Obituaries

Eileen Mary O’Donoghue was born in Cork, Ireland on October 26, 1922, the eldest of five daughters of Patrick & Elizabeth O’Donoghue. The family also had a brother, Hugh, who died in infancy. When Eileen finished school, she worked at Thompson’s Bakery as a wedding cake decorator. This is where she met the love of her life, Cornelius (Neil) O’Halloran and they married in 1953. When work became scarce in Ireland, they moved to London, England where they had their first children, Cathy and Clare. They lived happily in London until they decided to make the difficult decision to sail across the ocean to start a new life in Canada. On the advice of a fellow Irishman they chose to live in Montreal . Here they had two more children, Kevin and Michael and settled into a life of holidays in Rawden, visits to the Expo 1967 exhibition and rousing parties with a group of friends from the church and the neighbourhood.

When they retired in 1987, Eileen & Neil decided to make another big move and moved from Montreal to Vancouver where Cathy was already living to start the next chapter of their life. They envisioned long walks by the water and leaving the snow of Montreal behind. Unfortunately, their plans were shattered when Neil was diagnosed with cancer and died in February 1988. Eileen made the most of her new life on the coast and was overjoyed when Clare and Kevin moved out to Vancouver, and Michael settled in Calgary.

Eileen made many friends in her new home and loved having her children, grandchildren, and eventually great-grandchildren nearby. She was able to stay in her own home, even when dementia stole many of her memories, thanks to the wonderful help of her caregiver, Delcy. She died peacefully on Christmas Eve surrounded by family, knowing as always that she was loved.

Eileen is survived by her sister Mary; by her children, Cathy, Clare, Kevin & Michael; by her grandchildren, Kalyn, Colin, Greg, Shannon, Julia, Claire, Sinead, Kathleen & Liam; by her great-grandchildren, Conor, Hunter, Aidan & Rowan Eileen.

As Eileen loved animals, a donation to the SPCA in her name would be greatly appreciated.