Parcourez la nécrologie de Barbara Anne Hayes 1946 2023 résidant dans la province Nova Scotia pour le détail des funérailles
Barbara Anne
Hayes, formerly of Beauly, Antigonish County, floated away on
Saturday, June 17, 2023; peacefully, painlessly, calmly, beautifully,
while embraced by her daughter Sidonie Rodman of Maine and New York;
her sons Seamus Rodman of Beauly, and Jesse Henry of Maine, and her
life partner Chris
Rodman.
Born in
Edenderry, a small village in County Offaly, Ireland, the last child
of Mary Grennan and Philip Hayes, her sisters Irene, and Lynn,
predeceased, and her brothers James, and Tom, also predeceased, and
her brother Philip, who lives with his wife Francine in Sidmouth,
Devon, England.
Barbara lived
in Edenderry, Ireland, until the age of 14 when she moved to Sidmouth,
England, with her mother and sisters following her two older
brothers. At 20, she flew to Montreal in the late
1960’s, working at Expo 67. Barbara’s
first son Jesse was born there in 1972, and they soon moved to Nova
Scotia, where they found a beautiful farm in Beauly, the Boyle family
homestead, which Barbara loved dearly, and where she lived until she
moved into Antigonish in 2018. Chris Rodman, who
she had met years before in Montreal, joined her there in the late
70’s. Barbara and Chris had two children, first
Seamus and then Sidonie.
Barbara was a
constant energy, her love and devotion to family, cooking, sharing
food, planting extensive organic gardens on the farm (never a drop of
pesticide in her 40 plus years there), she was a force in
motion. In the early years of raising her family, she worked
in diverse fields of employment — she planted trees, did
some craft work and dabbled in the restaurant business where she and
Chris were instrumental in opening the Sunshine Café in
Antigonish. In the mid 80’s she completed a
diploma program in Adult Education at St. FX University. A few years
later, she enrolled at the Stillpoint Center and School of Massage in
Massachusetts. During that time Barbara was stricken by
arthritis, which affected her for the rest of her life.
Despite this illness being a constant and a cause of never-ending
suffering to her, she was never still, and enjoyed an incredibly wide
range of passions, pursuits and contributions to her
community.
Her pursuits
included painting, and she devoted many, many hours to water colors,
studying with Alice Hoskins, Anna Syperek, and
others. Barbara loved to travel, and she and Chris
spent many winters in the south of Spain where she endeavored to learn
Spanish, attending Spanish language schools
there.
Reading and
writing were passions for Barbara. She read prodigiously, enjoying all
great literature and specifically women and feminist
writers. She was a connoisseur of good food, cooking for
family and friends. She enjoyed descriptions of food, meals
and cooking found in many great works of literature, often sending
them to or referencing them with her son Jesse, knowing that he too
would enjoy the writing as much as she did (she was right).
She wrote and illustrated a cookbook as a gift for her daughter whom
she knew would appreciate having the beloved healthy and
vegetable-forward family recipes that she had grown up
with.
Barbara held a
deep understanding of the need for creating a more just, equitable and
peaceful world for women and the whole of the earth. It was
a commitment she undertook throughout her adult life. She
worked tirelessly within the community and specifically with the
women’s community to end the ravages of patriarchy and all
forms of exclusion and inequity. When the United Nations
recognized 1975 as International Women’s Year, Barbara was a
founding member of the Antigonish group, Women in
Transition. In 1982, she was a founding member of the
Antigonish Women’s Association and the Antigonish
Women’s Resource Centre. In the early years, she
worked with the Naomi Society and later with the Women’s
Centre.
In the early
1990s, through the Adolescent Health Project, she worked with high
school youth on preventing and addressing violence against women;
after she had trained as a therapist, she facilitated groups for
survivors of ualized violence. She wrote two books
– one about her life and one for survivors of
trauma. Her insight, compassion and support of women
informed her passion for, and dedication to,
change.
Coming from
Ireland, Barbara had a deep respect for women’s spirituality
and the divine feminine. She studied ancient women-centered
spiritual practices and brought her connection to the divine feminine
to women’s circles in Antigonish. She was
connected to the earth and all things of beauty as part of Mother
Earth. In an early 1990s Antigonish Women’s
Association Newsletter, AWAre, Barbara wrote an article entitled,
The Great Mother, where she
wrote,
Where and how have we forgotten the power and
beauty of women? How can we retrieve the respect for earth
and woman as divine … respect for all humanity as sacred
– man and woman, child and beast, bird and every living
thing? Mother, show us the way that we may live in
partnership as a human family protecting this sacred
earth.
We
need the return of the mother principle as no other time in the
history of the world has needed it. And we need women to
step forth to claim their respected place in the universal
order.
Barbara never
slowed down, all the while pushing through her debilitating
illness. In 2018 she and Chris moved into Antigonish to be
closer to health care services; Chris devoting himself to her care,
orchestrating round the clock care for her at her home as long as he
could and it was only last fall that she was moved to the R.K.
MacDonald Nursing Home, where she received tremendous care from the
team of caring and empathetic health care professionals
there. Throughout, Chris kept his constant loving presence
and was a core participant in her care. It was
there that she drew her last breaths in the presence of her loving
family.
In Loving
Memory of Barbara Anne Hayes, a Celebration of Life will be
held
July 15th, 2023 at 1:30 pm-3:30
pm
St. James United
Church
197 Main St.
Antigonish
We would love
to invite anyone and everyone who would care to hold a moment of time
and space together to recognize the beautiful spirit that was Barbara
Hayes.
Should you
also like to donate, in lieu of flowers etc, we have selected two
organizations that recognize Barbara’s work, and support a cure for
her illness.
arthritis.ca/get-involved/ways-to-give/donate-online
awrcsasa.ca/donate/
Funeral
arrangements are under the direction of C.L. Curry Funeral Home,
Antigonish. Online condolences: www.clcurry.com
1946 2023
Décès pour la Ville Antigonish, Province Nova Scotia
avis deces Barbara Anne Hayes 1946 2023
nécrologie Barbara Anne Hayes 1946 2023
Nous offrons nos plus sincères condoléances à la famille et aux amis de Barbara Anne Hayes 1946 2023 et espérons que leur mémoire pourra être une source de réconfort pendant cette période difficile. Vos pensées et vos mots aimables sont grandement appréciés.