Marie Anna Jeannette Mannion

How do you sum up 94 years in a few lines…you can’t…but here are a few things about our Mom, Marie Mannion (nee Braichet). She was born in Hull, Quebec in 1930, the only daughter and youngest child of Leo and Blanche Braichet.

Her father was a chef from Neuchâtel, Switzerland…we figure that’s where Mom got her cooking abilities. Her mother was from Portuguese Cove, just down the road from the city of Halifax, but back more than 100 years ago, it might just as well have been in another province. Families were tight knit and we figure that’s where Mom’s deep love for her children came from.

Mom and Dad (Robert but better known as Bob) married young as was common back then and got started on their family of seven…three boys and four girls. Mom and Dad suffered the death of our brother, Steven, at 39 years old…that’s where we saw her strength in the midst of terrible anguish. When Dad died in 1999, we saw Mom’s ability to shift from never having lived on her own to living in her own apartment in Cobourg. Mom loved walking and spent hours doing just that, and then sitting on a bench on the shores of Lake Ontario, chatting with anyone who happened to sit alongside her…Mom was friendly. As our baby brother, Greg, says…Mom was the most selfless person…others always came first.

From their seven children, Mom and Dad were gifted with 17 grandchildren, 21 great grandchildren and one great great grandchild. Sadly,

John's son, Jeff, died in 1991 and Julia and Kirk's son, Adam, in 2017. Once again Mom's quiet strength was there. Dad did not live long enough to know them all.

Mom loved to read and to play Scrabble, especially with her daughters…and she beat us fairly often! These last three or four years have been hard as we saw our Mom declining but whenever she heard the music playing and someone singing, her hands would lift in the air and her feet would lift off her wheelchair footpads and she would dance!

Thank you, thank you…to all of you at Chester Village who cared for and loved our Mom. You made these hard times seeing our Mom declining easier, knowing that she was being cared for with love, respect and dignity.

With our everlasting gratitude,

John, Cathy, Donna, Laura, Julia and Greg