Audrey Margaret Kilroy Morrison

2. Eulogy to our Mother as read at her funeral on January 13, 2010

3. Eulogy written and read at Mom's funeral by Rhoda Scott of her memories of our mother as a fellow teacher at St. Mark's School

Kilroy-Morrison, Audrey

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the peaceful passing of our Mother, Audrey Kilroy Morrison, at the Centre Renaissance in Aylmer, Quebec. Mom was in her 92nd year and felt very fortunate to be in such good health. She was a loving mother to the late Diane Morrison Gauvreau (Guy), Donna Morrison, Anne (Brian) Webb, Paul (Jamie) Morrison, Peter (Kelly) Morrison, Michael Morrison and John (Suzanne) Morrison. She was the cherished wife of the late John Morrison. She was predeceased by her parents, Katherine Allger and Alfred Kilroy along with her brothers and sisters, Claire O’Donnell, Lillian Kilroy, Arnold Kilroy, Milo Kilroy and Willis Kilroy. She leaves behind 15 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren. Mom lived a full life as a teacher for 41 years in Noranda and Aylmer, Quebec. She loved her students and her eyes would light up when she’d recall their names. The family would like to thank the wonderful and caring staff at the Centre Renaissance in Aylmer. You took good care of our mother and we thank you for this. There will be no visitation. The Funeral Mass will take place at St. Mark’s Church, 161 rue Principale in Aylmer at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, January 13, 2010. In lieu of flowers, a donation can be made to the Centre Renaissance in Aylmer. Adieu Mom. We will miss you. For information please call: 819-684-1155.

Eulogy to our Mother as read at her funeral - January 13, 2010

Good morning everyone.

Thank you for coming today, to join us in saying goodbye to our Mother. I know that your presence today would have meant a great deal to mom and I know that it serves as a tremendous comfort to our family to know so many cared. I feel particularly honored to be asked by my brothers and sisters to talk to you today about our mother. I know that it will sound a bit funny to say that although Mom was in her 92nd year we never expected to have this day arrive so soon because we truly thought Mom would live forever. As recently as last week, she joked that she was far too stubborn to leave this earth and besides, God simply didn’t have her room ready. But her time on this earth has come and so we bring her here today to rest, to be with her parents, her brothers and sisters, her beloved daughter Diane, and our Dad, whom she's missed so terribly over the years.

She was born Audrey Margaret Kilroy in 1918 in Luskville, Quebec. Her parents, Alfred Kilroy and Katherine Allger had three boys: Arnold, Milo and Willis and three daughters: Audrey, Claire, and Lillian. Mom was the last surviving member from her family and while she never let it show we knew it did bring her some sadness that everyone in her family was gone. And in moments of sadness Mom drew her strength from many things – her family and friends, her proud Irish background and most importantly, her strong Catholic faith.Her faith was unwavering even during the most difficult of times. When our dear sister Diane passed away a few months ago Mom would say that while her heart was broken she knew she would hold Diane again soon.

When Mom left her parents home in her early teens she went to teachers college and trained as an elementary teacher and worked at her profession for over 45 years. Mom started her teaching career in a single room schoolhouse, having to build a fire each morning to warm the building before her students arrived. Mom was “old school”, with a no-nonsense approach, where a teacher ruled the classroom through respect and students were there to learn and nothing could get in the way of that goal. Throughout her career, mom taught well over a 1,000 children. She embraced her profession with passion and was so proud of the role she played in challenging and shaping young minds.

Saying that mom loved her students was an understatement. We all have memories of mom taking an extra lunch to school or knitting extra pairs of winter mittens knowing a student would be sent to school without. She did not just teach her students reading, writing and arithmetic, but more importantly, she taught them life skills on how to treat others with respect and that hard work will always have returns.

She loved to talk about her former students, referring to little Garnett or Rebecca, still seeing them as children even though most had in fact been retired themselves for many years. Even in her 92nd year, she would take great joy in being able to recite the names of students she taught or just knew throughout the many years.

