9. Rita Marie Donnelly Rita was the ninth child of Frankie and Ambrose. She was born June 25 1927. the writer and his brother Bud Clutchey remember Rita and her brother Bernard very well since the four kids played together in the old barn on Donnelly Hill where the Donnelly's lived at the time. They remember it this way
" We were spending our holidays at the farm of Uncle Frank Clutchey and Aunt Polly out on Concession 5. There was not much to do on the farm since we were only 12 and 10 years old at the time, so we trekked across the farmlands ( goodness knows how we knew where to go) to the Donnellys. There Rita and Bernard would be waiting for us and we played the day away in the fields, in the barn and in the house. Frankie would give us a hearty lunch and then around 5:00 pm. we headed back across the fields to Uncle Frank's farm. We both remember Rita as being a very pretty, charming and vivacious girl whose energy more than matched our own. Bernard, a little younger, did his best to keep up and he was always fun to be with. The two Donnelly kids and their mother made our holidays in Brechin a never-to-be-forgotten experience. We have always regretted that with the passage of time and changing lives we were never able to keep up our youthful friendhip". ( Bud and Dave Clutchey )
At the age of 21, Rita married Augustus 'Doug' Sherwood on June 16 1948 at St. Andrews church in Brechin. While their marriage produced nine children, it was not without tragedy. A major contributor to the difficulties of the family was the chronic ill health of Rita herself who suffered from a debilitating heart condition. It was only through the good graces and tender loving care of Rita's aunt, Opal Clutchey that the family was able to cope with their mother's continued illness.
The children of Rita and Doug, are as follows:
Charles Francis Charles was born May 11 1949. On Oct 30 1976, he married Sharon Black (b.Jun 3 1956). They have since separated. They had two chidren, Terah Opal Nichole (b.Jan 23 1978) who has a daughter Hannah (b. 1999) and Danielle Marie (b.Oct 12 1980).
Kathleen Mary Louise The second daughter of Rita and Doug, Kathleen was born Feb 19 1951. She married William Stewart on Sep 14 1969 at the age of eighteen. Their two children are Earl (b. Sep 14 1969 and Ken.
Kathleen's second marriage to Wayne Lynn ended tragically when Wayne was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1984. They had had four children, Earl John William (b. Mar 13 1969), Kenneth (b. May 31 1973) married Jenny, (last name unknown) and had a boy (name unknown), Michael Charles (b. Nov 11 1980) and Terry Nathon (b. Aug 6 1982).
Paul b 1952. Paul lived only a few months.
Frances Anne Marie(b.July 27 1953). Frances' first marriage to Werner "Ven" Dimytruk (b. Mar 16 1950) also ended with a tragic motorcycle accident on July 19 1980. Four children were the product of this first marriage, Michelle Anne (b. Jul 2 1974) married Mark Hughes on Aug 28 1999. Michelle and Mark have two chidren, Mercedes Cynthia Elizabeth (b. Sep 29 1992) and Makiya Anne (b. Apr 15 1998). Jeremey Warner, (b.Sep 29 1975), Mathew Joseph (b.Feb 11 1978 and Nathalie Elizabeth (b. Jan 9 1980.
Frances Anne's second marriage to Christopher Munro on Apr 16 1982 resulted in the birth of three children, Aaron Gordon Donald (b. Jun 29 1982), Alana Lisa Mary (b. Dec 1 1986, and Daniel Hayes, (b. July 21 1988).
John Born in 1954, John lived only a few months.
Leonard Thomas Leonard was born Oct 22 1956 and is unmarried.
Mary Theresa (b. Nov 15 1957) she married her cousin Leonard Donnelly. The children of this marriage have already been identified above. They were Wayne Charles, Amanda Jean, Jenny Lee and Randi Theresa Ann.
.Joseph Alexander (b. Aug 31 1958) Joe has remained unmarried.
Robert John (b. may 26 1963)
10. Bernard. Bernard (b. Aug 11 1928) was the 10th child of Frankie and Ambrose Donnelly. He has not ever married. He moved to British Columbia in the late 1950's or early 60's and has remained there since that time.
11. Leonard Allan ( b. Aug 30 1930) This child died on Apr 5 1931 in Brechin of pneumonia. His mother said he was too beautiful to live, he looked like an angel.
