Dorothy Genevieve Badregon (nee Jenich)

Dorothy Genevieve Badregon (nee Jenich)

Metro Toronto Separate School Board, Teacher and Vice-Principal

March 14, 1943 – June 25, 2023

 

It is with the deepest sadness that the family of Dorothy Genevieve Badregon announces her passing on June 25, 2023, at the age of 80.

Predeceased by her father Joseph Jenich and her mother Helene (nee Cottell).

She is survived by her husband David Sr., sister Fran Robich (Ivan), daughter Susanna (Patrick Turner), son David Jr. (Paola Prieto).  And four gifted grandchildren: Alexander, Victoria, David III, and Emma.

Dorothy would remember reaching 80 years with some satisfaction, but for her, the fewer people who knew her age, the better.

Dorothy would remember, above all, her immediate family.  Her husband of 54 years, David, was lucky to tag along on her numerous adventures. Daughter Susanna, the oldest, made her mother proud with an accounting career, while son David Leo became an able engineer with a predilection for building subway systems.

Dorothy would remember growing up on Alexis Road in Windsor, Ontario, where her father Joseph Jenich worked at the nearby Chrysler auto plant, while her mother and her champion, Helene Cottell, served as head registered nurse at a local hospital.  In the fields and along the roadways, Dorothy and her sister, Fran, exulted with their friends in the joyous freedom of the young.  Even here Dorothy loved to take charge, intuitively and inconspicuously, an innate leader.

Dorothy would remember the many summers spent on her grandparents’ farm near Wallaceburg, Ontario.  Here she would help her idolized grandparents with a variety of chores, including driving the tractor and herding cattle: she was not afraid of anything, really.

Dorothy would remember the one summer spent at Camp Gay Lea in Ontario’s Muskoka region, not as a camper, but as a member of the kitchen staff.  At least the weather was pleasant.

Dorothy would remember her years at the University of Windsor, earning a degree in Honours History.  When a suitable teaching job was not available, she pursued a Master’s degree, writing her thesis, of which she was justly proud, on “Thomas Jefferson’s View of the City.”

Dorothy would remember meeting her future husband, David, while working at her usual university summer job as a waitress at Windsor’s noteworthy Tunnel Barbeque.  Here she was seldom flustered, and always engaging.  Customers often insisted on her being their server.  She knew how to get on the same wavelength as her customers.  High social intelligence was an early virtue for her.

Dorothy would remember accompanying her husband to Philadelphia’s University of Pennsylvania for graduate school.  Initially she worked as a librarian in the science library, helping emeritus profs track down research. Later, she moved to the state social services bureau, where she served as a social worker, helping others better their lives wherever she went.  Often she would hear young children cry out, “Momma, Momma, it’s the Social Services lady coming.” She was not afraid; she could pivot to give others opportunities.

Dorothy would remember discovering her antiques addiction here, spending many a weekend in Amish country hunting down old chests, and chairs, and you-name-it.  And who could forget Williamsburg, with its mahogany highboys, and four poster cherry beds.  Later, back in Ontario, antiquing became a hunt for mid-nineteenth century Canadian harvest tables, hutches, armoires, tables and, especially, old student desks (she never met an antique desk that she did not desire).

Dorothy would remember moving with her husband to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.  As she drove in to the capital, Regina, she begged her husband not to stay in the province any longer than necessary.  She would come to love her new province, however, obtaining her Bachelor of education degree, and finding a teaching job at a rural elementary school.  Here she found, the “1, 2, 3 shoot” teaching method for basketball served her well (but how??).

Dorothy would remember returning to Ontario, and beginning her teaching career with the Metro Toronto Separate School Board at North York’s Chaminade College School: she never forgot the young men that she taught, with their joys in learning and living and accomplishing great things.  Over the years, many of these students showed that they never forgot her either.

Dorothy would especially remember her time as vice-principal at St. Joseph’s Wellesley, and the well-loved principal, Sister Conrad Lauber, CSJ.  Here Dorothy would hone her ability to relate to students, parents and teachers, and to bring everyone together to facilitate students’ accomplishment.  Rather than spending a chunk of her day looking at a computer screen, she spent it interacting with students in the cafeteria and throughout the school.  Here her morning mantra on the announcements, “Enjoy your learning,” was born, and was to tag along with her during her career.  As Dorothy explained to a local newspaper columnist in 1992, “I’d start the day with ‘O Canada’ and a prayer and then I’d say, ‘Enjoy your learning,’ I want their learning to be positive, enjoyable.  I wanted to tell them, ‘Carpe diem,’ [seize the day]. This is the best time of your life…because all of a sudden, it’s yesterday.” 

