Stephen, William Davidson and Dorothy Ainslie

Dorothy Ainslie Evans 1922 - 2017 & William Davidson Stephen 1907 - 1974
Dorothy Ainslie Evans (known by all as Ainslie) was born in Montreal, Quebec on August 6, 1922, the daughter of Trevor Ainslie Evans and Dorothy Gwendolyn Esther Rhodes, both summer residents of Tadoussac.
Ainslie embraced Tadoussac’s summer community and all the usual activities including tennis, golf, beach walks, and picnics, as well as the occasional brief dip in the bay. She served for many years on the Executive of The Tadoussac Protestant Chapel.
In addition to spending every summer in Tadoussac, she was a lifetime resident of Montreal, having received her schooling at Miss Edgar’s and Miss Cramp’s School as a child.
William Davidson Stephen (Bill) was born in Montreal, Quebec, on October 24, 1907, the son of William Davidson Stephen and Eleanor Longmuir White. Tragically, Bill’s father died of pneumonia prior to the birth of his young son and namesake.
As a child, Bill would accompany his mother and older brother, and sometimes his maternal grandmother, to Tadoussac, where they would stay as guests of Alfred Piddington in his newly built summer cottage. Theirs are the first three names in the guest book of Mr. Piddington’s house in 1914, and the guest book survives to this day.
As a child, Bill attended The High School of Montreal, whereafter he joined what would become The Canadian International Paper Company (CIP). There he remained for his entire career, retiring from the Treasury Department on his 65th birthday. As a young man in Montreal, Bill participated in many sports, including lacrosse, water polo, sailing, tennis, and particularly golf, which he continued to enjoy all his life.
In his management role at CIP, he worked with a young lady named Ainslie Evans. When Ainslie was preparing to leave for her summer vacation, Bill inquired where she would be going, to which she replied “a small place that you would have never of heard of”. One can only imagine the discussion that followed that statement. Not only had Bill visited Tadoussac many years earlier, he’d actually stayed in the same house that Ainslie’s parents had bought from Alfred Piddington’s Estate!
One likes to think that this surprising Tadoussac connection led to what followed. Bill married Ainslie in Westmount on April 15, 1944, and thereafter spent his summer vacations at Tadoussac with his family, returning to the same house that he had visited as a child. Their three children (Margeret, William and Peter) and two grandchildren (Alexander and Mary), have always been, and remain, Tadoussac enthusiasts.
In Montreal, Ainslie volunteered for many years with Red Feather (Centraide) campaigns, as well as in the Hospitality Shop of The Montreal General Hospital. She was an enthusiastic gardener, golfer, badminton player, and skier (both downhill and cross-country), and participated in all sports well past the age when most have retired. She also played a strong game of bridge and enjoyed its challenges with her friends and family in both Tadoussac and Montreal.
Bill was a lifetime resident of Montreal. He died there in 1974 on his 67th birthday, two years to the day after his retirement. He is remembered by his children as a somewhat quiet man with a splendid sense of humour; a dedicated, supportive, and loving father.
Ainslie loved to reminisce about her early years spent in Tadoussac with her parents, siblings; Phoebe, Trevor (Bucky) and Rhodes Bethune (Tim) as well as her friends and cousins. She loved to look back on how much things had changed since the days of steamboat travel and dances at the Hotel Tadoussac when there was no electricity and all meals were cooked on a wood stove. She remembered well when local travel was by horse and buggy over unpaved roads. She was also a fount of knowledge on her family’s history.
She is remembered by her children as a dedicated, loving spouse, mother and grandmother. A lifetime Tadoussac summer resident, Ainslie celebrated her 95th birthday there with family shortly before her death on November 7, 2017.
She lies next to her beloved Bill in the Mount Royal Cemetery in Montreal.

Photos below
Phoebe, Trevor, Ainslie and Tim
Phoebe, Susie Russell, Ainslie and Betty Morewood (Evans)