CREIGHTON, Denton Douglas

After several years of declining health, which he accepted with remarkable and inspiring stoicism, Doug died peacefully on June 11, 2020 in Chester, NS. Predeceased in 2015 by Willa Ogilvie, his love and partner of more than sixty years, Doug’s passing is grieved by his seven children: Denny (Kris Vikmanis), Julia (Michael Frevola), David (Mary Bruns), Caro (Tim Wilde), Andrew (Alison Talbot-kelly), Kirstie (François Tardif) and Zoë (Jon Simington). He is also sadly missed by twelve grandchildren: William (Sudi), Esme (Sean), Willa, Sören, Maggie, Henry, Silas, Ruby, Océanne, Chloë, Olivier and Suki, and by his great-granddaughter, Nava. Born in Montreal on August 23, 1929 to Denton Burgess Creighton and Margaret Gilmour, Doug was predeceased by his only sibling Jim in 2008.

Educated in English at Roslyn School, Bishop’s College School and Mcgill University, and in French at Collège Stanislas, encouraged by his step-grandfather Léon Garneau, Doug was a fiercely proud Montrealer and Townshipper. Always gregarious, Doug kept close to friends from BCS his entire life. He knew everyone at Mcgill from Paul Almond to Zbig Brzezinski, sang with Galt Macdermot, caroused with the Alpha Delt crew, skied with the Red Birds, winning a treasured Kandahar Gold pin, undertook an epic transcontinental drive with Jeff Skelton and Rodney Holden and somehow managed to earn a B.com, class of ’51.

He filled his summers with golf and tennis at the Hermitage Club, and from the family chalet in Ste. Marguerite, he skied at Tremblant and St. Saveur. He worked in New York with the Morgan Bank and bought a carriage house on Mountain Avenue soon after returning. This purchase was identified from a comprehensive list of Montreal carriage houses he compiled in the early ’50s, recognizing the disappearance of this type of structure. He joined the Montreal Racket Club, the Mt. Bruno Country Club and the St. James Club. But, soon after graduation, he started spending summers in Chester wooing Willa under clan Ogilvie’s suspicious eye. There, Doug learned how to man a pump, trim a sail and eventually helm a boat. They married on October 7, 1954.

Doug always had an entrepreneurial flair. He entered the investment business, like his father, but soon established an eponymous firm that underwrote municipal bonds and was an innovative practitioner of block trading. He worked with Bill Zeckendorf and Donald Gordon on the development of the CN lands, which became Place Ville Marie. When he left the investment business, he stayed ahead of the curve, founding companies in fleet vehicle-leasing and bottled mineral water. He supported the OSM and MMFA.

With five children to stimulate on the weekends, and having outgrown Ste. Marguerite and the Hermitage, Doug purchased Owl’s Head Farm in Georgeville in 1963. From there, skiing was a generally safe 20-minute snowmobile ride across frozen Lake Memphremagog. Doug bred polled Herefords and boiled maple syrup, while Willa tended an enormous vegetable garden. With the arrival of Kirstie and Zoë straddling Expo 67, nine Creightons celebrated the bounty of the terroir. Most of the children received some of their education at French schools, while all absorbed Doug’s passion for risk, competitive sports and eco-self-reliance.

Empty-nesters and young grandparents in the early ’90s, Doug and Willa traded Montreal’s restaurants and culture for full-time residence in the Little House on Water Lane in Chester. Winter gales, power failures and roads impassable from ice shaped a solitude that Doug and Willa welcomed. This recharged their batteries for the annual onslaught of children, grandchildren and friends from afar. Sailing, golf and island picnics on Ironbound Loon filled these days, with twelve months of social engagements crammed into eight fleeting summer weeks.

In Chester, Doug rekindled his love of vocal music, which stretched from opera to the Rat Pack, by joining the St. Stephen’s Parish choir. He worked on the renewal of the Chester Playhouse and sat on its board for many years. Through the off-season, he met a group of male friends for Tuesday lunch, beginning at the Rope Loft and then a circuit of other local venues where the discussion of politics, biography, religion and philosophy generally trumped idle gossip .

After decades of competitive play, Doug was named an Honorary Member of the Montreal Racket Club. At the Chester Golf Club, they called him "Ace" Creighton. Winter sports remained important as he and Willa skied with grandchildren at Martok in NS, but returned to the Townships each March for a week of bigger hills like Orford and Owl’s Head. He took his face-first slide down St. Moritz’s Cresta in his mid-60s. He skippered the Ogilvie schooner, "Airlie," to multiple George Baker Trophy wins for the Chester Yacht Club’s race around Tancook. More recently, he supported the restoration of Seneca to Herreshovian splendour. When he finally hung up his topsiders, he would happily sit on the verandah overlooking the CYC starting line to watch Seneca race the other Classics.

Under the exceptional care of Melinda Walker, Doug remained at Water Lane for as long as he could. He reluctantly left his house eighteen months ago, moving to a nearby Heart-to-heart residence compassionately managed by Lynn Key. The family would like to thank Drs. Mallery and Dobek and caregivers Carla, Theresa and Trena, who, with gentleness and humour, made his final months as comfortable as possible. A service for family in Nova Scotia will be held at St. Stephen’s, while a general memorial celebration will be scheduled for a later date. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Chester Playhouse https://chesterplayhouse.ca/donate/.

Always one for an aphorism, Doug abided by Juvenal’s "mens sana in corpore sano," but delighted in the Satire’s naughtier bits.