by Maureen Green with comments by Kate Karlson

Ann Patricia (Rothery) Skene-Melvin, M.Bt., ASH (Beryl Garcia), spent most of her last five years bravely battling cancer and supporting cancer research. She departed peacefully on April 9, 2003.

Ann was born to Yorkshire parents in Trinidad where her father worked for a British oil company. One of her earliest memories was seeing the Graf Spee on its way to the Battle of the River Plate. Her father was later posted to Colombia where the family spent two years in a jungle outpost on the Magdalena River. Here, Ann developed her enduring love of tropical flora and found playmates in monkeys, macaws and parrots of all kinds.

Ann's mother eventually set up home near Alliston, Ontario where Ann was valedictorian of the first graduating class from Bunting Memorial High School. While attending the University of Toronto, Ann made lifelong friends with a group of young women who named themselves “Les Girls.” Ann was at the founding political convention of the National Democratic Party of Canada. She was an anti-nuclear activist and strong Canadian nationalist. At the University of Western Ontario School of Library and Information Services, Ann was part of the first library workers’ strike in Canada.

Ann and her librarian husband David Skene-Melvin were founding members of the Bootmakers of Toronto. Together they were the primary organizers behind the Bootmaker workshop weekend in 1986 and again in 1996 for the workshop held at the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto. Ann was a Charter Woman of this club, Chair of the Membership Committee, and sat on the Executive and Finance Committee, active to the end.

As proprietor of Ann's Books and Mostly Mysteries, she sponsored an annual award given for the best article published in Canadian Holmes. From 1986 to 2001 Ann was librarian of the Royal Canadian Military Institute, where she obtained about 30 interviews with veterans and assisted Jean Portugal with research for her monumental seven volumes of the stories of Canadians on D-Day.

As ASH Beryl Garcia, Ann encouraged the fair sex to demonstrate their knowledge and fully participate in things Sherlockian. She was always available to assist with research, supporting and promoting fellow Bootmakers. Ann will be remembered for her joie de vivre and her major contribution to the existence of The Bootmakers of Toronto.

Kate Karlson adds, “Ann’s quiet, confident conversation, whether the topic was Sherlock or Shakespeare, was one of the hidden treasures of her company. Add to this a subtle wit and a sincere warmth, and it was evident one was in the presence of a true Adventuress, a woman of many facets and talents.”

Ann introduced a fellow librarian, Mary Campbell, to the Sherlockian world through the Bootmakers of Toronto. Also a member of  ASH, Mary died a month before Ann. Kate Karlson remembers both of our Canadian sisters: "We salute Mary and Ann and rejoice in the gifts of friendship they gave us. To paraphrase Alexander Pope, when a friend dies, we lose a part of ourselves, the best part. We Adventuresses have indeed lost a pair of fine and noble ladies, members who honored us when they took ASH after their names.”