Doris Croker

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Doris Irene Croker was born April 9, 1928 in Acton, England a suburb of London.
Her parents Walter John Giles and Mary Ann Clarke had 8 children and she was the youngest. She is the last of her immediate family.

She met her future husband Albert Frederick Croker at the "baths" as they called them back then or swimming pool as we know them today. They were both there with groups of friends.

Her father would not let her get married until she was 21, so she got engaged on her 20th birthday and married on her 21st.

Dad had seen a flyer for a seminar on Canada, talked to Mum and they went. After the seminar, they decided to move. Mum and Dad were the only ones from their families to move away from England of their generation.

They arrived in Halifax by boat, trained it to Toronto in 1955.
Dad worked odd jobs until he landed the school custodian job with the North York Board of Education and stayed till retirement.. Mum didn't work as i came along in 1956. I remember Mum mentioning that often she walked around with just a quarter in her pocket. Later, Mum got an office job with DeHavilland Aircraft and stayed there for 25 years before retiring.

Mum enjoyed knitting, reading Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb and Danielle Steele novels, animals and spending time at the trailer in Grand Valley outside Orangeville.

Mum had a tendency to call me by the dog's name "MitzI". it used to drive me crazy.
When Mum was a teenager, she fell off her bicycle and landed directly on her knees. This would later result in having both knee joints replaced, one in the 70's and the other in the 80's.

Mum would tell everyone that she a great relationship with Dad, he gave 50% and she took 50%!
Dad was diagnosed with lung cancer in June 2003. She had a hard time physically with him, not having the strength in her legs to move him around. Her knees would buckle with no warning. He was gone by August with both of us by his side. Dad was her one and only boyfriend.

Mum could be a trouble maker. When the real estate agents would cold call asking if she was interested in moving, she would calmly say....Move out..we just moved in!!! They would get flustered and just hang up.
When Richard and I decided to go to Australia, Mum decided it was time to move from the apartment on Finch. She wanted to be closer to us in Scarborough, and she found a wonderful unit in a retirement home. Slowly her medical needs increased and the home could not handle her. We transferred her to a seniors home for a short while before transferring her to Bendale Acres.

Throughout her later years, Mum had food reactions to citrus, gravy, tomato products, chocolate and fish.
She had very thin skin and i was always getting calls from Bendale saying she had a tear here or there.

You don't dare get o the wrong side of Mum. She had often called some of the PSW workers the "B" word cause she didn't like the way they handled her or showered her. I had to apologise to the nurses a couple of time for her behaviour, but they took it in stride.

The last few months were "interesting". Reality and her dreams melded into one. She asked me about my wife, Melody, my daughter who i never told her the name, how Mitzi was doing, why was I there when I should have been in England or Italy. She asked if the nieces and nephews were outside the door. Best one i think was Mum talking to Richard saying she was having such a hard time with me being jail. All you can do is laugh.
Monday morning i got a call from the nurse's station saying Mum was calling for me and I should come. I called Richard on the way to the home. Mum's breathing was heavy and laboured. Her pulse was running between 125-131. Her eyes were glassy and i don' think she responded to my voice.
Both Richard and I said our goodbyes on Monday evening.

Got a call Tuesday morning saying i should get there ASAP. Sadly, about 5 minutes later I received another call saying she had passed. It was mid morning.

She is now with her one and only love.

May you rest in peace, Mum




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