Donna Louise Hossack, age 91, died at Vancouver General Hospital on April 25, 2022.
Beloved mother of Anne and Carl Rosenberg, Donna is predeceased by her parents, Donald Ross Hossack and Florence Elvena Hossack, her sister Joan Bernd, and her brother William R. Hossack. Also left to cherish her memory are her sister Anne Churchley; her daughter-in-law Delta Vázquez León and son-in-law Joseph Amaral; and her nieces and nephews and their spouses: John and Chris Churchley, Sara and Gordon Nichol, Karen and Dan Strong, Brian Hossack and Kathleen Boden. She also leaves many close friends and neighbours, in particular her lifelong friend Annette Wegiel and her son Garrick Trowsdale.
Born in Toronto on April 7, 1931, Donna enjoyed a long and illustrious musical career. During the 1950s and ‘60s Golden Era of Radio and Television, she played on such popular CBC shows as A Date with Frosia and O’Keefe Centre Presents, while also enjoying a long gig as the original harpist on CBC’s The Friendly Giant – her greatest claim to fame. In 1953, she was appointed principal harpist of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. In 1962, she came to Vancouver to play in the Vancouver International Festival; her orchestral career continued when she joined the Vancouver Symphony for the next two years.
Soon after, Donna and her young family moved to Montreal, where her husband, Sidney Rosenberg, a bassoonist, had accepted a position with the Montreal Symphony. The opening of Montreal’s famed Expo ’67 saw a plethora of musical attractions, and Ms. Hossack performed in many of the exhibition’s operas and ballets. She later joined the CBC Orchestra and the Vancouver Opera Orchestra. She also became active in that city’s recording industry and parlayed her lifelong passion for musicals into long runs of many touring shows -- Evita, Oklahoma, A Chorus Line, Phantom of the Opera, The King and I and Showboat among them.
Reading was one of Donna’s greatest pleasures, and she loved engaging in animated discussions about the writings of Edith Wharton and Susanna Moodie. Writing letters was another joy of hers, and she and her daughter, who lived in Toronto, engaged in a 30-year epistolary exchange. She was an involved, devoted mom, and she and her children loved to enjoy picnic lunches on Granville Island and take in plays at the Arts Club Theatre, tapping their toes under the table and singing along to the show tunes.
CBC Radio was a constant and faithful companion, and Donna loved listening to Writers & Company, Ideas, and As It Happens, often calling one of her children or a friend to talk about the day’s episode.
After her retirement from the music industry, Donna became involved with the Vancouver Public Library through volunteering with Friends of the Vancouver Public Library and leading a play-reading group, which gave her much joy. She was an active supporter of the Library and Friends of the VPL through the Vancouver Public Library Foundation.
Donna will be greatly missed by her children, Anne and Carl Rosenberg, and by all who knew and loved her. She will be honoured with a Celebration of Life on Saturday, June 25, 2022, at 1:00 pm at the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture, 6184 Ash Street, Vancouver, BC.
Donations in Donna’s memory can be made to the Vancouver Public Library at www.vplf.ca/donnahossack .