Jean Diniakos Renaud

Jean passed into the loving arms of her Lord and Savior on April 23, 2012. She will be lovingly remembered by her children, Karen Renaud, Rhonda (Warren) Workman and Raymond (Vicky) Renaud; her grandchildren Danielle (Steve) Krause (Megan, Tyler and Paul); Jeff (Michelle) Renaud (Reese, Carter, Rhya and Livia); Nicole (Bryce) Liesemer (Sarah and Mark); Luke Workman, Josh Workman and Logan Renaud. Jean was predeceased by her husband of 62 years, Ray Renaud, her parents, John and Georgina Diniakos and her seven siblings.

Calgary was home to Jean. She grew up in Victoria Park and attended Western Canada High School. Jean played competitive fastball for many years. Ray and Jean resided in Ogden where they raised their family and participated in the community. She enjoyed sports, quilting and camping but most of all cherished spending time with her family. She was loved by many and will be remembered always.

A Funeral Service was held at South Calgary funeral Centre, 12700 Macleod Trail South, (at Lake Fraser Gate) Calgary on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 at 2:00 p.m.

Flowers are respectfully declined, however, if friends so desire, a donation can be made in Jean’s honour directly to Bethany Airdrie Care Foundation, 1736 – 1 Avenue NW, Airdrie, AB T4B 2C4.

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CELEBRATION OF LIFE SERVICE - MAY 2, 2012 2:00 p.m.

Processional music playing "Morning Has Broken" for Formal Seating of the Family

WELCOME AND PRAYER – Jeff Renaud

Good afternoon everyone. My name is Jeff Renaud. I am a pastor and I am also a grandson of Isabella Jean Renaud and it is my privilege to lead us all through this service of celebration of her life. Her full name was Isabella, but I don’t know if anyone ever called her that – she was more affectionately known by a few other names - Jean, Jeannie, or to her family as Nonie. I will be using all three interchangeably during this service, but of course they all point to her. She was a loyal and dedicated daughter and sibling, a faithful and loving wife, and an extremely devoted mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Earlier today we gathered as a family and said good-bye at the cemetery, and it was a difficult but also good time together, and now as we gather here this afternoon, we want to celebrate Jean well. We really want to thank all of you for coming today to honour Jean. It really means a lot to us. And as hard as it is to gather like this, if there is something beautiful about it is that it really affords us the chance to stop our busy lives and schedules, to breathe deeply, to focus our thoughts and attention on an amazing woman, and to really honour her and celebrate her as much as possible.

In the same way as we celebrated my grandfather’s amazing life last year, this service has a lot of emotions being felt, all at the same time. It really is the perfect storm of grief, relief, and complete joy, all emotions that are guests with us today. Grief is the most obvious guest, and it barges in regardless of whether it is welcome or not. All of us who knew Jean know how well she lived – with her spunky nature and easy love for others, and we feel the loss here this afternoon. To a large degree today actually feels very surreal that we are doing this, to be standing here today. But something I have learned about grief is that it is a direct reflection of the love that we shared for Jean. Psychiatrist Erich Fromm said this about grief, he said, “To spare oneself from grief at all cost can only be achieved at the price of total detachment. Doing so forfeits the ability to experience happiness.” We experienced so much happiness because of Jean, and because of that, grief is now part of us.

Relief is also a guest that makes itself known here today, because many of us knew how much pain Jean was in over the last season of her life – pain both physically and also emotionally from losing Ray. Relief is a welcome guest here because we know that Jean is released from her pain here.

And besides grief and relief, joy is here too. Now joy is not as obvious, it is a much quieter guest that is more difficult to see. But make no mistake – joy is here as well. Joy becomes more evident when we allow ourselves the opportunity and reflect. We feel joy when we think of Jean’s contagious smile, or her from-the-gut laugh. We feel joy when we think of her around her family and friends, enjoying the many relationships she had. We feel joy when we reflect on the impact she had with each of us, in our own way, and she is remembered fondly. Like I said, today is really a perfect convergence of all three of these emotions, and we hold them in tension today.

