Born ‎27 Feb 1931 Amaranth Township, Ontario, Canada, died ‎14 Feb 2019 Brampton, Ontario, Canada‎, 87 years, buried ‎Greenwood Cemetery Orangeville
Duncan, Anna Elizabeth (Betty) (nee Hodgson)
Peacefully at Brampton Civic Hospital on Thursday, February 14, 2019 at the age of 87. Beloved wife of the late Frederick. Predeceased by her parents Alice (Little) and Thomas Hodgson. Dear mother of Sheila Duncan and her husband Bob McCrea and Sylvia Duncan and her husband Douglas Fraser. Loving grandmother of Spencer and Sydney (Kaile), great-grandmother of Evelett. Betty will be missed by her sister-in-law Audrey Hodgson. Predeceased by her sisters Meta Hodgson, Sadie Golden (Jim), Della Trimble (Gordon), Ruth Dermott (Frank) and her brother Arthur Hodgson and sister-in-law Ruby Taylor (Don). Betty will be greatly missed by her nieces, nephews and extended family. Raised in Amaranth, Betty was a school teacher in Mono and Amaranth, owned and operated a farm in East Garafraxa before moving to Mono. Betty will be remembered for her honesty, hard work, generous nature and devotion to family.

Funeral Service will be held at Dods & McNair Funeral Home, Chapel & Reception Centre, 21 First St., Orangeville, on Sunday, February 17, 2019 at 1:00 p.m. with visitation beginning at 12:00 p.m. Memorial donations to the Heart & Stroke Foundation or a charity of your choice would be appreciated by the family. Spring Interment - Greenwood Cemetery, Orangeville.

A tree will be planted in memory of Betty in the Dods & McNair Memorial Forest at the Island Lake Conservation Area, Orangeville. The annual dedication service will be held on Sunday, September 8, 2019 at 2:30 p.m. Condolences may be offered to the family at www.dodsandmcnair.com

Eulogy from Sheila Ducan
Anna Elizabeth (Betty) Hodgson was born February 27, 1931 in the Township of Amaranth, on the family farm just west of Orangeville, on what is now called Veterans's Way.

She was the youngest of six siblings - Arthur, Ruth, Della, Sadie and Meta - who all lived out their lives in this area. In fact, the family homestead is still owned by Arthur's wife Audrey. Betty's father and mother, Thomas and Alice Hodgson, owned a hotel on Broadway, for a short period of time. Betty told her daughters she could remember painting the doors to the horse stable at the hotel. She also told them about doing homework by candlelight and about having to live in town during parts of the winter when they couldn't get by carriage into town for school.

Betty attended Orangeville Public School, Orangeville High School, and Toronto Normal School (for teaching).
She taught all grades at one-room schools - Coleridge School in Amaranth and U.S.S. 0 in Mono, and later did supply teaching.

Betty married Fred Duncan on July 19, 1952 at St. Mark's Anglican Church in Orangeville.

They farmed on their 200-acre farm in East Garafraxa Township from 1952-1968, at which time they moved to a subdivision in Mono - and took their farm tractor with them.

Fred had a Canada Post mail route in Mono for many years, which they worked on together.

They had two children -- Sheila and Sylvia; two grandchildren -- Spencer and Sydney; and one great-granddaughter -- Evelett, age one.

Betty's greatest joy was family. From puzzle challenges to games of euchre with siblings, nieces, nephews, daughters or grandchildren, she was always ready for some laughs - and sneaky moves.

In the early days at their East Garafraxa farm many relatives will remember harvest time. Lots of activity, lots of work, lots of food & help; Betty could cook up a storm. For those who remember, it was a bountiful fare of meat, potatoes, vegetables, cake and pie. Even if it wasn't harvest time, as niece Lois Taylor Aikens of Calgary says, you always left from visiting Aunt Betty feeling happy and full.

And while she had been a teacher, she never quite got her daughters to master baking or sewing. Of course, they would have likely made pizza or pasta and Betty was having none of that. Betty started her own family traditions: angel food cake on birthdays, the Hodgson version of Christmas cake every December, calorie-laden sauce for Christmas, and "hunts" for the children's gifts.

Cooking and sewing aside, Betty was proud of her daughters' careers and achievements. She appreciated their assistance along with the support from sons-in-law Bob McCrea and Douglas Fraser in recent years.

As the grandchildren grew, Betty remained very interested in their lives, from helping with homework to attending every soccer game. Betty enjoyed spending time with her grandchildren, teaching them how to bake, as recently as December having a baking day with Spencer, Sydney and Evelett.

