Annette Lapierre

It is with heavy hearts that we say good bye to our Mother, Meme (Grandmother, Great Grandmother, Great Great Grandmother), Sister/In-law, Auntie, Cousin and Friend. She had lived a good long life, in fact so long that it felt that she would keep going & going.

She was born in Hearst, Ontario on June 26, 1923. Her Mother passed away from medical complications when Annette was only 6. Unable to care for Annette and her younger brother Henry, her Father placed them into an orphanage and he passed away only three years later. Before he passed he said to his brother, who was interested in adopting, "you must keep both children together". And so they did. Mom manage to attend school until grade 5 or 6, from there she was needed to go out and work to help support the family.

She married Rene on June 22, 1943. Together they raised eight children Reinette, Robert, Anita, Paul, Denis (deceased 2010), Gerry, Roland and Angel. Dad mostly being the working labourer and Mom pretty much doing everything else. Their last 3 children were born in B.C. as they had come to work and settle in Maillardville in the early '50s. With not much money she was able to clothe her children by buying used clothing washing and taking them apart to use as material to sew outfits. I don't know how she learned but she was very good at it. We never went hungry, Mom was a great cook and was good at making the food stretch. Mom would take a shellbone roast and cut thin slices of steak brown them in butter serve it up with potatoes, veggies and homemade bread. She cooked all kinds of French fare, ragout, meat pie, cochon to name a few and it was all fantastic. Her baking was to die for, people would come back again and again for mom's cooking & baking. She made a Christmas Cake that even those who hated Christmas Cake would love hers and look forward to getting their yearly brick. They always had a garden and grew their own vegetables & fruit. Their house was always open and she would often take in family members and or our significant others to eat and even live, for as long as they needed. I remember that little three bedroom house turn into four five even six bedrooms to accommodate.

In the '70's Mom began working outside the home. Her first job at that time was at the "Hole in One" doughnut shop in the new Lougheed Mall, she worked as a cook at "Christmas Manor", "Centennial Senior Secondary School" and she also catered for "Our Lady of Fatima Parish" for many many years, often being re booked for the following year on the spot.

Once the children were grown and pretty much out on their own, Mom and Dad took up gold panning as a hobby and spent a lot of time with cousins John & Simone. Mom had now found a love for lottery scratch and wins. In 1985 she scratched the "big one" $10,000. She bought a claim of their own to pan for gold and they drove across country to visit family and friends. They celebrated 61 years of marriage the summer before Rene passed in January of 2005.




Annette was on her own for the first time in her adult life. When it came time to leave the family home she kept a brave front but it was difficult for her as she had lived there over 30 years and had never been on her own.
In the spring of 2006 she picked the location of her condo (one where she could take a bus to either of the major malls) and managed to live there until the end of 2011.

During this time Mom travelled to see Anita and Andre in Colorado, John and Simone in Powell River, her son Roland on Gabriola Is, Gerry & Donna, Paul & Deb, Robert & Linda and Reinette & Don in the Okanagan and finally got to go back east (Halifax, Quebec and Ontario) one more time to see all of her relatives there.

After enduring a heart attack in 2007, complications of going to the ER for a bad flu and dehydration only to suffer over hydration and the trauma of being put on a breathing machine to remove the excessive fluid in her lungs in 2009 and a fall which resulted in a hairline fracture on her tailbone in 2010, she feared being alone. It was at this time, considering all options, she made a decision to move into a house with Angel and her husband Ken, to live in the basement suite. She enjoyed walking to the pub for dinners and spending time outside on her glider doing her word searches. A lot of family members came by to visit and stay over in her new home which she enjoyed immensely.

In October 2012 Annette took another fall and this time broke her hip she was 89. She survived the operation fine however the medications, the temporary loss of hearing aides and her age all took a major toll. She feared falling again and that limited her as to what she could and would do. Mom moved into a care home May 2013. Here she was able to get the help she needed and most important, social entertainment that she was missing by not leaving the house on her own.

At the age of 90 she attended our family reunion at her eldest daughter Reinette and Don's home/property in Beaverdell. All the family was there and she revelled in her glory of being with her family again. Early the following year her Great Great Grandaughter was born making five generations Reinette, Charmaine, Kori and Aurora.

Mom passed away on November 30, 2014 in her bed at her care home. She was 91.