Olive Dorothy Paff

1917 - 2017  (100 years)

• Name	Olive Dorothy Paff
  Born	1917	, Perth Co., Ontario, Canada
  Gender	Female
  FindAGrave	https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/75903317
  Interesting	military
  Military	WW2
  Name	Olive Dorothy Morris
  Died	3 Sep 2017	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
  Buried	Grace United (Zion Evangelical) Cemetery , Tavistock, East Zorra Township, Oxford Co., Ontario
  Person ID	I493392	Generations
  Last Modified	10 Jul 2025

  
  

  Family	Frank Robert Morris,   b. 1919, Winnipeg, , Manitoba, Canada ,   d. 24 Jan 2012, Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age 93 years)
  Last Modified	10 Jul 2025
  Family ID	F301907	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  COMPAGNO-MORRIS, Olive Passed away peacefully at her residence in her 100th year, on September 3, 2017. Born Olive Dorothy Paff, Olive was born on a farm near the Little Lakes on the edge of Stratford, ON. She was the only child of George Paff and Lydia Leinweber. At the age of eight months she lost her father during the 1919 Spanish Influenza. She and her mother moved to Tavistock and for the next four years her mother was the Tavistock Telephone Operator. In 1923 her mother remarried to Wilfred L. Brown and they settled on his farm on Hwy. 59, between Tavistock and Hickson. Olive soon had three brothers, Howard, Clare and Harry. They all attended S.S. #15 East Zorra School. After Tavistock Continuation School, Olive attended Westervelt Business College, London id upon graduating worked as a secretary/ bookkeeper for the Tavistock and Milling Company and then a couple of years later worked in London for the Supertest Petroleum Corporation. These were the years of WWII so three evenings a week Olive volunteered with the Red Cross taking courses in first aid, home nursing, rolling bandages and took her turn driving a 2-ton truck. In 1942, she and a friend answered the call of the British Government for help at their offices in Washington, D.C. She was assigned to the British Supply Commission. She married Richard "Dick" Edwards, a civilian employee with the U.S. Army Engineers working on the construction of the Pentagon. She and Dick wanted a warmer climate and moved to San Francisco where she worked with the British Ministry of War Transport until the end of the war when she moved to U.C. Berkeley, to close the office of the British physicists who were working with the Americans on atomic energy. Then followed five years with the British Consulate General. This included welcoming the British training ships that came into port and working with the staff that travelled across Canada and the U.S. to show America the beautiful hooked rug made by Queen Mary during the war years. Dick died in 1953 and two years later Olive married a widowed family friend, George N. Compagno. For some years she enjoyed doing temporary work for various offices. In 1958 she and her husband moved across the Golden Gate Bridge to beautiful Marin County and Olive went into full time legal work. After George Compagno's death, Olive left the law firm of Nelson, Boyd, Menary and McDonald and returned to Tavistock in 1970 to live and care for her widowed mother. She also took on the job of church secretary for Grace United. In 1975 she helped setup the 100 km. Avon Hiking Trail that runs from St. Mary's to Conestogo. She has fond memories of a European tour that included Israel, Jordan and Egypt. Olive's mother died in 1977 and two years later Olive moved to Kitchener and became active as a participant in the many programs and also active as a volunteer with the Breithaupt and Rockway Seniors' Centres, serving as secretary for the Rockway Advisory Council, director of 55 Plus. It was in 1983, as a walking tour guide for the senior's walking group, now known as the Happy Hoofer! that she met Frank Morris, a retired machinist from Cambridge. A year later they married and lived first in Kitchener and then moved to Luther Village Retirement Centre. Frank died in 2012. Shortly after, Olive moved to Winston Park Retirement Village in Kitchener living near her brother, Harry and sister-in-law, Nina. Olive has many wonderful memories, She has many nieces, nephews, grand nieces, grand nephews and a goddaughter, Pam, in California. She is predeceased by her brother, Howard and sister-in-law Norma; niece, Gayleen Crawford and nephew, Ricky Brown. Many thanks to the staff of Village of Winston Park, Retirement, for their compassion and care. The funeral service to celebrate the life of Olive will be held in Grace United Church in Tavistock on Saturday, September 16, 2017 at 11 a.m. The Rev. Mary Stewart will officiate. Interment in Grace United Cemetery. Reception following. As expressions of sympathy, donations to Grace United Church or a charity of one's own choice would be appreciated and may be made through the Francis Funeral Home, Box 208, Tavistock, ON NOB 2R0; by calling 519-655-2431 or at the church on Saturday. Waterloo Region Record, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada Sat, Sep 9, 2017 Page 22

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 1917 - , Perth Co., Ontario, Canada Died - 3 Sep 2017 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Buried - - Grace United (Zion Evangelical) Cemetery , Tavistock, East Zorra Township, Oxford Co., Ontario  = Link to Google Earth