Denise Ferry filled large roles in the lives of the sports and veterinary communities that she spent her life serving.
For over 30 years, the Newfoundland woman was an active member of the province’s squash community and was well-known in the sport across the country. She dedicated her professional career to working with animals, performing in every aspect of running a veterinary clinic short of being a vet herself.
She passed away on Feb. 11 in St. John’s.
Leonard Lye, president of SquashNL from 2004 to 2008, has known Ferry through their shared love of the sport since the early 1990s.
“Basically, in the beginning, I knew her because she was known as 'the woman in charge of squash,'” says Lye. “She handled everything.”
Along with organizing tournaments in the province and handling the administration of the organization, Ferry oversaw national and international matches at the Canada and PanAm Games as Newfoundland and Labrador’s only A1 certified squash referee.
“I know that all the other referees from around Canada highly respected her,” says Lye.
“She’s a no-nonsense person, good sense of humour, and everybody loved dealing with her so it’s a big loss – not just to the Newfoundland squash community, but nationwide.”
At the Avalon Animal Hospital, where Ferry worked since 1968, back when the veterinary clinic was known as The Vet Centre, co-worker Brenda Mulrooney similarly remembered Ferry as a no-nonsense person.
“She had such a tough exterior: she was always very blunt,” says Mulrooney. “But she just had a heart of gold. Everything she did was done with such good intentions.”
Ferry, she said, always went above and beyond for pets and their owners, but never wanted anything back.
Her commitment to animals went beyond the daily work of the clinic. Ferry lived above the clinic and provided after-hours care for animals on- and off-site. With some particularly difficult patients, it was often only Ferry who could calm them down.
“She lived and breathed for animals. She just had a way with them,” says Mulrooney. “If you had a patient that you couldn’t really control, she was your go-to. It was like they could speak without being able to understand her.”
In her time living above the vet clinic, Ferry was responsible for any in-hospital patients that had to stay overnight and often did house calls.
“Up until last year, she was even assisting some of our clients that had been life-long ‘Denisers,’ we’ll call them,” says Mulrooney. “It was funny because she wasn’t a vet, but she was treated as such because she had the experience, the knowledge, the passion for it.”
Ferry’s passion for animals was matched by her intense commitment to the sport of squash, in which she would travel to nation-wide tournaments.
“I don’t think she missed a Canada Games,” says Lye. “It’s a tough job to be a squash referee. You get screamed at. People disagree with your ruling. And she would willingly come and referee. It’s all volunteer. It’s amazing, actually, she would give a lot of her time.”
Ferry inspired others - including Lye - to become involved in refereeing the sport.
"I would consider her my mentor because otherwise, I wouldn’t have gotten into refereeing and going to Canada Games as a referee and things like that,” says Lye.
With the current COVID-19 lockdowns in the province, both SquashNL and the veterinary community plan to wait for an opportunity to celebrate Ferry’s life.
“She didn’t like it if people fuss made over her," says Mulrooney. “She just wanted everybody to have a big party in her honour. So, as soon as COVID allows us to do that, I think that’s the plan.”
Avalon Animal Hospital is currently undergoing renovations and when complete, they will be dedicating the new compassionate room to Ferry, which will be named “The Ferry Room”.
Lye says a memorial squash tournament in Ferry’s honour will also be organized once COVID restrictions allow.