It was a week ago today when she said her last words and whispered to her great granddaughter.

Betty had a sharp mind, keeping track of relatives and all their offspring (right down to birth dates) to watching the stock market and staying on top of the news.

Betty was intelligent, compassionate and loving. And she was a trooper, as she dealt with heart and kidney issues, rheumatoid arthritis, and a hearing impairment. She kept on smiling through it all, inserting a little quip from time to time. Her life has ended, but her love lives on!

From Philip Dermott (nephew)
These recollections are not so much related to "devotion to family" as they are about her keen interest in the family history. After my mother passed away, Aunt Betty and I had a number of conversations about the family history. In preparation for our first visit to discuss the family, I printed off all the information that I had on the Hodgson / Little side of the family - about 275 double sided pages - to leave with Aunt Betty. A couple of days later, I had an email from Sheila "Mom noticed that the Taylors were missing!"; Well this was news to me. I knew they were related to Uncle Fred as his sister Ruby had married a Taylor but they were related on Aunt Betty's side too? Needless to say, this was a topic of discussion at our next meeting - how were they related?
Aunt Betty couldn't say for sure - she knew the name of the mother (Bertha) of Uncle Fred's brother-in-law (Don Taylor) and she knew there was a Jackson connection but couldn't fill in the gaps. Turning to Google when I got home, I did some searches and for the next visit presented Aunt Betty with a print out of the descendants of an older sister (Mary Ann) of Aunt Betty's grandfather William Little who had married a Jackson.
The Taylor connection had been solved. When Aunt Betty saw the printout it was like a piece of the puzzle had finally been put in place in the family tree for her.

The other recollection was also to do with the family history. This day we were going through old family photos that Aunt Betty had gotten from her mother Alice. We came upon a photo of an older woman and two young girls from the 1920s or 1930s that Aunt Betty did not recognize. We turned the photo over and someone had written on the back that referred to the young girls as having a family name of Perkins. Aunt Betty looked up from the picture and said "I guess I should throw this one out - we don't have any Perkins in the family" Just a minute! Remember that 275 page printout I mentioned - well a quick scan of the name index and yes - there are Perkins in the family tree. It turned out, the older woman in the picture was Emma Edington, the younger sister of Aunt Betty's grandmother Hodgson - Maria or in other words a great-aunt to Aunt Betty and the young girls were her second cousins Ruth and Harriet Perkins. I will never forget the look of astonishment on her face when she realized what the family connection was and that she had one of the only, if not the only picture of an Edington in the entire family.

Thanks to those discussions, Aunt Betty has helped me fill in some of the gaps in the family tree.

Born ‎21 Oct 1928 Amaranth Township, Ontario, Canada, died ‎17 Aug 2011 Orangeville, Ontario, Canada‎, 82 years, buried ‎Greenwood Cemetery Orangeville
October 21, 1928 - August 17, 2011
Died peacefully at Headwaters Health Care Centre. Beloved husband of Betty (Hodgson) for 59 years. Loving father of Sheila Duncan and Sylvia Duncan and father-in-law of Bob McCrea and Doug Fraser. Proud and awesome grandfather of Spencer Duncan and Sydney Duncan. Will be missed by sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law Don Taylor, Ruth Dermott, and Audrey and Arthur Hodgson, and also many nieces and nephews, friends and neighbours. Predeceased by parents Evelyn (Duke) and John Duncan, and sister Ruby Taylor, and sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law Meta Hodgson, Sadie and Jim Golden, Della and Gordon Trimble and Frank Dermott.

Raised in Amaranth and Hillsburgh, Fred farmed in East Garafraxa for many years. Upon moving to Mono Township, he was a rural mail carrier and enjoyed driving a school bus for years. Fred will be remembered for his honesty, hard work, passion for woodworking, sense of humour and hearty laugh, and especially for his love for his family.

Friends will be received at Dods & McNair Funeral Home & Chapel, 21 First Street, Orangeville on Monday, August 22, 2011 from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m.

Funeral Service will be held on Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 3:00 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, donations to Headwaters Health Care Foundation, South Lake Regional Health Care Centre, or a charity of your choice would be appreciated.

A tree will be planted in memory of Fred in the Dods & McNair Memorial Forest at the Island Lake Conservation Area, Orangeville. A dedication service will be held on Sunday, September 9th, 2012 at 2:30 p.m.
--- Dods and McNair notice