Longtime harness racing industry participant Eileen Mae Stuart, RN (nee Segriff) passed away on Nov. 30, 2023 at the age of 98, splashed with sunlight while peacefully sleeping in her home bed.
Eileen was born Aug. 16, 1926 — within days of the first Hambletonian — in the Toronto, Ont. borough of East York, probably at her family’s farm on Plains Rd. at Linsmore Cres. and not far from the old Greenwood racetrack. She was the ninth child and only redhead among five daughters in a family of 12 children. Family lore is, as an infant, her mother rubbed Eileen in “goose grease” through the night after a doctor advised the tiny weak baby would not live to morning.
The Segriff family purchased a home at 1405 Woodbine Ave. on the east side in 1926 and, after attending East York Collegiate and then working in a factory to help the war effort on Front St. across from where the MLB domed stadium now exists, Eileen moved alone to Sarnia, Ont. where she graduated as a Registered Nurse from Sarnia General Hospital in June 1949.
It was at a nursing student dance where Eileen met a WWII Veteran, a year her senior, who was beginning a career with Ontario Hydro — a Sarnia boy residing on London Rd. near Indian Rd., close to the present site of Hiawatha Horse Park — named William Robert “Bill” Stuart. The pair were married in Toronto in March 1951 beginning a 65-year partnership ending with Bill’s passing in Dec. 2015.
The Stuarts moved to a small farm on Egremont Dr. (old Hwy 22 at Ilderton Rd.) on the edge of the village of Poplar Hill near Strathroy in 1972. The Poplar Hill farm was sold in August of 2019. Eileen and Bill began racing Standardbred horses in the early 1960s and started their small breeding operation circa 1972. Eileen had zero interest in sports but was secretly ultra-competitive. She hated to lose! Morning and noon horse chores were Eileen’s job until Bill retired and she knew all the homebreds well and looked forward to them racing and cheering them on — whoever owned them.
As breeders, the Stuarts had the good fortune to purchase the great trotting broodmare Mygal Haw Lea as a yearling in 1975 from the first crop of the brilliant trotting sire Speedy Crown. Mygal Haw Lea, through her daughter Mombasa, is relevant this year with two-year-old trotting geldings Nzuri and Gone Goodbye racing at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
From Mygal Haw Lea, they bred Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame member and two-time Maple Leaf Trot winner Bridger — at $100,000 the most expensive Standardbred yearling in Canadian history at the time, who went on to be the first 2:00 trotter in Ontario Sires Stakes history, Brisco Herbert, O’Brien Award winner Mombasa (dam of O’Brien Award winner Filly At Bigs), Fuchsia (grand dam of Northern Bailey) and the dam of O’Brien Award winner Stormont Tuscany.
With funds from the 1981 sale of Brisco Herbert, the Stuarts returned to a Lexington, Ky. yearling sale a month later to purchase the Speedy Crown filly Segriff, winner of three Grand Circuit stakes as a three-year-old and dam of the precocious trotting filly Razzle Dazzle Tom and grand dam of trotting mare Charming To A Tee.
Another racing highlight for the Stuarts came in the early summer of 2007 when they purchased a share in the promising two-year-old trotting colt Deweycheatumnhowe. That deal landed them in the 2008 Hambletonian winner’s circle.
Eileen was preceded in death by her 11 siblings: Ernest James; George Henry "Dib"; Ellen Lorraine "Sit"; Robert Allan "Red"; Gordon Frederick; Jean Stewart; Marjorie Christina; William Corbet "Bill", who died in action with The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada in WWII; Albert Clifford "Bert"; David Constable and Doreen Violet "Dot".
Eileen is survived by: three children — David Stuart; Paul Stuart (Carolyn); Sharon Russell (Bill), seven grandchildren — Rebecca Stuart (Martin); Matthew Stuart (Sarah); Mark Russell (Sarah); Jason Anderson (Stephanie); Daniel Stuart (Madeleine); Jonathan Stuart (Elisha); Carly Stuart, and 12 great-grandchildren – Natalie England; Kate Stuart; Charlotte Stuart; William Stuart; Blanche Dinnissen-Stuart; Wesley Stuart; Cecilia “Cece” Stuart; Poppy Russell; Ella Anderson; Sean Anderson; Brady Anderson and Paige Anderson.
Eileen Mae Stuart, RN will be buried Dec. 14, 2023, in the Bridger family plot beside her late husband, William Robert “Bill” Stuart, at Lakeview Cemetery, Sarnia. Arrangements: Smith Funeral Home, 1576 London Line, Sarnia, Ont., N7T 7H2. Visitation: 1-2 p.m, Service: 2 p.m., Procession to Cemetery: 2:30 p.m., Luncheon at Funeral Home: 3:30 p.m.
Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Eileen Stuart.