Thérèse Vallières Nantel

In her early years she was a seamstress working in a factory in Montreal. She also was a hairdresser in her free time. She met the love of her life Robert Nantel and was happily married in 1949 until Robert passed away in the year 2000.

She left behind five children: Marc, Carl, Pearl, Jean, Anne, and their spouses. She had nine grandchildren: Marco, Karin, Michael, Aimée, Laura, Robert, Joe, Kayleigh and McKenzie. She also left behind several great grandchildren and several sisters.

Thinking back on the early years about Thérèse, it was easy to see how she was the perfect mom and wife figure. She always dressed like the mom's on the tv shows 'Leave It To Beaver' and 'Father Knows Best' with the beautiful pleated long cotton dresses that she would sew for herself. Thérèse always had her small children dressed like a little prince and princess. She was an avid sewer and made all their beautiful matching outfits. She designed all her patterns by just measuring the person. She also could knit without looking down at the knitting while conversing with people. She had the most perfect stitches in her knitting and sewing. She was the envy for knitting beautiful sweaters. She knitted characters of dogs, clowns, etc on the sweaters and lined them for a jacket with a zipper. She continued sewing and knitting for her grown children and grandchildren. It was not uncommon for Thérèse to tell one of her children to return an item they'd bought because she could make an identical one for a fraction of the cost.

A very special memory was how Thérèse involved everyone in the family to participate in making yoyo bedspreads. She had cut up all the dresses and kids clothes that no longer fit and made circles that were all gathered together and sewn one by one together to create bedspreads.

Thérèse often said driving the Mercedes her husband had bought made her very happy. On his deathbed, he told her his biggest regret was when she no longer could drive the car and was sad he wouldn't be here to see her happy smile driving the car. She loved traveling in the RV with her husband. Whether she traveled to Connecticut or Canada to visit her cherished sisters, they were all very special RV trips that also included many different parts of the US and Canada. She took many tropical vacations with her children going to California, Mexico, Aruba, Florida and an anniversary cruise with her husband. Disney World was a fond memory for her, especially Epcot visiting many countries and tasting the foods. She would hum "It's A Small World" when she played cards with her grandchildren, and said it was one of her favorite songs.

Christmas Eve was a very important tradition for Thérèse. She would bake pastries, pies, and cakes starting two weeks in advance, and freezing until the Eve. A favorite was always the Canadian meat pies called 'Tourtière'. When the children were younger, the Christmas Eve celebration was always followed with midnight mass. It was special for her in her old age to attend Christmas Eve midnight mass again as she loved singing along to the Christmas religious songs. It seemed Thérèse would shop all year for presents for everyone. Her husband would tell her ‘she shopped till she dropped’. She would drop everything and drive to meet anyone at a store when someone would call her to come and give an opinion on a shopping item. Her baking was tastier and more professionally designed than any bakery could produce. She was the queen of making pie crusts and never measured nor wrote any of it down. She once attempted a small oil painting on a canvas of deer in the snow that amazed everyone of this hidden talent. She taught us so much and gave so much of herself.

This sweet loving mom and best friend to so many is/will always be in our prayers. There isn't a day that goes by wishing and hoping she is at peace reunited with her loving husband and God for an afterlife. Rest in Peace sweet Thérèse until we are reunited someday.