JUNKIN

The amber moon was holding water as it settled in the west in the early morning of June 15th when Noreen, mother to Brock and Stephanie, grandmother to Dane, Neville, Rebecca, Blane, and Alana, wife of Bruce, did not come to breakfast. Through the preceding night she breathed her last breath and had, after 101 years, gone to nestle in the bosom of her maker.

Much like today’s youth, Noreen, on completing her twelfth grade, moved west and settled in Montreal with the Sun Life Company. During her seven years there she was courted by and eventually married Bruce. That was the beginning of 62 gracious years of marriage, an experience that would always bring a glow to her face when she would reminisce after the passing of her Bruce, even after other of her life’s experiences slipped from her mind. Her marriage brought the start of another adventure when she and her new husband moved to the centre of the high Andes in Bolivia. There, at 12,000 feet above sea level, she came to learn another culture and language as she supported her husband in his career. After thirteen years she found herself back in Montreal with her family and thereafter spending close to a decade there, in Connecticut, in Ohio before finally retiring with Bruce in Arizona. Nearly thirty years of retirement followed, split between Arizona and Nova Scotia. In the end the ravages of age obliged her to drop her anchor in Pleasantville then Bridgewater and finally Mahone Bay where she spun out her final years under the care of the extraordinary team of the Mahone Bay Nursing home, reading the paper, enjoying the Bay and wondering why the weather couldn’t be more like Arizona’s.

Noreen was predeceased by her mother and father Elsie and George Kempton, brother Alfred, sister Pearl (McCaughan), husband Bruce and granddaughter Alana. A life well lived by a true and faithful servant to her family and her Lord.

Funeral service will be held at Westside United Church, Pentz, June 26, at 2 p.m. Memorial donations may be made to Westside United Church or the charity of your choice.