Would you join me as we pray…and I will make sure I do not pray too long here, because I always remember my grandfather Ray leading our family in grace before a meal, and if his praying went too long, we all certainly knew about it…”Ray, we’re not here to listen to a sermon, we’re here to give thanks for our food. Hurry it up!” Let’s pray…

Father, we thank you so much for the immeasurable gift of Jean in our lives. She was a dear woman who brought life to so many and so many of us are who we are today because of the influence that Jean had in our lives. We know that you are the one who breathed life into her, who wired her to be the person she was, and without a doubt used her to let people everywhere know of your great love. Even in this hard time, we choose to give thanks to you, our Lord and Shepherd, for blessing us richly through Jean’s life. In the strong name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

SCRIPTURE READING ...............

Jean had a vibrant faith, an active relationship with Jesus that was clear to see. She also loved her Bible and read it regularly, and loved to write notes in the few Bibles she had. So appropriately, I want to read a passage from the Bible that I believe speaks of Jean and how she lived her life. It is found in Psalm 1, and listen to this beautiful picture painted here:

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

…like a tree planted by streams of water…I think describes Jean well. This does not mean that the tree did not have struggles, or that valleys did not come along with the mountaintops. But it does mean that she was blessed – and she produced fruit in season, meaning she blessed many because of how she lived her life. If she was here today I know she would downplay her influence on all of us, but we all know how much she meant. And I know as well that if she was here today, she would say that her life truly prospered.

SONG – Take My Hand Precious Lord

When Jean first heard the song “Take My Hand Precious Lord” at First Alliance Church where her and Ray attended for many years, she loved it and it spoke to her. And so I will invite you to sit back and reflect as it is played for us now.

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EULOGY

At this time I will invite Luke Workman, one of Jean’s grandsons, to share the eulogy with us today.

Forever Young at Heart ........

We are gathered here today to celebrate the life of Isabella Jean Renaud - a wonderful mother, grandmother and friend. Her caring personality was shared with, and touched, many people throughout her life. Family was always most important to Jean, and she endeavoured to help those close to her in any way she could. Being Jean’s grandson, I am honoured to share the story of her life.

***** Family Came First

Jean Renaud (nee Diniakos), known as Jeannie, Mom or Nonie, was born in Edmonton, Alberta in 1929. Her parents were John and Georgina Diniakos. Her father John, a lifelong cook, was born in Athens, Greece and her mother Georgina (nee Davidson), hailed from Edinburgh, Scotland. They met and were married in Toronto before heading west. The Diniakos’s had a large family - sons John, George, Bill, David and Steve, and daughters, Irene, Alice and the youngest, Jean. The family moved to Calgary when Jean was a young child.

Jean deeply loved her family, and her caring nature started early in life. Her brother Steve suffered from diabetes and Jean would give him his insulin shots while they were growing up. Jean was to remain close with her siblings and parents her entire life. In fact, she and her husband Ray would eventually live in Victoria Park in Calgary within a few blocks of her parents following their marriage, and would take great care of her parents as they aged. Jean and Ray would arrange holidays to see her brother John in California, and brother Bill would often visit his sister from Hamilton.

***** A Talented Athlete

Jean grew up in the Victoria Park neighbourhood in Calgary, with the Elbow River and Scotsman Hill as her playgrounds. One of Jean’s favourite stories was about growing up during the Great Depression. Her typical summer day would include a lunch consisting of a lettuce sandwich, followed by playing in the Elbow River with her siblings. Jean developed an early love of sports, especially fastball, and honed her skills by playing catch with herself against the side of the Westin Bakery. Jean was a tremendous athlete all of her life, and growing up she developed into a skilled and successful fastball player. She could play any position on the field but truly excelled at pitching and playing short-stop. In 1946, while playing for the Alex ball team, she helped the team win a provincial championship. After this victory, her team was lucky enough to travel via train to Vancouver to compete in the Canadian championships. She was once again a champion in 1952 when the Burns Shamrocks, a team that was immortalized above the coffee maker in her basement, won the city championship. Throughout her life, Jean was tremendously dedicated to the people and things she cared about, and sports were no exception. Fastball was high on this list. For example, when her ball team had a game scheduled on her wedding night, sure enough, Jean was in attendance!

***** A Family of Their Own

Jean and Ray’s journey towards starting a family of their own began in 1946 when Jean was working at the Lucky Star Diner. As chance would have it, a young Ray Renaud came in for lunch. Later that summer, during the Calgary Stampede, Ray and Jean ran into each other again, and Ray offered to take her on the ferris wheel. Jean replied as only she could in a slightly stubborn manner: “I can pay my own way thank you”. Their love for each other was first celebrated when they were married in 1948. This deep and lasting love never waned throughout the over 60 years they were together. Jean and Ray started their family in 1950 welcoming Karen into the world, followed by Rhonda in 1954 and Raymond in 1957. Shortly after Raymond came along, the family moved to a home at 8044 25th St. SE in the Ogden area. It was in this house where they settled and raised their children. Jean and Ray would become staples of the community, residing in the same house for over 50 years.

