Goodbye, Jeannie

Jeannie with Evelyn at the babies' baptism, almost a year ago.


Holding Keith for the first time. While she never favoured one baby over another, she shared a special bond with our little Keith, whom we named after her husband. He passed away at about the time we got pregnant with the trio.


With all three


With Colin


With Evelyn

It is an impossible task to eulogize a life as rich and as full as Jeannie's, particularly as I only had the privilege of knowing her the last 7 of her near 90 years. But here is what I saw:

Jeannie knew how to work a room like no one else. Warm, funny, bright and sharp as a tack, she loved a crowd. She was the musical talent and inspiration behind the Grassettes, a group of seniors with more heart than pitch who visited Seniors Homes to sing the oldies but goodies to a very appreciative audience. She could play on the piano any song by ear, even if she only heard it once on the radio. She shone at the cottage, where she'd entertain the steady flow of friends coming for a visit, plying them with the lemon loaf, sugar cookies and lobster rolls she had made before you dragged yourself out of bed that morning. She excelled at everything she touched: a hole-in-one golfer, cake decorator, dancer, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, baker, cook... and made it all looked effortless. She was generous without being ostentatious. She exemplified her era of grace, gratitude, charity and resolve. She always wore lipstick and pumps. She always said thank you, and meant it.

She had a mischievous streak. When a few of her senior friends asked for decaf coffee, she'd serve them caffeinated... "They won't know the difference," she'd say with a wink. She told a rather vocal, inquisitive little boy that a certain bird was a "pork hawk". He spent a long - and quiet - time looking that up in his bird book. She was not demure. If you weren't careful, she'd tell you exactly what she thought of Tiger Woods. Being in her company guaranteed a laugh, and the unsettling feeling that, in her late 80s, she had more energy that you could even dream of having. She was "Jeannie" to anyone younger than her. And everyone loved Jeannie.

It was her zeal, vitality and love of life that made her decide to undertake a second knee replacement surgery. And it was the complications that arose from the surgery that lead to her untimely departure. Yes, untimely. For even in her 90th year, Jeannie had a lot of life left to live; long, summer days to cherish, great-grandchildren to kiss, Big Cookies to bake, songs to play and friends to cheer. She is the measure of a life well lived and well loved. We should all be so lucky.

We'll miss you, Jeannie.

Obituary