From mem­bers of the West­mount Quil­ters’ Guild

• I will al­ways re­mem­ber her as a very gen­tle, love­ly woman and a good friend!
• He­len al­ways brought joy with her.
• He­len will be dear­ly missed by all her quilt­ing friends – she has been such an in­spi­ra­tion for us, how she lived with such grace, courage and faith.
• Her pres­ence was al­ways ap­pre­ci­at­ed for she had an eye for colours and co­or­di­na­tion of ma­te­r­i­al. We counted on her opin­ion for our group projects. Also, I should say she is the one who helped me the most to in­te­grate the group. At that mo­ment, I was the first French-speak­ing mem­ber. Thanks to her, she taught me the right quilt­ing vo­cab­u­lary with a lot of pa­tience.

From oth­er West­mount vol­un­teers (eg West­mount Mu­nic­i­pal As­so­ci­a­tion; “De­mer­gettes”; West­mount Com­mu­ni­ty Events Com­mit­tee; Con­tac­tiv­i­ty)

• To think I won’t hear that won­der­ful voice or hear her at the harp, the pi­ano or where ever she spread the joy of her mu­si­cal abil­i­ties and her be­lief in the good­ness of oth­ers. She was in­deed a gen­tle, and oh so kind and caring woman.
• He­len was an an­gel and I al­ways felt she was like a “song bird” with her beau­ti­ful voice.
• We will miss He­len’s beau­ti­ful voice and her mag­nif­i­cent pi­ano, or­gan and harp play­ing. We will miss her love­ly, car­ing per­son­al­i­ty.
• We will al­ways hold dear to our hearts the warmth and love which ra­di­at­ed from this re­mark­able be­ing, and be in­spired by the in­cred­i­ble courage and grace she demon­strat­ed in her fi­nal months. We are all blessed to have known our dear He­len and she will live on for­ev­er in our col­lec­tive mem­ory.
• He­len’s spir­it touched so many of us on so many lev­els from play­ing car­ols at the year­ly Christ­mas gathering, work­ing on quilt­ing projects, play­ing and demon­strat­ing her harp skills to Cub Scouts, vol­un­teer­ing energetically at so many com­mu­ni­ty events. I feel she gave me so much in her soft smil­ing sol­id en­joy­able way.
• She was a de­light to work with at the book sales. She was al­ways smil­ing and in good hu­mour.
• We were all sad­dened to hear of the loss of your dear an­gel­ic wife. We were ho­n­oured to have known such a very spe­cial per­son.

From Church of the As­cen­sion lay min­is­ters or priests

• She was very faith­ful to our reg­u­lar mass­es with the se­niors at the Westmount Manor and Place Kens­ing­ton. She cer­tain­ly helped make our cel­ebra­tions spe­cial with her harp, pi­ano and her voice.
• She was a troop­er and she fought the good fight. She amazed every­one with her de­ter­mi­na­tion and hopefulness.
• I knew He­len most­ly from Church and from vis­it­ing Se­niors Res­i­dences for Mass. She was a gen­er­ous and warm per­son who de­light­ed the se­niors with her harp and an­gel­ic voice. Our Ser­vices at As­cen­sion were more spe­cial be­cause of her gift of mu­sic. He­len was a spe­cial per­son and I am a bet­ter per­son for hav­ing known her.

From Hope and Cope choir members

• The first time she came to the choir at hope and cope I fell in love with her. she sang like an an­gel. And she acted like an an­gel too. Such a gen­er­ous soul! Al­ways very sweet.
• He­len oc­cu­pait souvent mes pen­sées…elle était tel­le­ment at­ta­chante même si je ne la connais­sais peu mais sa voix d’ange nous a ber­cé par sa dou­ceur har­mo­nieuse qu’il est im­pos­sible d’ou­blier….Puisse-t-elle main­tenant re­joindre les anges puis­qu’elle en était déjà un, éga­ré par­mi les humains…

From Vil­la Maria class­mates or con­tem­po­raries

• She was a true an­gel in every sense of the word and a bright light in the lives of so many.
• He­len was a beau­ti­ful per­son, both in­side and out, and a very spe­cial friend to me. I shall miss her smil­ing face, her in­tel­lect, her kind­ness, her many tal­ents and most of all, our friend­ship. A true An­gel!
• We had such a beau­ti­ful vis­it…she showed me pic­tures of your beau­ti­ful grand­daugh­ter Mag­gie and she was look­ing for­ward to your an­niver­sary par­ty. I am so glad that was an ex­tra spe­cial day for the fam­i­ly as it meant so much to her. Such a love­ly, kind and thought­ful per­son.