All teachers have their favorite student stories. One that always made mom laugh when she repeated it involved a student general assembly. Students were expected to assemble in the gymnasium in an orderly fashion but a particular young man decided he preferred to roughhouse with his classmates instead. Mom approached the student from behind and gently grasped his arm to get his attention. The student, thinking it was another student, pulled his arm from mom and yelled “get your paws off of me”. When he turned to see that it was in fact my mother he was speaking to she quickly said to him in her stern teacher’s voice “do I look like a bear to you”. To which the young man nervously replied “no Mrs. Morrison and in fact I’d rather be speaking to the bear right now”.

Mom was blessed with wonderful friends, and none were dearer to her than her teaching community. For as many years as I can remember, the St. Mark’s School year-end barbeque was held at mom and dad’s place. Teachers would gather to say goodbye for the summer, to watch their beloved school principal Bert Kennedy barbeque what seemed like hundreds of pounds of steak and finally, no joyous Irish hosted gathering would be complete without a good supply of adult beverages and endless laughter. She missed her time with her St. Marks family and often described that period as her most rewarding, both professionally and personally.

My mother and father met in Noranda, Quebec and were married in 1945 and the rest was history. Mom was teaching and dad was with Noranda mines. They went on to first have three girls, Diane, Donna and Anne. Mom often laughed how dad was kidded about not being able to produce a son and so finally he just put his mind to it and had four boys: Paul, Peter, Michael and John. Mom would tease us that they were planning to have boys named after each of the 12 apostles but decided to stop because they simply didn’t have a big enough supper table.

Mom and Dad were blessed with 15 grandchildren: Angela & Danny, Toban, Shawna & Katherine, Matthew & Victoria, Neil & Dale, Steven & David, Shane & Terilyn, Lexy and Eva. They also have five cherished great grandchildren: Samuel & Gabrielle, Nicholas, Everette and Benjamin.

Family was everything to mom and we know her children were her pride and joy. She loved her sons and daughter-in-laws, her grandchildren and her great grandchildren. She was proud of all of their accomplishments and for all those yet to come.

Our mother played many roles in our lives. She played the loving wife, parent and grandmother, the wise matriarch, the teacher, the referee, the guidance counselor, and with four boys, occasionally played the bouncer, and she played each role skillfully.

As all children do, we all have special memories of our mothers. Our mom was particularly proud of her baking skills and with 7 children she did her fair share. Buying baked goods simply wasn’t an option. My sisters have fond memories of a particular Olympic event in our house - bread making. Diane, Anne and Donna would help Mom bake dozens of loaves of bread. In order to get the yeast to rise, bread pans would be placed on every bed and chair in the house and then covered with blankets, towels and winter coats. And the reward, after all that work, was not only having no chair to sit on but they couldn’t go outside to play without their coats.

Mom loved to bake shortbread cookies at Christmas. She would make a dozen cookie trays and then freeze them as fast as she could to avoid having the boys devour them in one sitting. Her strategy was to freeze them so that they were like miniature hockey pucks and assumed that would be a deterrent. To her utter amazement it didn’t even slow us down. They were simply too delicious frozen solid or thawed. It was suggested that perhaps she should bury the cookie tins in a snow bank under the assumption it would be harder for us to find them. Needless to say she was not amused by our suggested solution.

Peter still laughs at the time mom sent him a tin of home made cookies when he was away at university. Peter shared the cookies with his roommates and they all decided that mom made this batch extra chewy. When he returned home for Christmas mom was baking her shortbread cookies and was busily looking for a small bag of elastics she kept in the cupboard. He never told her that he knew where they ended up. She would have been horrified had she known that they had fallen into the cookie dough. And besides, there wasn’t much point in telling her since in the end all of his roommates agreed they were still the best cookies they had eaten in a long time.

It was no secret that mom loved a good night at bingo. This was mom’s time to get away from it all, relax and do what she loved “to yell Bingo! Loud and clear” Many an evening Mom would come home from bingo with the night’s jackpot in her hand and when mom won, we all won a piece of the booty. There was one time every year when we wished mom wasn’t such a good bingo player and that was when the Ottawa exhibition came to town in late August. Mom loved to clean out the prize tables at the outdoor bingo tents. Growing up in our house meant constantly getting use to lots of new lamps, fixtures, pictures, small appliances and countless do-dads and knickknacks – mom loved the challenge of winning.

