Thérèse Philippe

Suddenly on January 31, 2011 at the Victoria General Hospital with family by her side Thérèse Philippe passed away at the age of 88.

Predeceased by her husband Xavier in 1980, she will be lovingly remembered by her children Colette, Ray (Claudette), her grandchildren Lauren (Murray), Renée (Todd), Jody (Shannon), and Jennifer (Jason), great grandchildren Tyson, Callie Anne, Evan, Dylan and Addison.

Terry lived one day at a time and always made herself available for the people that were special to her. She was a dedicated Wife, Mom, Gramma and Great-Gramma while enjoying gardening, bingo, her pets and travelling. Elle avait un bon sens d’humour et une grande “joie de vivre”.

The family would like to express their thanks to the Lions Manor Adult Day Club, our homecare workers, especially Lucy and Claudine.

A celebration of Thérèse’s life will be held at 2:00 pm on Monday, February 7, 2011 at Thomson “In the Park” Funeral Home, 1291 McGillivray Blvd, viewing prior to service.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to D’Arcy’s Animal Rescue Centre, Winnipeg or Alzheimer’s Society.

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Message By Reverend Don McIntyre

The apostle Paul nearly lost his life through shipwrecks and beatings but also times when he felt lost and alone emotionally and spiritually. Awaiting his imminent death in prison he wrote an epistle of ‘joy’ where he describes ‘joy’ as more than a mood or an emotion or expression. It is more than a feeling of happiness. Rather he defines ‘joy’ as possessing an inner sense of hope after enduring all that life can test you with. Joy enables one to see beyond any particular event in the past, good or bad and to accept life on life’s terms. He could write, “Love is patient and kind. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends” because He lived it, he knew what true love, the unconditional power greater than himself intimately.

There were days Terry worked hard at maintaining her serenity, learning to accept the things she could not change and the wisdom to know the difference. She learned to live her convictions so well you could say after her passing, “We’re pretty proud of the old girl. It didn’t matter what hand she was dealt, she kept on truckin.” She was always there for her family, never lectured but always there. As a friend of Bill W’s she had learned from experience to have strength and then hope. With the apostle Paul she could echo his words in her living, “Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing in the glory of god. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the holy spirit that has been given to us.”

It’s not like Terry wasn’t always a spiritual person. There are times in life when we choose not to tap into the power that is there. Life has life’s own way of reminding us not to give up loving ourselves.

Terry was born in St. Boniface but for many years her home and school was at a convent at St. Joseph’s Academy, St. Norbert and Bruxelles where her older sister who was a nun cared for her. She often spoke highly of the American nuns at Bruxelles. During the Great Depression her parents counted on Simone to provide parenting and schooling when their life was turned upside down with the stock market crash. Terry was able to attend school in Belgium in 1931 with the assistance of family savings and coinage saved from the First World War. With so many changes and challenges she learned to adapt easily to new people and places.

She met Xavier Phillipe while attending school at St. Claude. When they were married the city girl soon learned to milk a cow and hunt rabbits and become very proud of being a farmer’s wife, spoiling her husband with anything made of butter or whipped cream. She loved the outdoors. Many happy memories were of summer days at a camp near St. Laurent learning to be comfortable without modern necessities. In time the stress of long working days with little rest caring for cattle and bees and chickens began to take on Xavier’s health. They purchased a hotel in St. Jean in 1948 and sold it when it became known a new highway would be bypassing the village. They moved to a second farm for a short time before purchasing the Starbuck hotel. A short time later Terry decided to attend Success Business College. Soon, she found employment as an office or clerical worker in the city. When the hotel at Ill de Chenes was purchased she left the city to help run it. Then, in retirement she continued to settle on an acreage south of Ill de Chene. She was 55 years of age. It isn’t like this couple wasn’t busy as gardening and bee kept life active until they could find time to go fishing. When her beloved Xavier passed away in 1980 at 67 years of age Terry continued to reside on this retreat she loved, until 1996. She moved in to live with her daughter Collette but yearned to visit the farm on the week-ends. Never one to sit still you recalled how your mother worked at the Winnipeg Speedway rather than sit around. Although life had tested her she always appeared to you to be patient and calm. Over the years Grandma played a large role in your lives as a babysitter and cheerleader following her grandchildren to your sporting events or taking Jennifer shopping. Her assistance was appreciated so much she became known as Grandma Transit. She played cards with you, teaching you to count and improve your math as well as chew gum. She learned to adapt and live in the moment and life blessed her until recently.

She took advantage of opportunities to travel the world to New Zealand and Australia, Jamaica, Alaska and Mexico as well as traveling coast to coast in Canada and the United States with family and friends who were good to her. Again, as you recalled she always seemed to see the glass half full. As the apostle could write to the Philippians, “I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Rather than let resentments get out of hand and leave her feeling bitter she learned to lean on others who depended on a ‘higher power’ so rather than debate with God she would attend meetings for over forty years and read her book until it’s pages were well worn and as often happens if you follow and follow and follow you discover following leads to faith and life has purpose. Forgiveness, acceptance, empathy, understanding come as we choose to care about life as we were created to do. Spiritual qualities as humility and thankfulness become our focus. Love overcomes feelings of self-pity. Yes, you should have been proud of ‘the old girl’ for even in these years when dementia set in she wasn’t lost. She was content to watch the birds vie with the squirrels and rabbits at the bird feeder. Perhaps, this picture triggered memories of the farm and all the animals she had rescued, adopted, brought home, including a weasel. She loved her dogs and cats, spoiling one cat who lived to be 21 years old and another 16.

But, most importantly, she was proud of her son and daughter and your families. The poet Kahil Gibran wrote, |”Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.” I close with the words of a mother who had learned to be content. “I’m overwhelmed with the awareness that I helped to create you and your beautiful life. I feel in my memory the softness of your cheek and listen to memories of your laughing and I remember the times I felt your warmth s we hugged. As I think of the gentleness of your spirit I realize God has shared with me the greatest gift of all, the creating of a beautiful life. You are my best gift to the world. I see now that I really need little more from the world.” Happiness for the moment can meet our surface needs but inner joy and contentment meets our deepest needs.

In prison, it would seem Paul was writing his own obituary, “Finally beloved, whatever is true, whatever is pleasing, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things you have learned, and received and heard and seen in me and the God of peace will be with you.” Now let us find this inner joy that in time will lead to contentment as we focus on being thankful for God’s blessings and the times our souls touched long enough to feel content with what we had.

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