Jean was always involved in her children’s lives, taking great care of them and providing a loving home in which to grow up. Jean created a warm and welcoming home, whether it was for their own friends visiting, or for their children’s friends coming to hang out. Jean was the coach for Rhonda and Karen’s ball teams, and would often host those teams at the house. She always had an open door to her home, and would provide support for anyone in the community if needed. Jean was a very caring person who would do anything to take care of those who were close to her.

***** A Dependable Provider

During the years when her children were growing up, Jean did everything in her power to provide for her children and ensure that they had great lives. She was extremely hard working and held a variety of jobs throughout her life. During her early years, she worked at the Alexandra Hotel, which she would forever affectionately call “the Alex”. She was hired there by Mr. Cam Burke whom she knew from when she played for the Alex ball team. Her first job at the Alex was as an elevator attendant, followed by some time working the switchboard. Eventually she would become the bookkeeper, and all-around organizer for the Alex. She and Mr. Burke would remain close, and for the Stampede parade, he would set up a wooden plank between filing cabinets in his office so that her daughters Karen and Rhonda had the chance to watch the parade from the Alex.

Jean also held other jobs while her kids were growing up, such as at the Stampede racetrack with the pari-mutual betting. Jean would leave the kids with her parents while she worked. Inevitably, her parents would take the kids over to the racetrack to see their Mom. Jean also spent some time working at the counter of the Calgary Curling Club. Her selflessness was exemplified by working the nightshift at a telephone answering service. This way, she was able to spend the day with her kids, while working at night to help support the family. During the Christmas rush, she would work at the Post Office to ensure she could have some extra money to spoil her family and friends during the holiday season. She was a hardworking woman who would do anything to take care of her family.

***** Travels and the Church

Jean was always young at heart and up for an exciting trip or a fun event. In 1967 Jean and Ray travelled to the Montreal Expo. In 1978 she and her friend Freda travelled to Europe together, travelling by car throughout Europe with Jean doing most of the driving. The highlight of her trip was visiting Athens, the birthplace of her father. For their 50th wedding anniversary, Jean and Ray travelled to Laughlin, Nevada, as they never minded a win at the slots. For their Golden Wedding Anniversary, the “Old-Limp-ics” was held by the family with a variety of athletic competitions taking place. Jean, even in her late 60’s, still emerged victorious in many events.

Throughout her life she showed tremendous devotion to the Lord. While living in Ogden and raising a family, she attended both the United Church and the South Hill Church. Jean and her son Raymond started attending a weeknight service at the Calgary Baptist church in 1981. In 1983 she attended the Liberty Baptist Church, and Ray began to join her at church during this period. In 1986 Jean and Ray would start attending the First Alliance Church, and were deeply touched by the services given by Pastor Wendell Grout. Jean was a willing servant of the Lord, and often was at the church on weekdays, being a member of the quilting guild and the prayer group, and doing whatever she could to help the needs of the church at the time. Jean and Ray developed many strong friendships at First Alliance, and would open the doors of their home for a weekly bible study. They would continue to attend First Alliance for 15 years. Even after health struggles restricted them from going to church, Jean would continue to watch and listen to sermons on TV by Pastor Charles Stanley to maintain her strong devotion to the Lord.

***** A Gracious Hostess and Avid Camper

Family gatherings were always a staple at the Ogden residence. For many years, Jean and Ray would host the family for Christmas, Easter and plenty of birthday parties. Jean was a great hostess and always had enough food to feed a small army. She was an excellent cook and enjoyed making everyone’s favourite dish. No one could make a roast as tender or a Yorkshire pudding rise so high! As a teenager, I always loved the abundance of food, and I probably consumed enough munchie mix at Nonie and Grandpa’s to last a lifetime. Jean had many special dishes she would make for family and no one will ever make a Tourtiere or Grautkauga that would compare. She also made some pretty darn good "Nonie’s Sconies". The other constant along with food at all family gathering was an abundance of coffee. Jean loved her coffee, and I think the coffee drinkers in this room can at least partially blame her for developing that love of coffee. When I think of her kitchen, it will always have a full pot of coffee, no matter what time of the day.

