Obituary for
Audrey Marie Brewster
Audrey Marie Brewster died peacefully at home June 26, 2018. She leaves behind her loving life partner and best friend of 31 years Sean Harold Darcy. Our souls will meet again. She also leaves behind her loving and supportive family in-law: mother Catherine Darcy; brother and oldest friend Michael Darcy; the younger brother she always wanted Patrick Darcy (Angela Gibson) and beloved and cherished nephew Laurence Darcy. She is survived also by all of her beloved older siblings Leila, Meredith, Wynne, John and Julia, her loving mother Nora Brewster (nee Young), beloved niece Jasmine, nephews Keith, Christopher and Jude, and by her sisters from another mother Alexis and Christina McGuire along with so many friends, neighbours, students, and fellow community volunteers.
A life long student, Audrey attended Carleton University obtaining a BA in Biology and Psychology. She then went on to Algonquin College where she obtained a Diploma in Chemical Technology and Bioengineering. After graduating she worked at the Ottawa Region Cancer centre as a Laboratory technician, then at the University of Ottawa in the Laboratory of Dr. Earl Brown and Dr. Katherine Wright. She spent many years as a graduate student at Ottawa university in the laboratory of Dr. Bob Korneluck. She was lucky to have had so many opportunities to work in cutting edge research with so many great mentors, colleagues and friends. During her university years she lived and worked at the Bread and Fruit and Herb and Spice in the Glebe in Ottawa, a neighbourhood she loved to spend time in.
Audrey was long time member of the Metro YMCA where she loved to work out, run, and chat it up with the many friends she met there over the years. She also volunteered at the YMCA as an aqua fit instructor and was employed as a yoga instructor and personal trainer.
Audrey was a passionate volunteer, not just for the YMCA, but the Jack Purcell Community Centre’s walking rehab program (one of the most profound experiences of her life) as well. She volunteered with Food not Bombs and helped to found and fund a vegetarian community kitchen where she and Sean volunteered every Sunday for many years known as the Ottawa Peace Kitchen. For the last ten years most of her volunteer efforts were focussed on the Plant Pool Recreation Association, an important volunteer organization in her neighbourhood of Somerset West where she and Sean resided for the last 13 years.
From 2005-present Audrey worked for the city of Ottawa at Jack Purcell, then at the Plant Recreation Centre as a Yoga instructor, aqua-fitness instructor, personal trainer, Zumba instructor and was the coordinator and instructor of the Woman Alive Program – a program she helped to implement and develop at these two facilities which meant so much to her.
Audrey loved science, psychology, and art, particularly Spanish, Mexican and Brazilian and especially Canadian, Indigenous and Inuit art. A long-time member and supporter of the National Gallery of Canada, Audrey loved to visit the Group of Seven collection and remember her youth spent growing up in Sudbury and the nature that surrounded it. She loved to spend time around Georgian Bay and Killarney Provincial Park. A book lover, she loved to read Russian, Latin American, 19th English and early 20th century American literature while swinging in the hammock at the Darcy cottage on Allumette Island, Quebec. She loved nature and considered herself an amateur entomologist and mycologist. An avid runner and cyclist, she loved to run or cycle along the canal or the Ottawa River pathway with Sean by her side. In winter Audrey loved to ski and snowshoe in Gatineau Park with Sean and stopping for a snack and a fire in the cabins along the way. More recently, she found much enjoyment in the winter trail along the Ottawa river. She loved music and to dance all night long. She was an early community gardener and original member of the Ottawa Food Security Council (now Just Food). She was a warrior for Peace and Justice, a rebel without a clue and a ‘notorious butterfly’.
Her final words: “Good by to all my friends I hope I leave behind more good than bad. So long and thanks for all the fish”.
There will be a public visitation on Thursday June 28th at the Central Chapel of Hulse, Playfair & McGarry, 315 McLeod St. Ottawa (at O’Connor) from 4pm to 8pm. A private memorial party to celebrate Audrey life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to your favorite charity, or volunteer your time to do something nice for someone, recycle, or donate to Audrey’s favorite charities, the Woman Fitness Pass Program or Carleton University’s Fort Albany First Nation Scholarship Fund Sean and Audrey established, Cystic Fibrosis, the Ottawa Integrative Cancer Centre or the Ottawa Regional Cancer Centre Patient Fund.
Sean and Audrey would like to thank in particular Doctor J.M Caudrelier (radiation oncologist) and Dr. Louise Coulombe (Palliative Care Physician).
Order Flowers
Nos plus sincères sympathies à la famille et aux amis de Audrey Marie Brewster 1968 2018.source
Décès pour la Ville: Ottawa, Province: Ontario
