Our beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother passed away peacefully in her 101st year on Thursday, January 19, in Pickering, ON. Rea-belle Clifford was born in Loverna, SK, on May 22, 1922. She married Evan Williams Christiani on January 25, 1947. She is predeceased by her husband, Evan, her brother, Clare, and his wife Dorothy. Rea-belle will be sorely missed by her children, David (Betty-Jo), Judith, Warren (Sandy) and Mark (Jayne), by her grandchildren, Beth McCue (Brendan), Alex, Eric, Sarah (Candace Kensley) and Evan, and by her great-grandchildren, Genevieve, and Owen McCue.
We will hold a Memorial Service at 11:00 am, Saturday, June 17 at Melville Church, 70 Old Kingston Rd, Scarborough, ON. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Melville Presbyterian Church General Fund https://melvillechurch.ca/ or random acts of kindness would be appreciated.
Although she was born in Saskatchewan, Rea-belle spent most of her childhood in London, ON, where her mother returned following the death of her husband in a tragic farm accident in 1923. There Rea-belle graduated from Sir Adam Beck Secondary School, where she made many lifelong friends. During the Second World War she became active in the Scouting movement, where she met her future husband, Evan Christiani, at a Blue Springs Leadership Training Camp during the summer of 1945. After marrying in 1947, they made a fresh start, moving to Toronto, eventually establishing the family home in West Hill where they lived for more than 45 years. There they raised their four children, making many memories and fostering a strong family bond which persists to this day.
Once all the children had started school, Rea-belle supplemented the family income by working as the bookkeeper at Scarborough Automotive. In 1966 Rea-belle was able to achieve a long held dream by enrolling in Teacher’s College, leading to her career as an elementary school teacher, settling at and becoming a well known fixture at Galloway Road Public School. As a respected classroom teacher she found great joy in introducing her students to the riches of learning, reading and imagination. After she retired from teaching, she used her teaching and organizational skill to assist the Minister at Melville Church, overseeing Sunday School and Adult Education, establishing the Tuesday Time Out programme for new mothers, and organizing memorable congregational bus trips throughout Ontario, the United States, and even Europe. When not doing church trips, Rea-belle and Evan enjoyed many exciting vacations of their own worldwide. Her travelling days ebbed after Evan was moved to Long Term Care with dementia.
In 2010 she moved into assisted living, but this didn’t stop her from continuing to do local trips, being able to attend granddaughter Beth’s marriage in Whitby in 2012 and granddaughter Sarah’s MBA ceremony at Queen’s University in 2015. She was able to meet and greet her first great-grandchild Genevieve following her birth in 2018 and enjoyed seeing pictures of both great-grandchildren until the very end.
Evan, her husband of 68 years, died in 2015.
After showing more serious decline in mental acuity, in 2020 Rea-belle was moved into Orchard Villa where she was cared for by Dorothy Zengenene who worked faithfully and diligently as her private PSW from January 2020 until her death. We are deeply grateful.
Finally, Rea-belle died peacefully, in her room at Orchard Villa with Judith and Dorothy by her side.
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