Parcourez la nécrologie de Patricia Ruth Jones Burns Saturday March 30th 2024 résidant dans la province Ontario pour le détail des funérailles.
Patricia Ruth Burns died at Health Sciences North on March 30th, 2024. She is survived by her beloved husband of 56 years, Laurie Jones and her cherished family, son Brad, (Laina Michelutti), daughter Mira (Doug Devlin) and son Paul. Her loving Grandchildren Mya, Ayla, Jack, Alana, Ava, and Jordan will dearly miss her. She was loved by mother Ruth Burns (Studer), Father John Burns, sister Helen Burns (predeceased), brother Tom Burns and nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.
Pat was born in England during the Second World War on July 5th, 1944. Her parents were both members of the Royal Canadian Air force. Her mother moved away from London to Gloucester where she lived in the Cathedral Close in the home of the musical director, Herbert Sumsion. Pat was born with birth defects in her voice box and had a cleft palate. For the first 12 years she was unable to speak. Her mother Ruth researched tirelessly to help her daughter and when Pat was 12 years old, she was invited by Dr Lindsay to Toronto Sick Kids to undergo several surgeries and begin years of speech therapy. This gift of speech transformed her life.
Pat excelled in science and was a Governor General award-winning student at Laurentian University. She was accepted at Toronto Medical school making her a pioneer female student in the 60’s. Unfortunately, her sensitivities to chemicals in the anatomy class made it impossible to continue. Toronto Medical school held her position open for five years but by then she had embarked on her career in teaching and started her family with Brad and Mira.
Pat began her teaching career at Capreol High School in the senior science courses, physics, chemistry, and biology. Eventually her chemical sensitivities forced her out of the science labs and into the mathematics department. This proved to be a blessing in disguise when Pat began identifying students with learning disabilities. She became a passionate advocate for these children and took full advantage of the resources available from the Sudbury Board of Education to help them graduate.
Pat led a busy and fulfilling life balancing her teaching career while raising her three children. Capreol High School was the focal point of her family for thirty years. From an early age all three children spent most of their time in and around the high school. Over a period of 17 years Brad, Mira and Paul attended the school and were taught by mom!
Her strong faith was the core of her life. Her regular retreats to monasteries in New York and Winnipeg and pilgrimages to holy places such as Lourdes and Lisieux allowed her to refocus and recover from her often gruelling schedule. Pat was an ardent reader and many of her closest friends were authors who inspired and uplifted her spirits. Thomas Merton, Ruth Burrows, Simone Wiel, Henri Nouwen, Anthony De Mello, C. S. Lewis, and Richard Rohr were her constant companions. Everyone she encountered became a friend, but she enjoyed many special relationships over the years with people from school, church, community and England. In recent years she felt most “at home” sitting at Rhea Beck’s kitchen table playing Beck Rules Rummy and was constantly uplifted by her conversations with her closest friend in Christ, Gail Leroux. For nearly sixty years Pat was never without the companionship and unconditional love of her dogs and her love for them was a beautiful reflection of the love she had for all living creatures.
Pat was always on the lookout for opportunities to serve. She organised the World day of Prayer at Our Lady of Peace when the programme came from the Philippines, hosted two girls from the States who came to attend the World Youth Day services in Toronto, took over as spiritual director for the CWL in Capreol when her friend Marilyn Ouellette moved away, served for many years as a palliative care visitor, visited HSN every Wednesday as a Minister of the Eucharist with her friend Berthe Last, and hosted the three ARISE programmes at her little home in the bush where she welcomed a dozen wonderful friends including Father Michael. But perhaps her most rewarding experience was joining the sponsorship group which helped the Alzahran family come to Canada from Syria. After volunteering to help the family integrate into Canadian life it was not long before she fell in love with Khitam and the seven children, Mohammed, Mostapha, Ahmad, Rida, Nour, Hanan, and dear Rama. After years of being welcomed into Abdulhakim’s family she became simply “grandma”.
For the last twenty years Pat’s grandchildren have been the great joy of her life. Grandma poured her love into each of them and taught them the value of having a kind heart.
The special bond with the first grandchild Mya led to a lifelong exchange of texts and letters and Mya is still motivated by her grandmother’s determination to embody love. Ayla has embraced grandma’s deep love of nature and its precious creatures and her ability to find beauty in the simplest of things. Jack has enjoyed grandma’s playful spirit and vivid imagination which produced an endless stream of new games (like kitchen cricket). Grandma cherished her visits to Edmonton and the summers that Alana and Ava spent in Capreol. Alana remembers their quiet reflective moments, her teachings about love, and the joy grandma experienced watching her compete in swimming. Ava loved the way grandma always “found me with her smiling eyes” and shared her passion for dancing, creativity, and arts. Grandma’s last outing was a trip to Toronto to watch Ava compete in a ballet competition. Jordan lived with grandma during her last three years of declining health. He experienced her love and kindness daily and she was overjoyed to have him close and see him mature before her eyes.
Pat loved Jesus and took to heart His promise that we would be judged on love. She believed that to those who are sensitive to the needs of others, life offers innumerable opportunities to practise Christ’s commandment of love. For her it was not a matter of doing big things, nor was it a matter of giving things. Rather, it was a question of giving of oneself in little ways, of one’s energy, of one’s time, of one’s love.
May Pat’s legacy of love, faith, and service live on in the hearts of those who knew her. May she rest in peace, and may her spirit continue to inspire others to spread love and kindness in the world.
Memorial Visitation at the Lougheed Funeral home Hanmer/ Capreol Chapel. 4601 Michelle Dr Hanmer (friends may call 2:00pm-4:00pm; 6:00pm – 8:00pm Wednesday). Memorial Mass in Our Lady of Peace Church 26 Dennie Street Capreol Thursday, April 11th, 2024, at 11:00am. Cremation with interment in the Capreol Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, donations to Chalice Canada or Maison McCulloch Hospice would be greatly appreciated.
Saturday March 30th 2024
Décès pour la Ville:Hanmer, Province: Ontario
avis deces Patricia Ruth Jones Burns Saturday March 30th 2024
nécrologie Patricia Ruth Jones Burns Saturday March 30th 2024
Nous offrons nos plus sincères condoléances à la famille et aux amis de Patricia Ruth Jones Burns Saturday March 30th 2024 et espérons que leur mémoire pourra être une source de réconfort pendant cette période difficile. Vos pensées et vos mots aimables sont grandement appréciés.