2003)

 

She also wrote articles and contributed opinion pieces to various publications too numerous to mention, with titles such as “Trees are members of our city family”, “The Price of War” and “Dandelions yummy — Too good to destroy”. 

 

Catherine was a retired teacher, never a retired activist. Environmental and social justice, peace and public transportation, these issues all came together in her culminating work, showing how everything is connected, “Every Bite Affects the World: an Earth Care Cookbook for Joyful, Mindful Eating”, published in 2016 and created with the help of a host of friends and a forward by Dr. Nettie Wiebe. In 2016 the Every Bite Project received a Sustainable Development Recognition Award from the Saskatchewan Regional Centre of Expertise on Education Sustainability Development (RCE). Proceeds from the sale of the book will continue to go toward local sustainability projects.

 

In 2015 Catherine’s iconic pink bicycle was traded for a “trusty walker”. She saw this and every other experience as an opportunity to learn and grow. She loved walking in nature, reading, CBC Radio 2, bees and dandelions. 

 

Catherine saw the environment as encompassing the whole cosmos and recognized the inseparable link between the well-being of humans and the natural world. Each day she looked for new ways to walk more lightly on this earth. She was a spiritual seeker and innovator. She brought her feminism into her hymn singing, changing words to ones she liked better. She felt affinity with Indigenous teachings and spirituality. She found spiritual community as a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) as well as Saint James United Church. 

 

Catherine’s concept of family was expansive and inclusive. She felt extraordinarily blessed with numerous caring and insightful friends and her loving family. Predeceased by parents Anna Gunn and Rev. JPC Fraser, sister Nancy Fraser (Ian Harris), husband Rev. Arthur Verrall and chosen daughter Catherine Lambert (Judy Crump). She is survived by her children: Krys (Bill Burns), Ann, Elizabeth (Mike Burns), Martin; and grandchildren: Leah Gerry, Hannah Gerry, Marshall Burns (Jen Graf) and Piper Burns.

Her message for all of us - “Carry on and notice the magic all around”.