If you knew our Mom you also know that she never backed down from a fight. She spent years attending city council meetings trying to get the family farm rezoned to residential so that she could partition the land into 1 and 2 acre building lots. Her perseverance paid off and Kilroy Crescent was born. Two years later, the municipality realized that the actual road running through the community had never been legally signed over to the city. Prior to accepting formal ownership, the city tried to get my parents to spend a small fortune to upgrade the road prior to the official transfer. My mother’s response, after consulting with residents, was to tell the city that they had 1 week to finalize the transfer or she would be installing a toll booth and charging residents each time they came and went. After all, the city still saw it as her property and therefore she could do whatever the hell she pleased. Not surprisingly, the city assumed ownership by the end of the week.

Like our Dad, mom had a keen interest in politics providing the conversation was around the Liberal Party and that anyone else in power was but a plague on the country. I recall her having many stern conversations with my father during a campaign which only intensified on Election Day. My father of course refused to tell my mother who he was voting for, claiming it was no one’s business but his own, but the real reason was that he knew it would drive her crazy to think that he might cancel her vote.

When Dad died, her life did change. She missed him every day, and the weeks around the anniversary of his death, his birthday and Christmas which was dad’s favorite holiday were especially painful for her. Mom’s sorrow was eased over the years, as she watched her family grow with new grandchildren and great grandchildren, and her family remained a source of strength and joy.

Another source of peace and comfort in her life was the time she resided at Aylmer Arms Seniors apartments. We always felt that this was such an appropriate place for mom to live. From her primary balcony she could oversee the school yard she walked so often and hear the students play and the bells ring to start and end classes. From her secondary balcony she could keep a respectful eye on Father Bill.

Mom had recently started to have recurring dreams of my father, dreams so vivid that she could reach out and touch him, she even recognized the clothes he was wearing. The dream had them walking along opposite sides of a riverbank, my dad smiling and not saying a word just staring at my mom as they walked. She was frustrated that she was so close to him but couldn’t find a crossing point. Although she didn’t say so we suspect she knew her time to be apart from my father was drawing to an end and whether this was merely a dream or a premonition we now know that she has found the crossing to the other side of the river and is walking hand-in-hand with dad.

Mom had a tremendous and undying faith in God. Mom would pray every day for her friends and loved ones, both living and deceased. After living 92 years, a person watches a lot of loved ones depart but we know her faith helped her to endure so many losses and still maintain her strength and happy demeanor. We know that our Mother’s faith meant that she believed in a life after death, one that would allow her to rejoin her loved ones, and so we know she's happy to be with her family and friends that have gone before her.

Mom may have left us here on earth, but we are fortunate to have that hole in our hearts filled to the brim with countless memories.

Thank you mom, for allowing all of us to say our last goodbyes today. We parted with no regrets, no unfinished business, and no unsaid words. Though we didn't want to see you go, you needed to, and knowing you were ready and your faith made you unafraid made your departure from us that much easier.

Thoughts of you will bring us comfort. You’re in all our hearts, you are not gone. We know you are listening and so you know that we love you and how much we will miss you. But our sadness is fleeting knowing that we will all meet again in our own time, but until then know that we will never stop loving and thinking about you. Give Diane and Dad a big hug from all of us. Tell them how much we miss them. And remember, Dad always hated to lose to you when playing euchre so let him win the first game before you remind him after all these years who the true card champ was.

We will miss your presence, your love and strength.

Your memory will always be close to our hearts.

Rest now and know that yours was a life well lived and that we will always be together.

Eulogy written and read at Mom's funeral by Rhoda Scott of her memories of our mother as a fellow teacher at St. Mark's School

Father Bill, Family, and Friends:

When asked by the family if I would like to say a few words about their mother's professional life, I was both touched and honored to have the opportunity to speak about such a special lady. As I began to piece together my thoughts, I realized that I could not separate Audrey the teacher from all that made Audrey who she was. The very qualities that made her such an exceptional wife and mother were the same qualities that she brought to the teaching profession.