From friends or neigh­bours

• He­len is a fab­u­lous hu­man be­ing; al­ways smil­ing, al­ways hap­py, when­ev­er I saw her.
• te connaître a été un plus dans ma vie. Ta jo­via­li­té, ta bon­té et ton sou­rire se­ront tou­jours dans ma mé­moire comme une de ces belles ren­contres comme nous en avons peu dans une vie.
• Her Light was very bright.
• She was a ge­nius and ma­gi­cian on the or­gan, I heard her play very of­ten at fu­ner­als. She had the per­son­al­i­ty of an an­gel and the voice.
• She was so brave and full of grace when ei­ther of us spoke with her in these past months.
• I didn’t know her very well, but even meet­ing her quite ca­su­al­ly I was struck by her spir­it, her beau­ty and quite sim­ply her nice­ness.
• Won­der­ful He­len nev­er failed to en­quire about our well be­ing and took a sin­cere in­ter­est in oth­ers.
• He­len made the world more beau­ti­ful. she cer­tain­ly brought joy into the lives of all she touched.
• I was al­ways im­pressed at what a kind and gen­tle per­son she was. Al­ways wel­com­ing and hos­pitable! She was a beau­ti­ful per­son who em­bod­ied an an­gel­ic spir­it and voice.
• I al­ways loved our serendip­i­tous en­coun­ters at eclec­tic mu­si­cal events. She em­anat­ed a beau­ti­ful, up­lift­ing aura.
• Such a kind, car­ing per­son. She shared her beau­ti­ful voice along with you for both my sis­ter’s and my dad’s fu­ner­als. I am for­ev­er grate­ful for that and for hav­ing the plea­sure of know­ing her.
• I will re­mem­ber He­len for many won­der­ful qual­i­ties, but es­pe­cial­ly that she seemed to me to have a pos­i­tive view on every­thing and I can­not re­member ever hav­ing heard her say a bad word about any­one! I have no doubt that even in her pass­ing she was ad­mirably pos­i­tive and philo­soph­i­cal.
• Dear He­len, so Gen­tle, Sweet, Tal­ent­ed, Loy­al and Lov­ing.
• She was al­ways such pleas­ant, thought­ful and kind lady, who de­served to have more time on this earth.
• My deep­est fond mem­o­ries of He­len was her sense of hu­mour. She always brought laugh­ter into the room. We will al­ways re­mem­ber and cherish those Christ­mas hol­i­days where He­len showed her mag­nif­i­cent tal­ent play­ing pi­ano and singing, so beau­ti­ful. Peace be with you, He­len and thank you for those joy­ful mo­ments. You will al­ways be in our hearts.
• I will for­ev­er re­mem­ber that af­ter­noon with you both very fond­ly. I feel so priv­i­leged to have spent that valu­able time with He­len- her vi­brant per­sonal­i­ty and car­ing, ded­i­cat­ed na­ture was ap­par­ent even in the midst of illness.
  

From fel­low cho­ris­ters

• I re­mem­ber He­len and all the beau­ti­ful mu­sic she self­less­ly shared with every­one around her.
• He­len’s beau­ti­ful voice is, no doubt, blend­ing with that of the an­gels.
• He­len was such a won­der­ful and live­ly hu­man be­ing. She loved life and lived it to the fullest.
• He­len was a kind and gen­tle soul. And such a beau­ti­ful voice she had! The world is sad­ly a lit­tle qui­eter to­day…
• She was such a kind and gen­tle per­son, and it was al­ways won­der­ful to see how you and she com­ple­ment­ed each oth­er so well. When I think of her, I can hear in my mind her love­ly speak­ing and singing voice.
• My con­do­lences on the loss of this vi­brant, love­ly and tal­ent­ed per­son. Helen graced our choir at As­cen­sion with her harp, but es­pe­cial­ly with her voice, and cheer­ful pres­ence.
• He­len brought so much sun­shine and joy with her smile and an­gel­ic voice and mas­tery of the harp and organ. She will not be for­got­ten.