Before and during their retirement years, Jean and Ray indulged their love of camping. When their kids were small, they would head to Gull Lake each year for two weeks of vacation. When they were camping, they loved going with, or meeting, their family at various locations. One of their favourite camping spots was at Redstreak in Radium, British Columbia. During the time they spent in Radium they would frequent the Hot Springs. A fond and vivid memory of Jean during this time was doing the dead man’s float in the Radium Hot Springs pool – what appeared so easy for her made anyone else who tried it look like they were drowning. Another favourite vacation spot for Jean and Ray was Kokanee Springs. It was here where Ray could golf and Jean would have peace and quiet to do her quilting.

***** A Grand Grandmother

Nonie, as Jean was fondly called, was an amazing Grandmother to all of her grandchildren. She was rewarded with six grandchildren: Danielle, Jeff, Nicole, Luke, Josh and Logan; and nine great grandchildren: Megan, Tyler, Paul, Reese, Carter, Rhya, Livia, Sarah and Mark. She always had a knack for making each of them feel extremely special, sending homemade birthday and Valentine cards with stickers and her beautiful calligraphy.

Jean had so many qualities which made her an awesome grandmother. The first was her kindness, as she was always interested and cared about the lives of her grandchildren. I think we all thought of Nonie and Grandpa’s house as a second home, somewhere we all felt tremendously safe and loved. This love was shown in Jean’s TV room where she kept everything she held dear. The walls were lined with pictures of her children, grandchildren and all of the family friends. Also in this room was the near sacred TV Guide, which would be scoured and highlighted for all the various shows of the week. Then there was the cabinet beside her seat, which always appeared to me to be like the tickle trunk. It seemed quite small but was able to hold everything which she could ever need while in that room. She also had her special seat in the kitchen. It was from there that she could see and keep a watchful eye on the neighbourhood, and of course Ray, if he was puttering around in the front yard.

She always had a keen interest in any sporting endeavours taken on by her grandchildren. Growing up I always thought that Jeff was the best bowler and Danielle was the best ball player in the whole city. Who could be better based on the number of trophies that were displayed proudly in Jean’s basement? Maybe that is why I chose to play hockey and golf, as I decided to choose a different sport to get some of my trophies on the wall! Even after Jean and Ray had moved to Airdrie, she would still faithfully go watch Logan’s football games, with walker and oxygen tank in tow.

Not only was Jean a fun loving grandmother, we also thought she had the most amazing skills. How many other grandmas would challenge their grandkids to a Gameboy playing competition? (The sad part, for the kids at least, is that Nonie would usually win.) She would also often regal us with her wide variety of skills. For example, her yoyo abilities - Josh and I tried for years to walk the dog like Nonie with no success; her juggling skills; and standing on her head. I don’t think any other grandma had skills like Nonie!

***** The Later Years

In 2009, Jean and Ray moved to the Bethany Care Centre in Airdrie. Immediately Jean endeared herself to the staff and residents of the community. She kept her young at heart attitude even when living at the Bethany, as she would always say, “well those are the senior seniors, they are the old people, not me”. Living in Airdrie allowed her to spend more time with Raymond, Vicky and Logan, as they would often pop by for a visit with her.

My Nonie will always be an inspiration to me. Her young at heart and hardworking attitude will always be qualities to strive to emulate. Most of all, the love she showed for her family and her husband Ray will never be forgotten and creates a great example for us all.

Nonie, you are loved and you will be missed greatly.

by Luke Workman, Grandson of Jean Renaud

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CELEBRATION OF LIFE continued ..........

SONG – Just as I Am

Jean always loved to watch Billy Graham crusades, and the one song that was played as people responded to Billy Graham’s call forward was, “Just As I Am.” She loved this song as well, so we will play it at this time.

MESSAGE / REFLECTIONS

Teacher and journalist Leo Rosten said this about life: “I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be "happy." I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate. It is, above all, to matter and to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.” Without a doubt, this is how Jean lived – incredibly purposed, responsible, and compassionate among other descriptors. Many of us may say that we were influenced so much by Nonie, but let me take a few minutes in our time this afternoon to articulate exactly how so many of us were influenced by her. There are truly a myriad of ways, but let me speak for my family and some of you here, and so I’ve titled this sharing time simply, “Three things that Nonie taught us about living”.

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER ............

