Vanessa Nessa Walton-Bone

Age 53 of Halifax passed away at home in the arms of her devoted husband on October 9, 2013. Born in Toronto, daughter of Patricia N (Cockrell) and the late Peter Walton Bone. Besides her mother, Patricia, Vanessa is survived by her sister Beverley Brown (Alan), Glasgow, Scotland and husband Ralph Alan Urquhart. Vanessa spent her early years in Richmond, London, England and the family returned to Canada in 1966 where she attended Branksome Hall and Jarvis Collegiate in Toronto. Some of her documented and admitted activities include: lead singer, Carpet Baggers Sarasota, Fla; the Steven Barry Blues Band in Montreal; studied at the Tyrrell School Mime and L’Omnibus Mime Company; clown with Dean Gilmour; Toronto jazz dance with Paul Petitford; principal dancer the Paulychenko Dance Company; a hair colour tech, waitress at the Peter Pan, a busker and punk; In Montego Bay, Jamaica she was artistic director of a dance company, did jingles for the JBC National Radio, and acted; travel rep for Paramount Holidays; In London obtained her degree at the Royal Academy of Music; acted at Donmar Warehouse and various smaller venues; successful fashion model; TV and print commercials; dramatic roles on Eastenders, Casualty and The Bill;courier; P.R. consultant; arranged two Royal Galas, meeting Princess Di along with many other celebrities. Back in Toronto to care for her pal, Lee, who had been stricken by AIDS. She continued stage, comedy and film including a principal role in “Lilly”, a David Marcoux film and landed a leading role as the lover of Dylan Thomas, starring Gary Oldman, but it lost funding before shooting. Improvisation training with Second City. In the mid 90's a series of small accidents resulted in major back surgery, which was unsuccessful and resulted in chronic back pain. Unable to perform and dependent on a walking stick, she switched to fine arts and design and was singer/songwriter with the “ Blind Penguins” . She had a successful stand-up routine and several sold out art shows. Hand-painted glass, jewellery and canvas became her artistic outlet. She escaped to Nova Scotia and in the fall of 2000 auditioned for a Dartmouth Players production of “Me and My Girl” which had Ralph Urquhart as musical director. In addition to her audition piece, Ralph had her sing “You Are My Sunshine” as a duet with him. He was quite taken with her poise, posh accent, big eyes, killer smile, sexy, smoky voice - get the picture? By July 2001 she and Ralph knew they had found their soul-mates. She operated “Vanessa hand painted glass”, a stall in the Halifax Farmers’ Market until early 2008. She continued building confidence and stamina as she took on various community theatre productions, primarily with Theatre Arts Guild. LunaSea Theatre Company introduced her to the professional Halifax scene as Malvolio in their production of Twelfth Night. Other critically acclaimed parts on film and stage ensued, culminating this past year with the successful short film, “Room Service” and as Lady Bracknell in Neptune’s “Importance of Being Ernest”. The acting community in Halifax was her extended family and she had never felt more at home than she did in Halifax nor had such a loving community. During their marriage, she and Ralph visited Hawaii, Cuba, Las Vegas, Bar Harbor, Scotland and, of course their favourites, Jamaica and London.

In the words of Rabbie Burns:

“But to see her was to love her,

Love but her, and love forever.

Had we never lov’d sae kindly,

Had we never lov’d sae blindly,

Never met- or never parted -

We had ne’er been broken hearted”

Friends (and admirers) are invited to share memories and stories during visitations in Cruikshank's Halifax Funeral Home, 2666 Windsor St, Halifax on Sunday, October 13 from 2 - 4 pm and Monday the 14th from 6 -8 pm. Internment arrangements are tentatively set for May 26, 2014 with a memorial service at Cruikshank's scheduled for 2:00 followed by a grave site service at St John's Cemetery, Halifax. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to;

Performing Arts Lodge (PAL) Halifax, 103-1660 Hollis St., Halifax, NS B3J 1V7

www.palhalifax.org or

Actor's Fund of Canada, 1000 Yonge St., Suite 301, Toronto, ON M4W 2K2

www.actorsfund.ca

To view or send an online condolence please visit: www.cruikshankhalifaxfuneralhomecom.