From for­mer choir mem­bers at St. Malachy’s, where He­len was choir di­rec­tor, or­gan­ist, and can­tor for 22 years

• I can­not find the words to ex­press my per­son­al grat­i­tude for her teach­ings to the St. Malachy’s choir. If I am play­ing mu­sic for mass to­day it is because she was such a great ex­am­ple.
• He­len was a won­der­ful friend, with many gifts, but first and fore­most to me was her in­nate hap­pi­ness. I must say though that af­ter the two of you got to­geth­er (along with your chil­dren) her hap­pi­ness reached an­oth­er lev­el. It seemed like she knew her life was now com­plete, and was al­ways grate­ful for it. I also thinks she had an un­usu­al amount of wis­dom, and she may just be right in her be­lief that she is still by your sides. I am glad to hear she didn’t seem to suf­fer near the end. It sounds like her pass­ing was as she lived: gen­tle, peace­ful, lov­ing.

From mem­bers of He­len’s treat­ing teams

• In­deed she brought a light and ray of sun­shine with every en­counter, every dis­cus­sion and every thought­ful ges­ture. Please be com­fort­ed by the knowl­edge that she touched many in ways that will in­flu­ence many gen­era­tions to come.
• Such a gen­tle, fun­ny love­ly per­son. I am glad to have met her. One of a kind.

From a Manoir West­mount staff per­son

For many years we were priv­i­leged to hear her play the or­gan or harp (that was a spe­cial treat!) and hear her beau­ti­ful voice which ac­com­pa­nied our ser­vices. Her an­gel­ic voice and smile that lit up a room will live in our mem­o­ries and hearts.

From fellow musicians

• I had the plea­sure of cross­ing paths with He­len on sev­er­al oc­ca­sions at mu­si­cal events and al­ways ap­pre­ci­at­ed her thought­ful­ness, her pas­sion for mu­sic, and her warm and vi­brant pres­ence.
• She had a qui­et, lu­mi­nous and in­tel­li­gent pres­ence that made one feel appre­ci­at­ed and seen. He­len’s mu­si­cal gifts must have brought great joy to many peo­ple.

From Har­pis­si­mo mem­bers

• The rib­bons on the cover of this card re­mind me of the ex­quisite, bright scarves that He­len brought to us, Harpis­si­mo mem­bers, to wear dur­ing our con­cert in Ver­dun and at oth­er venues. This was just one ex­am­ple of her con­tin­u­al kind­ness, thought­ful­ness, and gen­eros­i­ty to­ward oth­ers.
• The mem­bers of Harpis­si­mo share your grief at the loss of our dear friend He­len. For many years, she brought us care, lov­ing­ness and gen­eros­i­ty with her tal­ents. She will be sad­ly missed by us all, but we will car­ry her cheer­ful­ness in our hearts.

From a family member

She tru­ly was the “thread of love” that kept the fam­i­ly to­geth­er.

Others

• I was so for­tu­nate to hear her play and sing. She had such a beau­ti­ful and gen­tle voice, which also tru­ly reflected her per­son­al­i­ty.
• Al­though we did not know He­len very well, the joy and love that shone in her face left us with a last­ing impression. We met af­ter the recital be­fore a St. Patrick’s Day mass in the As­cen­sion of Our Lord’s Parish. She appreciated how we en­joyed her won­der­ful gift. We spoke when­ev­er we met. God need­ed an­oth­er mu­si­cian in his choir in Heav­en. We like to be­lieve that He chose the best, He­len, to sit in front of all the oth­er an­gels with her harp.
• He­len han­dled her dis­ease with such brav­ery and grace. I will al­ways remem­ber her beau­ti­ful per­son­al­i­ty and her im­mense tal­ent. Lis­ten­ing to her voice was very spe­cial and I was of­ten moved.