Leithead, Jeanette Elaine (nee Rossiter)
November 15, 1942 – February 12, 2021
Jen made her peaceful voyage into the great beyond after a brief dance with liver failure. For much of her life, Jen wore a small pendant that read “Live Love Laugh.” She did all of those things in great abundance.
The youngest child of Jack and Wynn Rossiter, Jen was born in London, Ontario. In her youth, the family spent stints living in North Bay, Winnipeg, and Waterloo, where Jen roamed the local parks in search of daydreams and shenanigans. College took her from teaching to medical secretarial studies eventually.
Jen met future husband, Bill, on a blind date in 1963, He didn’t know anything about her, so she pretended that she was from Texas and spent the whole evening speaking in a hilariously bad drawl. Thankfully, he was enamoured of her many charms and not just the exotic twang. She kept him and dropped the accent.
Married life took the couple back to Bill’s hometown of Collingwood, where Jen worked at the General and Marine Hospital for more than two decades, first in the nursing school and then as an ECG technician. She treated everyone she met with kindness, compassion, and warm hands.
As a mom, Jen was a pioneer of free-range parenting, raising two highly independent kids who she kept in line with little more than a strategically raised eyebrow. Despite this low-key approach, they knew how much she loved them and how proud she was to be their mom.
Her parental pride was often displayed through enthusiastic and totally unwarranted standing ovations during any school event or sports competition. The children were utterly mortified in public, and secretly delighted, whenever they saw her cheering them on. Naturally, she was only too happy to reprise her role as head cheerleader of the family when her grandsons arrived on the scene.
Jen was an avid golfer and many of her dearest friendships were forged and sustained on the links. She is remembered by all of the golf girls more for her fun company than for her short game. Still, she was pleased as punch to hit two holes in one at the Blue Mountain Golf and Country Club over the years. The sand trap on the 13th, however, remained a nemesis for life.
Never without at least three or four mysteries on the go at a time, Jen also worked briefly, and volunteered for many more years, at the Collingwood Public Library. She’ll be pissed to have missed the latest Jack Reacher.
Jen loved a good road trip, except for the parts that involved driving. She and Bill visited all of the provinces and 45 American states. She particularly loved the art, warmth, and red rocks of the American Southwest. Whiteout drives through Colorado to get there were another matter entirely. She could have been a tester for vehicle safety handles – she was the undisputed master of “chicken bar” clenching and passenger side brake slamming. Happily, wherever they finally stopped they found friends and loads of fun.
A consummate giver, Jen shirked the spotlight when doling out her treasures of time and talent. You’d find her at the kitchen table tutoring a neighbourhood kid that she’d spotted with a reading challenge. She’d leave a bag of groceries at the side door of a family that she noticed was in need. Knowing that an elderly neighbour struggled more with low literacy after being widowed, she’d pop over to read her mail aloud to her, only ever lamenting that the print on things was getting smaller and smaller every day. Jen was big on under-the-radar dignity maintenance, and a steel trap keeper of confidences.
Of Jen’s many talents, the hug was her signature move. If you ever received one of her hugs, you knew how fierce and all-encompassing Jen’s love was. You may have needed to check yourself for broken ribs afterwards, but you sure knew that she loved you, big time. She hated that the pandemic kept her from her prime way of conveying affection.
Predeceased by her loving parents, Jack and Wynn, and her sister, Joyce, Jen is survived by her husband Bill, children Maggie (Marie) and Jim (Kim), grandsons Cedar and Fox, nephews and nieces Jeff, Jim (Lynda) and Jess (Dan), family-in-law Mary and Jim, and countless friends near and far.
Many thanks to the staff at Collingwood G+M for their tender care of our gal.
In accordance with her wishes, there will not be a funeral ceremony, but that might not prevent the kids from failing to obey her one more time and celebrating her life when it’s safe for us to gather together again. To honour our dear Jen in the meantime, please read a book to a young person in your life, offer an under-the-radar gift of kindness, or give a rib-crushing hug to someone you love. She’d be proud of that legacy.
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Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Jeanette Leithead Monday February 15th 2021..
Death notice for the town of: Collingwood, Province: Ontario