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From: Ted Yard
Date: March 3, 2026
To: Erin Napier & Carol Bristow
Subject: Re: Dr. Ross Tilley

Hello Erin and Carol,

I have a few minutes to properly answer your question about where Dr. Tilleys ashes rest.

Not long after he died, Mrs. (Jean) Tilley, came to our place (Camp Hollyburn) which used to be their summer and weekend retreat near Lake Rosseau.

Their old property actually had their own spring fed private lake which is why the property was so special to us all.

Knowing it was being sold to my parents as a summer camp for children, I believe was a motivating factor for the Tilleys... that it was going to be a similiarly happy place going forward.

Bent River School near Lilly Lake

So, one day Mrs. Tilley arrived with the Dr.'s ashes and she was accompanied by one of the Dr.'s Guinea Pigs.

I personally paddled Jean around the lake in a canoe as she slowly, handful at a time, placed the ashes in the water... all while telling me stories of their time together, especially at the lake.

As a humorous aside to this story, I was so nervous on this paddle because I had just stocked the lake with yearling trout and they always rose to anything thrown into the water and I was so worried they would rise and feed as Jean put the ashes in the water... but thankfully someone must have been watching over us as the trout remained hidden! >br>

Addendum March 26, 2026

For perspective, I met Jean twice and Ross once only. When they both visited us, Ross was declining and in hindsight, I think they were confirming if their old retreat was still suitable for the final visit. Very little had been changed, quite purposely, to what they remembered. It was at the second time I met Jean, that she and I paddled the lake with his ashes.

Since we left the site in 2002, there remains vitually none of the buildings (36!) that we so carefully preserved . . . .

I personally have not been back . . . . its just not something we can revisit, preferring to preserve our memories of what it was to us. I hope we do connect and share our memories... of what was!

Ted Yard

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