Mary Irene “Rene” Watson (Fulton)

Rene was the fourth child of Lewis Macleod Fulton, Manager at the Sydney Steel Plant and Elizabeth Margaret “Mollie” MacEachern. Rene was born in May of 1923 in Sydney, Nova Scotia and educated in Sydney.

Rene met Tom Watson (WW2) while he was serving in Sydney but stopped dating him when she discovered that he drank alcohol from time to time.

Rene joined the RCAF in 1943 and was stationed “overseas” in Newfoundland as it was not part of Canada at that time.

After the war Rene moved to Toronto to work at an insurance company. Upon Tom’s return from overseas in 1946, his mother arranged for her to visit with Tom in Acton. The couple were married at the Presbyterian Manse on Willow St. on July 21, 1947. Their first son Bob was born in 1947, followed by Dave, Anne, Jane, Mary and John.

Tom and Rene lived at 44 Church St E. from 1949 to 1970, living later above Watson’s Restaurant at 11 Mill St. E for a few months, then renting 197 Burbank Dr for a few years and finally settling at 153 Tidey Ave. After Tom’s death in 1995, Rene moved to the “new” Legion apartments and then finally Dr. Moore Court where she passed away in 2011 at the age of 87.

She is buried at Fairview Cemetery in Acton.

Truly a Canadian Hero. Her story lives on.

*Story submitted to Homes of Heroes Halton Hills by John Watson