Stories about Gwen
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From:
Nick Nowitski (Her Husband)
Gwen's dad, Gene, couldn't stay in one place for long. He moved the family to numerous cities, Moose Factory, Chatham, Stratford, and finally Windsor (luckily for me)
I knew Gwen was the one for me from that first time she sat beside me at B Hay's wedding. For some reason, she grabbed my knee while we were talking and the rest is history. I could not stop thinking about her from then on.
I used to pick her up from Patterson High School nearly every day and drive her home. She fit right in with my friends and they all loved her.
When she first introduced me to her parents her Dad's first words were "Boy he's a big one" because I was so much taller than any of them and they welcomed me as one of their family right off the bat.
After we got married on June 30, 1972, she seemed to accept my love of cars from the start and stood beside me when I started a car club called Street Machine Inc in Windsor. We were both part of Street Machines Inc. of Detroit and the United Street Machine Association out of Dallas, Texas. We attended car shows all over Essex County and helped run shows in Michigan. We eventually put on our own two days shows in Windsor and Leamington, attracting over 500 cars. She helped me run the Canadian Street Machine Association, writing the monthly newsletter and selling merchandise and memberships at car shows all over Ontario.
She loved when we went raced our 1963 Dart and Plymouth at st. Thomas Dragway and Detroit Dragway.
She never complained when what little money we had went to the cars and not the family.
We moved back and forth between Toronto and Windsor multiple times, but the last move to Toronto gave her the opportunity to get a great job at ADT Security systems. There she moved from an accounting clerk to one of two payroll administrators for the entire company.
When I took a full-time job as a Professor of Architecture at Loyalist College and moved the family to Belleville she resented that I took her away from a job she loved, but she made the move because she thought it was better for the family.
When I left the College she was right there beside me when we started our Autodesk Dealership and stepped up to run the office paying the bills, billing clients, and making sure everything ran smoothly.
After that adventure, we started a food delivery service covering Belleville and Trenton and she handled all of the dispatching and accounting.
When we decided to slow down, she needed to find something that would let her skills shine, and so she volunteered at the new 99.3 Fm County radio station as their Monday receptionist. After a few years of driving back and forth to Picton, she decided that the winter roads were just too much for her, and she retired.
From:
Eileen Remy Hoerbelt
How we met
I went with the ladies to the Trenton Street Fair and Gwen and I ended up together. We were shopping and I was just talking…Gwen said, “I really like you.” Don’t remember what I had said that made her feel comfortable with me but from that moment on we became fast friends.
Many wine bottles were shared over the years and lots of joking and talking. So happy I was able to see her the last time I was in Canada. She was the sweetest person, never had a bad word about anyone, always had a smile on her face. I wish I had more time with Gwen!
From:
Paulina McMahon
Gwen was a quiet, gentle soul quite the opposite of me but that's what made our friendship special. I miss her quiet presence. I miss my friend. The world needs more Gwens.