MARGUERITE (“RITA”) ANNE OATES
January 15th 1932 – August 14th 2019
(A tribute by daughter, Lesley Ann Jack)
Marguerite (Rita) Anne Oates was born in Bilaspur (Ba-las-pour), Chittisghar, India, to Evelyn Conner Oates and his wife Olga Maud Halford Oates on January 15th 1932.
The family moved to Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, where Rita went through two stages:
1. “The Little General” a title given to her affectionately by her husband Gerald, and
2. the “Shirley Temple” state, because of her mass of unruly curly hair.
Rita attended Christ Church Anglo-Indian High School, in Jabalpur, where she won Mathematics awards all through her schooling.
On July 15, 1950, Rita and Gerry Watts married in Jabalpur. After a short honeymoon Gerry, a marine engineer, returned to his ship in Calcutta. Their first child, daughter Lesley Ann was born in Jabalpur on August 31, 1951, to be followed by Gavin Townshend on May 7, 1952.
In 1954 Rita and Gerry moved to Madras where Gerry became Dredger Master in the Madras Port Trust. Graham Townshend was born on August 3, 1956, to be followed lastly by Marguerite Annette on March 11, 1962.
Rita loved animals and adopted stray dogs regularly. She also loved to travel and she loved parties. The house “Fandon” on St Patrick's Church Road, Madras became the hub of the Madras Anglo-Indian Sports Club, with Rita as the President and Gerry as the Cricket Team Captain.
After a lengthy immigration process, the family left India on July 7, 1967. All seven members of the Watts family, including Rita's mother Olga, travelled on the SS Roti to Canada, first arriving in Long Beach, California. After a week of sightseeing and visiting old friends from India in Los Angeles, Rita decided the family would travel by bus for two days to take in the natural beauty of North America.
On August 22, 1967, after a very uncomfortable journey, the Watts family arrived in Canada. Rita's Uncle Eardly and Aunt Anne Oates, along with their children, Sylvia, Jenny and Chris, greeted them and delivered them to their first residence on 17 th Avenue, in Vancouver. Uncle Eardley and Aunt Anne were not just relatives but also great friends; there were many dinner parties and shopping trips. Rita loved the way Aunt Anne shopped and she quickly learned how to return things to a store!
During August 1968, Rita and Gerry bought and moved into their first and only home, 815 West 15th Avenue. Rita and Gerry loved their home, and it became the hub for family and friends for over 45 years. The garden of the house was Rita's pride and joy, and she added many varieties of plants over the years with the use of her handy sharp thumb-nails.
1970, brought a new phase in Rita's life: she joined Woodwards Department Stores, enjoying many years of $1.49 days and 15% discounts. She also joined the Woodwards Christmas Choir, and created yet another circle of friends.
In August 1977, the family began to grow, Lesley married Ian Jack, and two years later Rita's first grandchild Colin arrived, followed by Gillian and Catherine.
Gavin married Jessica Betts in August 1989, and this not only gave Rita two more grandchildren, Gareth and Miranda, but also a long and dear friendship between the Watts and Betts families.
Rita and Gerry's son Graham married Elizabeth Lindstrom in 1991 and two more grandchildren; Megan and Giles arrived. Finally in 1994 Marguerite (Cookie) married Jerry Sentes and another two grandchildren, Cassandra and Joshua, were added to “the Clan”.
All the grandchildren were blessed to have Rita as “Nana” as she spent as much time as she could enjoying all of them and participating in as many of their activities as possible. Her love of books came in handy as she would read tirelessly to the children and spend hours telling them stories from the vast collection of books she bought from Salvation Army Thrift stores. Colin credits his Nana's reading as the reason for the choice of his profession.
As the retirement years arrived Rita, accepted her title of “senior citizen”reluctantly at first, but then she realised the perks and discounts of her status and appreciated the free time it gave her. A whole new era began to dawn as she discovered travel and all the places she wanted to visit. There was a multitude of trips to Reno, Las Vegas, England, Australia, Malta, Spain, India, across Canada and the United States. All these experiences added more colour to her already colourful character.
But as with everything, the travel years came to an end when she fell asleep at the wheel of their car and drove off the highway into a tree. Gerry suffered a cracked sternum, and Rita had bruised ribs and a torn shoulder muscle. They were both very lucky.
Rita and Gerry's travelling stopped with their final trip together with John and Sue to Spain and Morocco after 9/11. Security now at its peak at airports and Rita was very annoyed when she ran into a problem with taking her knitting needles and small sewing scissors on the plane! “Who am I going to hurt with those?” She said. “Ridiculous!”
The spark of travel then went out for Gerry and, apart from short trips to Vancouver Island and the interior of British Columbia, they settled in at home as senior citizens, often spending most mornings in their pyjamas doing crossword puzzles.
2007 was a momentous year, Rita's first great-grandson Gabriel arrived and grandson Colin Jack married Michelle Cote. However, the year closed on a sad note; Gavin received a diagnosis of colorectal cancer and life was never the same again.
2008 brought only grief: March 2008 Gerry was diagnosed and passed away two weeks later of abdominal cancer, Rita did not recover from the pit it left in her life. Later the same year Gavin passed away on October 2008 while she was on a pilgrimage in Italy to pray for his health to return. During this trip, she had her first fall, and the next year she was diagnosed with Lewy-Body Parkinsons.
2010 brought another great grandchild Eli - and Rita began to settle into the role of Grand-nana. It also brought a diagnosis of heart disease after a fall in the bathroom, where she blacked out.
By 2012 it was evident she could no longer manage her beloved home at 815 West 15 th Avenue. After finally selling her house, she had one more trip in her, and so Lesley and Rita along with Sylvia and Denise went on a trip to India. Throughout the journey, she was very helpful to the guides, giving them pieces of information about the various sites they were touring. She was, after all, the smart kid who always had her hand up in class!
After living with Lesley for four years, she decided to move in with her youngest daughter “Cookie” to PEI, in June of 2017, much to the chagrin of all who knew her.
In August of 2018 the last addition to the Watts clan, another great-grandson, Garrison, was born to Giles and Emily.
On August 14, 2019, at 7:10 pm Pacific Standard time, (11:10 pm Atlantic Time), Rita went to sleep and did not wake up.
Her family and friends miss her deeply, but she is—and will ever be—remembered for her spunk, her smart-aleck remarks, her fierce glares, her sharp thumbnails, her demands of “scratch my back”, her bright mathematical mind, her sense of direction, her ability to remember composers of a multitude of classical pieces, her ready excuse for a party, or a trip, her wicked sense of humour, and her loud laugh.
Good-bye Rita, say “hello, to Gerry and Gavin”.
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