Doryss Blanchard (née Long) passed away in the early morning of May 7, 2008.

I will never forget Christmas holidays at my grandmother’s home as a child. For me and my sisters — three girls — her home was like a candy store, but better. Never mind the elaborate dinners and decorations and there was little need for Barbie dolls.

My grandmother Doryss (known to her three granddaughters as Deedee) owned and operated a hairdressing and beauty salon that was attached to her house at 3 Willis Street in Bracebridge. It was always fully loaded with every kind of makeup, polish, wig, frilly frock and any other beauty supply you could think of — not to mention a hot pink tanning bed that came a little later on.

Our grandmother’s shop was the most glamorous, fantasy play area three little girls could ask for, and the salon and its name — Doryss’ House of Flair — spoke volumes about the woman who owned it.

Doryss Blanchard loved her small-town life, but also loved big-city glamour. She would never be caught without her hair coloured and styled, her makeup on, her nails polished and her clothes and jewelry perfectly co-ordinated, even in her final days in the hospital. But it was about more than looking the part. Doryss had earned it.

She was well ahead of her time in terms of fighting for her financial and thus personal independence in life. After raising two daughters, she sent herself — her younger daughter in tow — to hairdressing school long distance, long before the sexual revolution took hold. From there this Gravenhurst girl, born to Eva May Long (formerly Tryon and before that Courtemanche) and Cyrus Long, moved to Bracebridge where she began to build her business, a business that would help her thrive professionally, earning the respect of her peers in large centres like Toronto and helping to build friendships that would last forever.

Doryss is always described by her friends as fun, courageous and feisty, a woman who loved to travel, shop and who remained unapologetic about enjoying her life, regardless of age. For so many who loved her, she could always be counted on for a great gab and strong-willed advice, whether or not you asked for it!

Her work ethic and drive to take care of her family, her friends and her clients, many of whom she kept right up until her death, were just some of the things to be admired. She was also driven to take care of her health. She was active and health conscious long before it was popular to do so and remained so almost until the end. I remember just last summer, taking her around the Bracebridge craft fair. I was amazed at how well she got herself around and by how many people still knew her well enough to approach her, taking a genuine interest in her well-being.

My grandmother lived life by her own rules and she was admired and respected for that. A highly practical woman, she left instructions for no funeral; she did not want people crying at her graveside, instead preferring to be remembered as someone with a spirit that would remain very much alive. However, with few other instructions, we, the family, who will miss that fiery yet devoted force of nature, have decided to reunite the ashes of my grandmother with her own beloved mother, who died when Doryss was only nine, and whose Barkway gravesite is now surrounded by lilacs, an esthetic my grandmother would surely have approved of.

Doryss is survived by her beautiful and caring daughters Gayle Marrin and Judith Pasternak, by her sister Eileen and her wonderful family as well as by her three grandchildren Debra, Cortney and Reagan Pasternak. She is predeceased by her brothers Lloyd and Harold.