Melanie Beth Vaive-Kertis

Melanie Beth Vaive-Kertis joined our big, bustling family on the 22nd of January, 1964, in Caro, Michigan; one of nine children who romped and stomped through various quaint homes in the Mitten. She would spend her 53 years giving all the love she could to anyone who would have it, and not a damn for what people thought of how she did it. An avid gardener, she always claimed she got her green thumb from her mother, Patricia June (Hepler) Vaive, and her nose from her father, Victor George Vaive. She obtained a degree as a Licensed Practical Nurse, and gave many years as a nurse and a beloved caregiver to the sick and the elderly. She worked at Jonesport and Narraguagas Bay nursing homes in Maine, and Arbor's East, Broadview, and Lutheran Village in Ohio, where she treated her patients like family. Some of Melanie's favourite hobbies included finding eccentric antiques, dressing her children and nieces in vintage clothing, and bragging about her daughters in their various exploits. Her proudest achievements have been as a doting mother, a mission on which she embarked in 1983, and pursued with vigour until the minute she left us on the first of March, 2017. She is survived by two brilliant and beloved daughters, Felicitee Kertis Yee (Shannon), and "Idgit", Isabelle Kertis, and by her devoted husband, favourite musician and best friend, Carl "Tony" Kertis. Preceded in death by her sister Susan Vaive, she has left behind five other sisters and two brothers; Karen, Kevin, Wendy, Garth, Jennifer, Josette, and Kimberlee. She also has a horde of nieces and nephews for whom she cared deeply, and an army of supportive friends. Melanie had a love for the odd, the obscure, and the eccentric, and we loved her right back. There are none among us with whom she could not sit and have a long, genuine heart-to-heart, and any one of us would trade the world to have just one more of those. A celebration of Melanie's life will be held on Saturday, March 4, 2017 from 3-6 pm at Schoedinger East Chapel 5360 E. Livingston Ave.