With love and affection, we want you to know of the passing of our mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, great-aunt and friend Betty on Sunday, December 4, 2022.
Bubba Betty, as she was known by her family, was in her later years often portrayed as quiet and serene, and she was. However, the Betty we know was a trail-blazer in many respects. She got her driver’s license when she was 16. She and her friend Ruth (Welling) bought a car, using it to drive back and forth from Shediac to Moncton for work and, on occasion, taking off for Montreal and farther afield. She went to Mount Allison University back in the time when women did not do that. In time, she met and married her life companion, Ken (Kipp) McKaigue, and with him set out on a path involving many houses and communities across Canada, and the Maritimes in particular, wherever Kipp’s work in the Canadian military took them. Betty and Kipp, once he was out of the military moved to Annapolis Royal where over 35 years established and ran several businesses including the Garrison House Restaurant, the Cheshire Cat B and B, and the Granville Ferry Store. Betty kept a rein on Kipp’s endless enthusiasm, at the same time, we know, enjoyed the risks of new adventures, ones that would take them even beyond Canada to boating on the canals of Europe and riding camels, her favourite animal, in Australia. Betty was always ready for a good political ‘discussion’ and often used her incredible knowledge of the day-to-day happenings in the world to oust anyone who dared to propose a contrary opinion.
Somewhere in all those moves came four children. Today, the family has grown to include the grand and great-grand children: Wendy-Jon (Wagner) with husband Lloyd and grandsons James (Dawson) with Heather, Liam (Dawson) with Katrina, and Tanya (Wagner) with great-grand-children Mason and Kannon; Tanya (Packer) with husband David and grandchildren Ryan (Packer) with partner Kirsten and great-grandson Hudson, and Maja (Packer); Shaun McKaigue with wife Rosemary and grandchildren Julianna (McKaigue), Eden (Miller) with husband Andrew and great grand-daughter Eva, and Alexandra (McKaigue); and Kevin McKaigue with wife Alison.
Betty and Kipp’s home was a connection point for the family. Family and friends were welcomed into their home where everything from just a lunch and a coffee to good old fashioned fun parties were the norm. Our family wants to include the important link to Betty’s parents Mark and Beatrice (Bea) Bateman who were very much central to the life of this family. The McKaigues, with Shirley (Betty’s sister) and Jack Sheridan and their three children became a tight group of Bateman descendants from Shediac Cape, New Brunswick.
So many memories of get-togethers over both good and bad times live on now through the McKaigue and Sheridan families because Betty kept them alive for us. As cousin Wes said, “We are sitting here tonight, reminiscing about all the wonderful memories involving Betty … we will miss those stories that bound us together as a family, and we’ll especially miss our last bastion of the Bateman clan.” True.
There will not be a service of commemoration at this time. In the next few months, Betty’s family will gather at the churchyard in the Cape to celebrate her and to inter her ashes. If anyone would like to acknowledge Betty and her life, we know she would appreciate your giving a donation to the Cancer Society or a charity of your choice.
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