Irene Kathleen Weatherhead

It is with a heavy heart that the family of Irene Kathleen Weatherhead (née Steffler) mourn her passing peacefully of natural causes on Tuesday July 5. She is survived by her children, Terry Weatherhead, Robin Weatherhead, Dale Weatherhead and Tracy Weatherhead, her grandchildren Nile Weatherhead and Vanessa Arce (Filomeno Arce), her great granddaughters Audrey Arce and River Weatherhead, her sister Margaret Nacuik (nee Steffler) and her brother-in-law Nicholas (Nick) Nacuik.

Born March 31, 1925 in Hanover, Ontario. Her family was part of the Pennsylvania Dutch migration at the turn of the century. Those early formative years on the farm were not easy, but they instilled in Irene a very strong moral and work ethic. She loved and cherished her parents and two brothers, but she shared a very special bond with her sister Margaret.

During her lifetime, Irene experienced almost unbelievable changes in the world. In her early years, many rural properties did not have indoor plumbing or hydro electricity and transportation was by horse and buggy, but as time went on, cars, hydro, indoor plumbing, and televisions became common place. Ever practical, Irene embraced technology, she did most of her banking and traded stocks online before many much younger than she would do so.

Irene was a lifetime learner. Indeed, the quest for knowledge in many ways defined both her and the path her life would take. Education was not considered important for women in rural communities at that time, and so Irene was lucky to finish elementary school. As the stories go, by then, she had apparently read every book in the Hanover library at least three times.

Irene never gave up on her dream to obtain a University education, and in her late 40’s, now a single mother of 4 children, she returned to the University of Waterloo (Renison College of Social Work) as a mature student.

She completed her bachelor in Social Work in 1977 at the age of 52. Starting her career, when most are winding down, it was not easy to find work, but she had a quiet determination for anything she put her mind to and so she eventually she found employment with the Waterloo Regional Police working as an addiction counsellor, in liaison with the courts.

At 65, she was forced to retire, but rather than become bitter, she took the opportunity to learn to swim, she took up woodworking (making small pieces of furniture) yoga, tai chi, and she taught herself faux finishing. She also started a daily practice of Pilates, which she passed on to her daughter Robin. Always an accomplished seamstress, she honed her skills, and together with her daughter Terry made heirloom quality clothing for her granddaughter Vanessa. She made improvements to her home. It seemed there was nothing she could not do, with aid of a library book, she was DIY before Instagram and YouTube made DIY glamorous.

When asked, she would say these retirement years were the best years of her life. She had paid off the mortgage on her home at 38 Gruhn Street, so she could finally stop renting the upstairs of her home. She was by no means “flush”, but she no longer lived under the crushing poverty of the early years as a single mother with 4 children. Her days were spent working on her latest project, riding her bicycle, exercising, eating chocolate chip cookies, and reading, reading , always reading and learning. She rarely watched TV, and if she did it was only the news or the business channel. She never read fiction. She was an open, tireless listener, and she often found herself still counselling. It was not unusual for not only her children, but their friends to seek advice from “Rene”.

Independent, she lived in her own home until 2019, when listeria and meningitis ravaged her health to the point that she could no longer live on her own. She was lucky to find a new home at Sunnyside long term care home in Kitchener. Her cognitive abilities continued to decline, but true to form, she embraced her new home with her characteristic gratitude, grace, and joy, singing and patrolling the halls in her wheelchair. The family is eternally grateful to the staff at Sunnyside for the wonderful care that Irene received there.

These words tell the story of her life, but they do not tell the story of Irene Weatherhead. She was curious, wise, nonjudgmental, peaceful, loyal, selfless, and a strong supporter of human rights, especially gender equality. She was a faithful practicing Catholic and in the early years, Dale and Tracy’s allowance was dependent on them returning from Sunday Mass at St. John’s with the bulletin, but never one to follow anything blindly she read Catholic theologians, of which a Jesuit, Karl Rahner was a favourite. She had a unique ability to always find the good in people and situations, not in a naive “Pollyanna” way but in a truly Christian way.

Over the years she talked to her children about death. She was not afraid of death. She said, “Live your life, don’t be reckless, but do not live in fear either, when God wants you God takes you”.

God has peacefully and gently taken our mother, grandmother, sister, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, aunt, and friend. We know she is in heaven.

Irene’s family has set up a bursary for those who find themselves later in life struggling financially to obtain a social work degree at Renison College, like Irene did those many years ago. In lieu of flowers the family would ask for donations to the Irene Kathleen Weatherhead bursary.

https://donations.renison.ca/irene-kathleen-weatherhead-fund.html

Donations to this fund will help another mature student to complete a social work degree, and go on to help others, poetic justice then, that even in her death, she would find a way to help another.

A funeral mass will be held on Saturday August 13 at 11am at St. John’s Roman Catholic Church (85 Strange Street, Kitchener) with a graveside service to immediately follow at Woodland Cemetery (119 Arlington Boulevard, Kitchener).