Kay Shutt doesn’t mind telling people her age (which is 86), because she doesn’t quite believe it herself. “Where did the years go?” she asks.

Shutt is known to many in Huntsville for her long-time contributions to the Huntsville chapter of the Canadian Cancer Society.

Treated for both breast cancer and colon cancer in the 1970s, she knows just how important it is to support those with cancer and help fund research dedicated to fighting the disease.

After joining the cancer society in 1985, Shutt participated in a program for mastectomy patients called Reach and Recovery. She visited women during their hospital stay, providing information and offering the perspective of someone who had gone through the same experience.

Since then she has taken a turn at most of the jobs that need to be done within the cancer society, including acting as president for several years. “I’m slowing down a now, but I do help out a little bit,” she says.

She still writes monthly newspaper columns to inform the public of the society’s activities, and between preparing for the daffodil sale and canvassing for the cancer society, this past month has been a busy one.  

“People in Huntsville have always been quite generous,” she says. “I hope they continue to be, because we need to keep this going.”

Shutt has found that cancer touches almost everyone’s life at some point. “I don’t think you can meet anyone who doesn’t know of someone, a friend or someone in their family, who’s had it,” she says. “It’s a vicious disease.”

The people who make up the Huntsville branch of the Canadian Cancer Society, Shutt says, are a wonderful group of volunteers.

“We do work very hard, and I think we do a good job,” she says. “We help patients tremendously, particularly with transportation, which is free to cancer patients wherever they need to go.”

Shutt’s life outside of her involvement with the cancer society has been also been very full.

Born in England in 1921, she worked in London as a telephone operator during the second world war and married a Canadian soldier named Donald Shutt in 1944.

Three months after their son Colin was born, they moved to Canada.

“I hate the term ‘war bride,’” says Shutt, “but that’s what I am. Thinking back, I must have broken mother’s heart taking her only grandchild across the ocean.”

She didn’t return to England for 15 years.

The couple lived in Toronto, where their daughter Dale was born. They had a cottage on Fletcher Lake, 12 miles from Dorset, and used to come into Huntsville to spend the day sometimes.

In 1971, when her husband, who worked at a financial institution, had a chance to transfer, they moved to Huntsville.

A life-long avid reader, Shutt worked at Huntsville Public Library for six years beginning around 1975. “That was when the library was on Main Street. While I worked there it moved to the old LCBO building on the site of the current library,” she says.

In her free time, Shutt took many art-related adult education courses, taking a particular liking to porcelain painting and stained glass. She also volunteered at Fairvern throughout the 1970s.

Although she confesses that she has become rather “lazy” of late, her sense of adventure has not diminished. Last September, Shutt took the train across Canada by herself. She explains, “I’ve always wanted to do that, and I thought, ‘If I’m going to do it, I’d better do it now.’”

These days, she is happy to spend several hours each morning lounging with her newspaper and a cup of tea. She and a group of friends meet regularly to have lunch and go on little excursions, and she’s also a member of the hospital marathon bridge group.

With the warm weather on its way, Shutt is looking forward to golfing as well.  

“I love golf. This will probably be my last year, though,” she says. Then she adds with a laugh, “Of course, I keep saying that! It’s a wonderful summer pastime.”

Thanks to Bobbi Bird for suggesting that Kay Shutt be profiled. If there is someone you’d like to see in this space, please call Paula at 789-5541 or e-mail  pboon@metrolandnorthmedia.com.