Dorothy would remember vice-principalships at other Toronto schools, including Loretto Abbey.  She often enthused about working with principal Linda Langero, the Loretto sisters, and the talented teaching staff.  Many a trip she took to the outside environs supervising students.

Dorothy would remember the family cottage on Long Lake in the Haliburton Highlands.  She would say that she wished that she could have spent more time in the summers there, relaxing on the deck or sitting on the dock with her feet in the cold water.  Instead, she was often writing provincial History curriculum, taking courses, or serving as summer school principal.  When she was there, she relished the campfires (even though she once accidentally put her foot in the campfire emergency bucket), cinnamon breakfast buns at the local bakery, and antiquing forays into the nearby villages.

Dorothy would remember her wanderlust throughout her life.  While in Philadelphia, she organized a summer-long trip to Europe, visiting many a museum Madonna, too many she finally admitted.  As with any new visitor to Europe, she was overwhelmed with the centuries of history and culture.  Still, after dragging her suitcase to a shabby and dirty rented room in London, she insisted on pulling that darn suitcase back to a cleaner flat in Bloomsbury.  She knew what she wanted, and was willing to go the extra distance for it.

Dorothy would remember seeing the world, often on guided tours or cruise ships.  She stood before Egypt’s Sphinx, and watched her husband enter Israel’s Jordan River (she was not getting wet, however).  She permitted her husband to visit too many a winery, from Australia to New Zealand, to California and Italy; she was a watcher, but not an imbiber.  She enjoyed the art at St. Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum, and even got side-lined at the nearby Peterhof Palace, without the proper ticket (only a phone call to Moscow got her out, really).  She often averred that there were few Caribbean islands that she had not set foot on.  And the memorable food on those trips: baklava in Istanbul, strawberries and cream on Ireland’s Shannon River, high tea with scones in Australia, gelato with wafers in Sicily, and pizza marinara in Venice (how many generations old was that starter for the delectable dough?).

Dorothy would remember her music.  She enjoyed playing the piano, even taking lessons in her later years.  Many a song got her humming and sometimes dancing.  She loved dancing to a full live orchestra playing Chris De Burgh’s “The Lady in Red.”  Barbra Streisand’s “Memory” from Cats would bring tears to her eyes, while Murray McLauchlan’s “Farmer’s Song” brought back old times in Saskatchewan (where she actually attended a Murray concert).  And Leonard Cohen, also a fave: she went beyond Cohen’s darkness to, as Cohen would say, “the cracks that let the light in.”  Dorothy was ever the optimist.

Dorothy would remember her time cooking up wonders in the kitchen.  She had models in her mother and grandmother, Genevieve, accustomed to preparing large meals for those working on the farm.  Inherited cookbooks and recipe clippings bolstered Dorothy’s culinary creativity.  Yes, sometimes she sampled a bit too much as she cooked, to the consternation of some observers, but the product was invariably amazing.

Dorothy would remember her last few years at the Davis Long Term Care Centre in Bolton, where she experienced loving care thanks to the Peel Region’s commitment to looking after seniors in need.  She was able to eat gourmet meals, sing her songs, pursue her interests, be with friends and feel at home.  Special thanks to Dr. Kristof; to nurses Bev, Michelle, Melodie, Jane, Sukhi, Roya, Kamaljit, Gurpreet, Sharndeep and Rajvir; to social workers and aides Michelle, Dionne, Sonya, Ching, Vidya, Paula, Rani, Gurdeep, Angie, Marie. Jenny, Nathaniel, Dante, Dalyce, Mila, Danielle and Poonan; and to administrators Fatima and Lennie. What a superlative staff!

Dorothy would remember a full and rewarding life.  Anyone who knew her, would not forget her vitality, humanity and goodness.  She would not “rage, rage against the dying of the light.”  Rather, the words of Shakespeare come to mind:

                   “Now cracks a noble heart.  Good night, sweet prince[ss],

                     And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!”

Dorothy, without doubt, now deservedly walks with the Lord.

The family will receive their friends at the Egan Funeral Home, 203 Queen Street S. (Hwy. 50), Bolton (905-857-2213) on Tuesday evening, July 4, from 5-8 o’clock. Funeral Mass will be held in Holy Family Roman Catholic Church, 60 Allan Drive, Bolton on Wednesday morning, July 5 at 11 o’clock. Followed by cremation.

In lieu of flowers, donations to Parkinson Canada would be appreciated. Condolences for the family may be offered at www.EganFuneralHome.com