1973 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother – Margaret Santo
Mrs. Margaret Santo of Bender, Saskatchewan, whose eight of nine children served during the Second World War, was the 1973 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother. During the national Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa on November 11, 1973, she laid a wreath at the base of the National War Memorial on behalf of all mothers who have lost a child in military service to Canada.
On May 5, 1943, her son, Warrant officer Class I Frank Robert Santo, was killed while serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force.
On August 1, 1944, twin son, Pilot Officer John Alexander Santo, was killed while serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Mrs. Santo married Alexander Santo in 1916 in Bender, Saskatchewan. They raised nine children on their family farm, daughters Edythe, Jean and Phyllis, twin sons, Robert and John, David, Carlyle whose twin, Calvin, died at six weeks, Edward and Richard.
In an interview with a local newspaper, Mrs. Santo commented on her children’s service, “They felt they had to go, and I wouldn’t try to stop them. One after the other they left for Regina to join the Air Force. Mostly I would be too busy in the day to think about them, until I would open a closet door and the hangers would be swinging empty where their clothes had hung. They were so young, so young to go to war.”
Santo Bay and Santo Island in Pinehouse Lake, Saskatchewan were named in honour of her sons Robert and John.
Margaret passed away in November 1976 at the age of 81.
List of National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mothers
(Information courtesy of the Royal Canadian Legion, Canadian War Museum and families of the National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mothers)
2010 - Present
Year | Name | City/Town |
---|---|---|
2023 | Mrs. Gloria Hooper | St. Claude, Manitoba |
2022 | Mrs. Candy Greff | Lacombe, Alberta |
2021 | Mrs. Josée Simard | Les Mechins, Quebec |
2020 | Mrs. Debra Sullivan | Saint John, New Brunswick |
2019 | Mrs. Reine Samson Dawe | St-Prosper, Québec |
2018 | Mrs. Anita Cenerini | Winnipeg, Manitoba |
2017 | Mrs. Diana Abel | Brampton, Ontario |
2016 | Mrs. Colleen Fitzpatrick | Prince George, British Columbia |
2015 | Mrs. Sheila Anderson | Yellowknife, Northwest Territories |
2014 | Mrs. Gisèle Michaud | Edmundston, New Brunswick |
2013 | Mrs. Niki Psiharis | Laval, Quebec |
2012 | Mrs. Roxanne Priede | Grand Forks, British Columbia |
2011 | Mrs. Patricia Braun | Raymore, Saskatchewan |
2010 | Mrs. Mabel Girouard | Bathurst, New Brunswick |
1990 - 2009
Year | Name | City/Town |
---|---|---|
2009 | Mrs. Della Marie Morley | East Saint Paul, Manitoba |
2008 | Mrs. Avril Dianna Stachnik | Waskatenau, Alberta |
2007 | Mrs. Wilhelmina Beerenfenger-Koehler | Embrun, Ontario |
2006 | Mrs. Alice Murphy | Conception Harbour, Newfoundland |
2005 | Mrs. Claire Léger | Stittsville, Ontario |
2004 | Mrs. Agatha Dyer | Montreal, Québec |
2003 | Mrs. Charlotte Lynn Smith | Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia |
2002 | Mrs. Doreen Coolen | Hubbards, Nova Scotia |
2001 | Mrs. Ina Galvin | Bolton centre, Québec |
2000 | Mrs. Carol Isfeld | Courtenay, British Columbia |
