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    Death notice - Eleanor Audrey "Babs" McLaren



    Source Information

    • Title Death notice - Eleanor Audrey "Babs" McLaren 
      Short Title Death notice - Eleanor Audrey "Babs" McLaren 
      Publisher The Globe and Mail, 19 July 2014. 
      Source ID S586 
      Text Eleanor Audrey (Babs) McLaren
      31 October 1916-16 July 2014

      Film maker, photographer,
      gardener, adopted grandmother;
      lover of classic movies, animals,
      a good bottle of red wine and all
      things chocolate.
      Born in Hythe Kent England,
      Babs returned to Canada on a
      troop ship with her mother,
      Reitta (Moore) after her father,
      Richard J. McLaren, who served
      with the 1st West York
      Regiment, was killed in action in
      1918. It was the first of many
      transatlantic voyages and fuelled
      a taste for travel and adventure
      that took her around the world,
      from a bicycle trip in Brittany in
      1938 to a 4 1/2 month motor
      trip through the Middle East in
      1968 with beloved friend Alma
      Duncan (1917 - 2004).
      Babs was schooled in Hamilton,
      Switzerland and Florence, Italy
      She enlisted in the RCAF and was
      posted to the Western Air
      Command in Victoria, B. C. where
      she obtained her commission in
      1943. Three years later she took
      a job at the National Film Board,
      where she met Alma Duncan
      Together they formed Dunclaren
      Productions and their stop
      animation films, peopled with
      handmade puppets, garnered
      international recognition. Babs
      and Alma shared homes in
      Arnprior, Cumberland and
      Ottawa, Ontario where they
      loved to entertain, always in the
      company of beloved family
      dogs. The tradition of
      entertaining was important to
      Babs, whether it was brunch at
      Claire de Lune, or pizza dinners
      in her suite at the Rockcliffe
      while watching one of the
      hundreds of movies that she and
      Alma had collected. Always
      quiet, proper and fiercely
      independent to the end, Babs
      loved a good story, visits with
      friends young, old (and furry),
      and of course cocktail hour at
      the Rockcliffe Retirement
      Residence. Her loving adopted
      family Anne Maheux, Greg and
      Madeleine Hill (and Alice) will
      miss her crinkly smile, her
      pleasure in eating asparagus
      with her fingers, and in sharing a
      good bottle of red wine. Babs is
      survived by loving cousins Patsy
      Bosomworth, Bob (Helke) Ferrie,
      Duncan McLaren and Bill
      (Daphne) McLaren. Friends are
      invited to visit at the Central
      Chapel of Hulse, Playfair &
      McGarry, 315 McLeod Street (at
      O'Connor), Ottawa on
      Wednesday, July 30, 2014 from
      2:00 p.m. until the time of
      Service in the Chapel at 3:00
      p.m. If friends so desire,
      donations may be made to the
      Ottawa Humane Society in Babs'
      memory. 
      Linked to (1) Eleanor Audrey "Babs" McLaren