Patricia (Pat) Thérèse Gillis
With broken hearts we announce
the passing of our beloved mother Patricia (Pat)
Thérèse Gillis (née Picot) on
Saturday, March 6, 2021 at The Moncton
Hospital.
Mom was born on May 4, 1931 in
Edmundston, NB to Dr. Ernest and Blanche (LeBel) Picot. Her parents,
both educators, instilled deep faith, grace, style and a life-long
love of learning.
Our mother leaves a legacy of a
large and caring family. She was the loving and supportive mom and
mother-in-law to us seven children “The Originals” and our
spouses, her “other seven”: Diane (Eric) Prosser; Donnie
(Kathy) Gillis; Danny (Timmie) Gillis; Kathie (Paul) Blomsma; Patti
(Stevie) Trites; Michael (Janet) Gillis, all of Moncton, and Peter
(Trina) Gillis (Mom’s baby and her often-declared favourite)
of Leduc, Alberta.
Fourteen grandchildren,
“The Fantastics”: Derek Prosser; Jeff (Mariel) Prosser;
Audrey (Matt) Cochrane; Laura (Brady) Frost; William Gillis; Jessica
(Luc) Doiron; Jimmy Gillis (Manon Boudreau); Kristi (Tyler) Hughes;
Andrew (Sarah) Trites; Ben Trites; Jordan (Samantha) Gillis; Tommy
Gillis (Gillian Vlasschaert); Katie Gillis (Calder Agnew) and Shanna
Gillis (Logan Beecraft).
Mom was known as “GG”
to her fourteen great-grandchildren, “The Greats”: Marissa
and Madeline Prosser; Molly, Ruby and Jack Cochrane; James and Mary
Frost; Karson Klimpel, Liam and Jace Gillis; Hailey (our dear angel in
heaven), Emmy and Hazel Hughes; and Arlo
Gillis.
Mom is also survived by her
beloved sisters Jeannine Cochrane and Claudette (Don Lehman) Picot;
her cherished in-laws Ralph and Alice-Marie Gillis; Carol Picot and
Patsy Burton. Also left to mourn are her treasured Picot cousins; her
much-loved nieces and nephews: Louise, David, Claire, Nicole,
André, Tim, Rob, David, Leslie, Bobby, Chris, Ross, Jamie
and their families; as well as many
friends.
After retirement Mom enjoyed
twenty-five years of fun and friendship as a founding member of
“The 21 Club” comprised of co-workers from her 21-year
secretarial career with School District 15. She looked forward to The
21 Club’s monthly meetings and valued beyond measure the
love and friendship of each member. Mom is survived by the remaining
club members, her dear friends, Debbie Wallace and Sharon
Crossman.
Mom worked tirelessly to support
our family. She endured life’s many challenges with faith,
grace and unconditional love. She attended St. Bernard’s
Church.
Mom had many talents including
sewing, knitting, decorating and gardening to name a mere few. She was
a wonderful home-maker, cook and baker. She loved music and played
piano beautifully. She was an amateur radio operator with call sign
VE1PAT. Her interests included politics, genealogy, technology, world
news and all activities, projects or careers any one of us became
involved in. Mom was our “numero uno” fan from horse shows
to drag racing and everything in between. She loved our annual GGO
(Gillis Girls Only) weekends as much as she loved hanging out with her
boys. She was strong, adventurous, spunky and
fun.
Somehow our dear mother survived
the antics of us seven as teenagers with our gang of Harrisville
friends. The new young mothers in our family are completely amazed at
this feat….and they don’t even know half the
stories.
At age 86 Mom declared one
morning that she would like to buy herself a car. A few hours later
she was the proud owner of a brand new little red sports car with a
turbo engine and mag wheels. We could not have been happier for
her.
Mom loved to travel. In her
mid-fifties she spent two years living in Tanzania, East Africa. While
there she taught French to young students, gave sewing lessons and
studied Swahili. She was especially happy to have visited Jersey
Island, the ancestral home of the Picot family. More recently she
enjoyed road trips to the shore or to the nearest ice-cream
stand.
Mom loved nothing better than a
family gathering. There was absolutely no more wonderful news for Mom
to receive than that of an expected addition to our family –
whether by marriage or birth. Just hours before her passing Mom was
gifted with the announcement of the upcoming birth of her 15th
great-grandchild in September.
Mom also loved her Harrisville
home of 55 years and her most recent home at Autumn Lee. We would like
to extend a heartfelt thank you to Wanda and her staff of devoted
care-givers at Autumn Lee Retirement Home, Moncton, who provided a
safe and supportive home for Mom these last few
years.
As well we would like to offer
our sincere gratitude to Dr. Brittany Colpitts and Dr. Manon
Belliveau, the nurses and staff at The Moncton Hospital, 4600 Ward,
for their professional and compassionate care of Mom during her short
stay. You are, without a doubt, angels here on
earth.
We would also like to thank our
many extended family members, friends, neighbours and co-workers who
often asked about Mom and showered her with kindness over the
years.
In addition to her parents Mom
was predeceased by our Dad, William (Bill), her husband of 65 years;
great-granddaughter Hailey Hughes; brother Dr. Jules Picot; mother and
father-in-law James and Mary Gillis; and in-laws Dr. Robert and Janice
Gillis; Elizabeth Gillis; Bill Cochrane and niece Joanne
Renton.
Due to the pandemic there will
be no visitation or public funeral service. We invite you to join us
from the safety of your home to view a live-stream of the funeral
liturgy to be held on Wednesday, March 10, 2021 at 3:00 pm.
Please click on the following
link: vimeo.com
A committal service and a
celebration of life will be held when travel restrictions are lifted
and we can once again gather safely. Details to be
announced.
Funeral arrangements have been
entrusted to Fergusons Funeral Home, 1657 Mountain Road, Moncton
(506-858-1995).
If so desired, donations to the
Lakeside Cemetery (c/o 175 Weisner Road, Lakeville, West. Co., NB E1H
1L5), or a charity of your choice would be appreciated by the family.
Online condolences may be shared at www.fergusonsfuneralhome.com.
Mom will be laid to eternal rest
at Lakeside Cemetery just down the road from where she lived the
majority of her life. She will be interred alongside Dad where her
heart has been since his passing in 2016.
Mom was truly the rock of our
family. Her life was full of large numbers but those numbers do not
compare to the number of wonderful memories we have or the number of
tears shed at her passing.
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Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Patricia Pat Therese Gillis 2021..
Death notice for the town of: Moncton, Province: Nouveau-Brunswick