Born in Lunenburg on February 21st, 1922 to the late Captain George and Elsie (Corkum)
Himmelman, Laney graduated from Lunenburg Academy and the Halifax Infirmary School of
Nursing in 1943. She phracticed nursing briefly in Halifax before her marriage to the late Captain
Henry Kohler, C.M. in 1945 after which she returned to Lunenburg, where her two children Helga
and Karla were born. For many years, she accompanied her husband on world circumnavigating
voyages, primarily on board the R/V Vema. At the age 60 she became, at the time, the oldest
candidate to re-qualify through the College of Registered Nurses of Nova Scotia’s re-entry
programme and then served for four years as a shift supervisor at Harbour View Haven.
Throughout her time in Lunenburg, she was an active member of the community and many local
Organizations.
A few years after the death of her husband in 1997, she left lifelong friends and associates and
moved to her daughter Helga’s neighbourhood in Halifax. Here she quickly established many
new friends and continued to contribute to the community by knitting, sewing and baking for the
IWK, the Sunshine Room and the Halifax Junior Bengal Lancers. Since 2000 she made an
annual journey to Cape Town, South Africa to spend the winter months with her daughter Karla
where she soon came to be known affectionately as “Granny“ by family and friends alike.
She is survived by her daughters Helga (Kohler) Cunningham and Karla (Kohler) Whiley, her two
sons-in-law Captain Peter Cunningham and Neville Whiley and her granddaughter Elizabeth
Cunningham. She will also be missed by her two feline friends, Abigail of Halifax and Pepsi of
Cape Town. A service will be conducted at J.A. Snow Funeral Home on Tuesday, July 19th at 2:00 p.m. In gratitude for their extraordinary care and dedication, donations can be made to the QEII Foundation (Victoria General Hospital Palliative Care Unit): 1276 South St., Room 1-040 Centennial Building, Halifax N.S. B3H 2Y9; the VON Greater Halifax: 7001 Mumford Rd., Tower 1, Suite 300 Halifax N.S. B3L 4N9; and the Red Cross (Equipment Loan): 133 Troop Ave. Dartmouth, N.S. B3B 2A7. To place a message of condolence to the family, please visit www.jasnowfuneralhome.com.
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