Ms. Linda Jewett

Obituary

Linda Jane Jewett (Nee Booth),

August 6, 1947 to December 29, 2023

Linda is and was a spirited, independent-minded, complex woman who was exceptional in many ways throughout her life. She is and was able to respectfully engage and draw together people from many walks of life in meaningful relationships. This included her social justice and union-based family; her extended in-law and birth families; her U of T law school family; her neighbourhood family; her medical, hospital and care-worker family; her long-time friends with John; her standing brunch group; her movement and fitness friends Angela, Darcie and Jacob; and her own family of accomplished, loving daughters─Erica and Julia─and her devoted, creative husband and caregiver John.

Amazingly, despite numerous significant challenges throughout her life, Linda maintained a habit of stepping forward into ongoing adventures, a love of celebration, a passion for hats and excellence in cooking, a deep appreciation of nature, her own unique bargaining style, and an ability to offer pragmatic problem-based advice. She also decidedly enjoyed culinary adventures, opera, songs of protest, fine mysteries, doing yoga, reading obituaries, and traveling far afield on her own, as a couple, and with her family─from Georgian Bay to the west coast to Greece to Scandinavia to France to Argentina to Australia. Orchids are and were both a joy and a challenge to her. She greatly enjoyed the company of birds, squirrels, wildlife and the family cat named Ikea. Other favourites include ice cream and the colour red.

Linda is and was the first born. She was born on August 6, 1947 to an aspiring civil engineer, Robert Booth, and his Queens University-graduate spouse, Frances Booth (Nee McKenzie), and moved with them from Toronto’s West End to Etobicoke, where she lived with her four younger siblings, Marjorie, Alan, Gordon and Mary. In her mid-twenties, after attending Queens, she migrated across the Humber, closer to downtown Toronto. She then attended the University of Toronto, where she taught and practiced Library Sciences, even working at the Toronto Reference Library. Linda later went to law school and was admitted to the Bar before becoming one of the first legally trained service representatives at CUPE. Amongst her accomplishments were campaigns for saving the Toronto Western Family Health Practice, promoting public access to legal information across Canada, being the CUPE National servicing representative for Local 79 and Provincial Education Sector Coordinator for CUPE, and taking part in the Concord Ave. neighbourhood as participant and observer. She knew the relational and geographic sinews of Toronto, Ontario and Canada well, and had a special affinity for Quebec after doing an exchange in Montreal in her teens. She has been a long-time supporter of social justice causes, and gave to the United Way, Covenant House and Medecins sans Frontiers. Linda will be missed by many.

A brief ceremony to say goodbye to Linda will be held January 13, 2024, at 10:30 am at the St. James Cemetery and Crematorium chapel, 635 Parliament St. In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to one of the above organizations. 

Visitation

Service

Cremation