Nonie taught us to be passionate about life itself. Saint Ireneous – an early church father and bishop of what is now France – said that “the glory of God is man (or woman) fully alive”. In other words, life is more than the summation of tasks to accomplish, of work to do, bills to pay, and tasks to cross off, but to engage with life and allow our heart not just to beat but to come alive in our passions for work and people – this was Nonie. Anyone who knew Jean knew that she was tenacious, spunky, passionate, and fully alive. Perhaps part of this came from her Scottish and Greek blood in her, but I think it was just the way she saw the world. Now Jean always seemed youthful, and she didn’t really fit the normal picture of a grandmother. A normal grandmother in my eyes is one who is older, who sits and knits all day, drinks tea, wears curlers, and moves slowly. Jean was not this way – not at all. She became a grandmother at age 39, and she seemed to defy what this normal grandmother looked like. She always seemed young, at least until her physical ailments caught up with her, but even still, she was mentally young. She loved watching current shows like CSI and Mentalist. In fact, I've been told that she particularly like the Mentalist not for the story line but for the handsome young man man who stars in it. She knew who got voted off Survivor or American Idol, and she kept up on current events instead of just thinking about her own world. And regarding current events, politics, curling, or even fashion, we all know she was not afraid to give her opinion.

I always remember Jean being tough as well. I remember downstairs in her home in the rumpus room was a dart board set up, really close to the dining room table. Well, for some reason my grandfather Ray and I were allowed to play, even as food was being brought down for our Christmas turkey dinner. As Jean walked by once, it was perfect timing as a dart had just ricocheted off the dart board, turned in mid-air, came down and stabbed Jean’s arm, so much so that it stuck in. She just yelled “Ray!”, pulled the dart out, and didn’t skip a beat. Here I’m thinking that we could have killed my grandmother, and she passes it off like nothing happened.

Nonie’s strength and tenacity was seen especially during her last number of years as her body wore down more and more, and in this last year as she has had to adjust to single life after being married to our grandfather for the last sixty-two years. They were not always easy days, but every day, she had a resiliency, a positive disposition to the doctors and workers around her, and still tried to be as upbeat as possible. She has taught us to keep our chin up, to not just get by, but to give it your all – every single day. I believe that Jean was faithful to each day, lived it as full as she could, and her days strung together to be a beautiful life.

The second thing Jean taught us about life was to be passionate about others. That we need to be not so consumed on ourselves but instead focused on the lives going on around us. We saw this in so many ways. From Jean we all learned that we offer a hand of friendship before we make judgments. We have learned that we are to help where help is needed. And people were influenced mightily. Listen to a family friend’s words about Nonie when she found out that she passed away: “Your Mom's kindness to me while I was growing up will be fondly remembered. I am so grateful that I was able to tell Jean how much she influenced my life. It is because of Jean and Ray's kindness and generosity to me that I decided to work with children and give back all that had been shared with me.” Jean’s focus on others had a huge ripple effect on someone’s life and ultimately on a huge number of children too.

Jean’s passion for others shone brightly with her family as well. I ran into a friend I hadn’t seen in sometime last week, and when he found out I had four kids now, he simply said, “I’m sure it’s not that hard. As parents, once you hit three, you realize that your life is not your own anyway.” I think that would have been true with Jean. She adored her own family growing up, and also the new family she had with Ray. With our growing family, we have seen that Jean was without a doubt the matriarch, the mother hen who protected her own always. I really only remember Nonie being at two places in her entire house - at the kitchen table, and in her TV room – her two elements. And it was there that we talked about much of what was going on in life. And while I remember a lot of doing with Grandpa, I remember a lot of simply being with Nonie – chatting about so many different things. And I am not alone. As Josh told me this past week, he remembers the deep value of conversation and connection that he had with her.

Their house was also a gathering place for all of us for so many years, and while Christmas was ok at other peoples’ houses, it just didn’t have the same feel as Christmas in their basement – fire roaring, family enjoying laughter and stories, and always eating great food. I remember when Jean had known about my then-girlfriend Michelle, and when I finally brought her over to meet Ray and Jean, Jean gave her a big hug and was really polite to her. Then she said excuse me while she went around the corner and phoned Aunty Rhonda. Thinking she was out of earshot, she told her that she had met Michelle, and that she was beautiful, but she said, “She’s so skinny she looks like she’s from a third-world country!” Michelle wasn’t exactly sure what to make of that – was that a compliment? Sure, let’s take it as a compliment. But I remember right from day one, Michelle was accepted as part of the family. Through learning and watching Nonie and Grandpa, I have been challenged in my life to be the very best husband and father to my family – to provide for them, protect them, and let them know I love them.