1999 | Mrs. Loyola Helen Park | London, Ontario |
1998 | Mrs. Anna Zuk (Prygroski) | Winnipeg, Manitoba |
1997 | Mrs. Alice Taylor | Ottawa, Ontario |
1996 | Mrs. Margaret Langille | River John, Nova Scotia |
1995 | Mrs. Elsie Wells | Edmonton, Alberta |
1994 | Mrs. Wilhelmina Baerr | Yorkton, Saskatchewan |
1993 | Mrs. Isabella Hutchings | St. John’s, Newfoundland |
1992 | Mrs. Ida Orser | Hartland, New Brunswick |
1991 | Mrs. Alice Taylor | Ottawa, Ontario |
1990 | Mrs. Elsie Pearce | Trenton, Ontario |
1970 - 1989
Year | Name | City/Town |
---|---|---|
1989 | Mrs. Rachel Morin | Rimouski, Quebec |
1988 | Mrs. Hazel Driscoll | Halifax, Nova Scotia |
1987 | Mrs. Secondina Di Persio | Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia |
1986 | Mrs. Mabel Bateman | Richmond Hill, Ontario |
1985 | Mrs. Rose Bernst | Thunder Bay, Ontario |
1984 | Mrs. Olive (Rumball) Hunter | Summerland, British Columbia |
1983 | Mrs. Constance Wylie | Vancouver, British Columbia |
1982 | Mrs. Janet Fraser | Debert, Nova Scotia |
1981 | Mrs. Isabel Harrison | Bury, Quebec |
1980 | Mrs. Greta Steeves | Elgin, Albert County, New Brunswick |
1979 | Mrs. Eliza Beatty | Carlyle, Saskatchewan |
1978 | Mrs. Janet Cantley | Montreal, Quebec |
1977 | Mrs. Mary Boutilier | Niagara Falls, Ontario |
1976 | Mrs. Olive Rae (Jubb) | Victoria, British Columbia |
1975 | Mrs. Alta Wilkinson | Ottawa, Ontario |
1974 | Mrs. Annie Margaret Rudd | Stettler, Alberta |
1973 | Mrs. Margaret Santo | Bender, Saskatchewan |
1972 | Mrs. Mary Louise McLeod | Neyaashiinigmiing, Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation |
1971 | Mrs. Mary Anderson | Selkirk, Manitoba |
1970 | Mrs. Mary Josephine Meech | North Sydney, Nova Scotia |
1950 - 1969
Year | Name | City/Town |
---|---|---|
1969 | Mrs. Wilhemina Gray | Vancouver, British Columbia |
1968 | Mrs. Pearl Rich | Vancouver, British Columbia |
1967 | Mrs. Elsie Adams | St. Catharines, Ontario |
1966 | Mrs. Josephine Stephens | Toronto, Ontario |
1965 | Mrs. Nora Wagner | Teeterville, Ontario |
1964 | Mrs. Bernadette Rivait | Windsor, Ontario |
1963 | Mrs. Mary E. Stodgell | Norwood, Manitoba |
1962 | Mrs. Vitaline Lanteigne | Caraquet, New Brunswick |
1961 | Mrs. Sylvia Kimmel | Mission City, British Columbia |
1960 | Mrs. Julienne Cantin | McCreary, Manitoba |
1959 | Mrs. Dagnie Asta Anderson | Craigmyle, Alberta |
1958 | Mrs. Helen Forestell | Coniston, Ontario |
1957 | Mrs. Zylpha MacFarlane | Truro, Nova Scotia |
1956 | Mrs. Gertrude Edna Reynolds | Chatham, Ontario |
1955 | Mrs. Regina Leboldus | Vibank, Saskatchewan |
1954 | Mrs. Margaret Heeney | Ottawa, Ontario |
1953 | Mrs. Mary Casey | Ottawa, Ontario |
1952 | Mrs. Hannah McCann | Ottawa, Ontario |
1951 | Mrs. Alice Rochon | Ottawa, Ontario |
1950 | Mrs. Susan Beasley | Ottawa, Ontario |
1936 - 1949
Year | Name | City/Town |
---|---|---|
1949 | Mrs. Aline D'Aoust | Ottawa, Ontario |
1948 | Mrs. Catherine Helen MacDonald | Ottawa, Ontario |
1947 | Mrs. Martha Labarge | Ottawa, Ontario |
1944 - 1946 | Mrs. Jessie Isobel McCleery | Ottawa, Ontario |
1943 | Mrs. Edith Louisa Coldrey | Ottawa, Ontario |
1942 | Mrs. Sarah Wilkins Lamplough | Ottawa, Ontario |
1937 - 1941 | Mrs. Catherine Lewis | Ottawa, Ontario |
1936 | Mrs. Charlotte Susan Wood | Winnipeg, Manitoba |
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