First and foremost, Audrey was blessed with unwavering faith. This faith was her anchor as she helped raise seven children and taught school for forty-one years in Noranda, Hull, and Aylmer. Despite the demands of home life and school, she remained rooted in faith, caring for loved ones in all of life's challenges. She respected and encouraged the role of religion in the school life at St. Mark's, and I recall her telling us that nothing is too difficult if we have faith. She was faith in action, supporting many of the staff through challenging times, as we felt her compassion and understanding. She embodied the old Irish proverb, "it is in the shelter of each other that the people live." Audrey also had faith in her students. She adopted each class as her family, and she often asked for the students who were (to use one of her phrases) "little tinkers". She believed in her students. She nurtured them with a gruff, no-nonsense exterior, but they all grew to recognize her care and concern for them. At the same time, it was not unusual to pass her door and hear her say: "You'd better watch it, mister!" or, "Now listen here!" She taught at a time when children who had special needs were not identified, yet, without formal training in special education, she recognized individual needs within a group setting. She was resourceful and patient and she often found little jobs for them to do around the school to build confidence and a sense of acceptance. Audrey was also acting principal in Mr. Kennedy's absence and let me assure you that no student dared to act up when she was in charge!

Audrey also possessed a deep love of family and friends. Never have any of us seen a mother with more love and pride in her children and grandchildren. She would proudly show us the latest pictures, and interspersed with the pictures were Audrey's tongue in cheek comments about their latest antics or activities! At school, she always took the new teachers under her wing. We felt her support and knew that she would go to bat for any of us if we needed it. She was always open to new ideas and change, and we knew if we were off base on something, she would fold her arms, sit back, and give us 'the look," usually accompanied with 'well, hmmm". All who knew her were enriched by her keen sense of humor and her love of life. If laughter is indeed the music of the soul, then we had lots of music! She always fostered a positive school environment, and many of us congregated to her classroom door at recess to listen to her wisecracks and jokes! We always hoped to be assigned to the same floor and hall as her classroom, and those who weren't were quite envious, as this was where the action was! At the end of every school year, our staff parties were often held at John and Audrey's home on Kilroy Crescent, which Bert Kennedy, our Principal, always affectionately called "Morrison's Back Forty!" Audrey and Phyllis Diguer, our secretary, would organize the salads and desserts, and Bert and John would man the barbeque and serve the drinks. It's a good thing that cell phones weren't in existence then as many a student would have been astonished at the behavior of some of their teachers! It was all harmless fun, and Audrey, the good, caring soul that she was, would check that we were all okay to be driving home. I'm sure that Andrew can remember the time that Audrey grabbed him by the collar and told him in no uncertain terms that he would be sleeping it off at their place!

Audrey was her own person! She possessed integrity and courage to do the right thing in any situation. One always knew at staff meetings if she disagreed with something, for her cheeks would turn a bright red, she would fold her arms, and wait for an opportunity to voice her opinion, and voice her opinion she did! While she was tolerant and accepting of others' opinions, she was her own person. One time, in the early eighties, we had an illegal strike in Quebec. Audrey was furious that we felt coerced by the Union to go out, and she refused to follow the rest. She stated in no uncertain terms that under no condition would she lose a day's pay, affect her pension, and hold the children hostage for an illegal walkout! Sure enough, while picketers from other areas marched in front of our school, Audrey and one other brave soul, struggled through the snow behind the building and walked into the school through the gym doors. Once inside, she bravely turned on the lights in her classroom and proceeded to work! That was our Audrey!

Today we celebrate Audrey, the mother, grandmother, aunt, teacher and friend. They are all interwoven, and to quote John W. Schlatter, "A teacher knows that if he builds with love and truth, what he builds will last forever." Your mother was a true teacher in every sense of the word, in every aspect of her life. May you find comfort in the knowledge that her life has not ended; it has simply changed and become all that she had anticipated with such eagerness while here on earth.

May God bless you, my friend, until we meet again.