The third thing I think we all learned well off of Jean is a passion for Jesus. She and Grandpa introduced my family to their church in a time when we were in a deep valley. They invited us to their church and we went. Soon that would become the place where I learned that we can have a personal relationship with Jesus, and that church would become a central place for me for the next nine years of my life, and would even lead me to sense a calling into ministry – all because Nonie and Grandpa wanted us to come to church with them. They allowed everyone around them to see the change that took place when they gave their hearts to Jesus. It was a very natural but noticeable change, and we learned not just to be good religious people, but rather to have the opportunity to walk with God in a very real way.

Because of that relationship, we know without a shadow of a doubt where Jean is today – at this very moment. Romans 10:9 says, “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Nonie knew this, trusted Jesus with her life, and she would want all of you to know this today. And though we are at this intersection of incredible grief at missing someone so special to us, grief intersects with joy. And this joy comes from having more than just a faint hope that she is in a better place. The verse I just read gives us full confidence that she is in the presence of her Lord. It is not because she attended church, or did nice things, or crossed her fingers and hoped for the best, but because she knew and believed that Jesus is Lord. The last book of the Bible gives us a clear glimpse of what eternity will be like. Listen to the faith-filled words found in Revelation chapter 21. It says, “3: And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4: He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5: He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

We are joy-filled because the pain in Nonie’s life is gone. She even had these words hand-written by her in the back of her Bible. She wrote, “Heaven is…no more fear, or loneliness, or sin, or death, or tears”. When I sat my daughter Reese down to tell her the sad news of Nonie passing away, she smiled and simply said, “This is good! Now she is with Jesus and Papa!” This is so very true indeed. Because of her passion for Jesus, I have a great example to follow of having a relationship with the living God.

Nonie had a passion for life itself, a passion for others, and a passion for Jesus. There are so many other ways to describe Nonie, so many other things to say. But these three things she taught us will live inside us for the rest of our lives, and all of us here today are richer and deeper people because of the blessing of such a tremendous woman.

LIFE REFLECTION IN PICTURES

Well we all know the power of a picture – it often does more than what words can do. It tells a story. It represents significant milestones. It captures character, and gives us a window into someone’s very heart and life. Pictures can speak to our soul. I would invite you to join me as we take time to reflect on Jean’s life this way now.

Video tribute shown while 3 songs played:

"In My Life" by The Beatles

"I Come To The Garden" by Klass

"Time To Say Good-Bye" by Andrea Bocelli

CLOSING BENEDICTION

Please stand as we close our time together with a benediction (just as I finished off our time celebrating Grandpa last year)…

May the Lord bless you in the days ahead,

May He fill your minds with sweet memories of Nonie.

May He express to you his goodness in ways both familiar and new,

And may He make known to you his rich and unending love and grace, as only our good Father can give.

Amen

I will now pass it over to the people here at South Calgary Funeral Centre to lead us into the reception.

RECESSIONAL to instrumental music "Be Thou My Vision"

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Jean passed into the loving arms of her Lord and Savior on April 23, 2012. She will be lovingly remembered by her children, Karen Renaud, Rhonda (Warren) Workman and Raymond (Vicky) Renaud; her grandchildren Danielle (Steve) Krause (Megan, Tyler and Paul); Jeff (Michelle) Renaud (Reese, Carter, Rhya and Livia); Nicole (Bryce) Liesemer (Sarah and Mark); Luke Workman, Josh Workman and Logan Renaud. Jean was predeceased by her husband of 62 years, Ray Renaud, her parents, John and Georgina Diniakos and her seven siblings.

Calgary was home to Jean. She grew up in Victoria Park and attended Western Canada High School. Jean played competitive fastball for many years. Ray and Jean resided in Ogden where they raised their family and participated in the community. She enjoyed sports, quilting and camping but most of all cherished spending time with her family. She was loved by many and will be remembered always.

A Funeral Service was held at South Calgary Funeral Centre, 12700 Macleod Trail South, (at Lake Fraser Gate) Calgary on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 at 2:00 p.m.

Flowers are respectfully declined, however, if friends so desire, a donation can be made in Jean’s honour directly to Bethany Airdrie Care Foundation, 1736 – 1 Avenue NW, Airdrie, AB T4B 2C4.