12. Ernest Edward Aloysius (b. Dec. 13 1931 d. Dec 8 1994) Ernest was born in Brechin and died in Orillia. Unmarried, he lost his right leg in a tragic accident when he was approximately 16 years old. He was helping to push a car out of a snowbank on Donnelly's Hill when he was struck by another car. He did not get to the hospital until the next day. He never did like the number 13. It is thought that there was a still born child prior to the birth of Ernie. This would have made him the 13 child.
13. Carmel Leona (b. Sep 1 1933). Born in Brechin, Carmel married Andrew McIsaac on Feb 16 1953 in St. Andrews church, Brechin. Carmel and Andrew's first childen were a set of twins who died at birth. A third baby girl was also lost. Fortunately the couple were blessed with eight additional children whose statistics are noted below.
Mary Frances Born Jan 24 1955, Mary married Allan Thomas Cooke on May 5 1984. Their two children are, Bradford Allan (b. Mar 27 1985) and Evan Thomas (b. July 4 1986).
Patrick Joseph (b. Mar 6 1956) Pat married Kris Packer Aug 3 1985. The couple has since divorced. They have one child Laura Lee Anne (b. May 10 1986)
John GeraldOn Aug 11 1984 John married Karen Carusso. Their three children are: Amanda Katherine (b. Sep 25 1987), Emma Lee (b. Jan 10 1990), and Samantha Dawn (b. Jan 1993).
Sharon Katherine Born Oct 20 1959, Sharon married Artur Bialas Nov 2 1985. They have two childen, Katherine (b. Aug 3 1989) and Thomas Andrew (b. Jul 16 1991).
James Anthony(b.Nov 29 1960). On Aug 27 1996 James married Mary Devine. Their three children are: Rebecca (b.Oct 23 1990), Rachael (b. May 22 1996) and Sara (b. Nov 24 1997.
Daniel Andew (b. Nov 29 1962). Daniel married Victoria Hishon July 23 1994. They have daughter Nicole Victoria, (b.May 20 1994) and a son Andrew John (b. Oct 12 1995)
Stephen Charles (b. Dec 9 1962). Stephen married Lea Anne Muir in 1996. They have a daughter Jessica born Oct 22 1998.
Gary Alexander Gary was born May 10 1968. On Oct 23 1993 he married Lynn Gainer. Their two children are Jenna Marie (b.Apr 4 1994) and Mathew (b. Aug 5 1996)
14. Mary Born Feb 15 1935 in Brechin, Mary died the same day.
15. Joan Fidelas Joan was born Apr 29 1936, although her baptismal certificate says her birth was Apr 24. On Sept 18 1954 she married Joseph John McElroy (b. Nov 2 1924-d. Mar 10 1998). The two children born from this union were :
Phyllis Mary Patricia, born May 27 1956. She married Jim MacDonald Sep 14 1974 and the couple have two children Michael James (b. Jan 10 1975) and Shawn Mathew Joseph (b. Jan 17 1978).
Mary Frances (b. Apr 10 1958). Mary married Daniel Watson Jun 22 1985. their daughter Katelynn Joan was born Jun 16 1989.
On Sunday Aug 20 on the occasion of the 75th Anniversary Celebration of St. Andrews Church in Brechin, the writer Dave Clutchey and his wife Beth were welcomed into the home of Anne and Chris Munro later to be joined by Mary Watson and her mother Joan Fidelis ( Donnelly) McElroy. This was the first opportunity the author had to meet some of the children of Rita ( Donnelly ) Sherwood and the grandchildren and great grandchildren of Frankie (Clutchey) Donnelly. Our warm welcome was only surpassed by the continued friendship during the course of our visit and the exciting sharing of information about our relationships. We are also grateful to Mary Francis Watson who subsequently provided us with huge amounts of information that allowed us to update on this website, the pages that were so lacking in information in our book "Families In Transition". Mary Frances we owe you many thanks.
16. Maurice Frederick Maurice was born Jun 15 1938 in Brechin Ont. He married and later separated from Shirley Reid. Maurice and Shirley had four children, all girls. What limited limited information we have on the family histories of the girls is listed below.
Karen Born c. 1957, Karen married and later separated from Floyd Mathers. They had three children, Paul, Kristina (b.Apr 1989), and a girl ( name unknown) born Mar 1992.
Sue Ann Sue was born around 1958. She married Gord Smith and they have one son, Joshua Gordon (b. Feb 24 1993).
Sherry. We have little information on Sherry . She was married and separated and has two daughters.
Janice Janice apparently has seven children, but no details are known of this family.