Helen Lexia Willcox

WILLCOX, Helen Lexia: Helen died peacefully surrounded by her family on January 5, 2018 in her 93rd year. Predeceased by her loving husband Tod, and dear son-in-law Brian Ward. Survived by her five children: Diane Willcox Ward (Brian (deceased)); Tod Rutherford Willcox (Joanne), Tim Austin Willcox, Linda Willcox Whetung (Tim) and Cameron Douglas Willcox (Susan). Loved and missed by her 12 grandchildren; Jason Ward (Karissa), Megan Ward Pickett (Brian), Tod Ward (Rose), Simon Ward (Amy), Kevin Willcox, Eric Willcox, Clifford Whetung, Clayton Whetung, Stephanie Willcox, Ben Willcox, Kate Willcox and Diego Willcox. She will also be missed by her 11 great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her loving sister, Shirley Tucker (John), sisters-in-law Joyce and Betty and many nieces and nephews.

She is best described by her granddaughter:

“We called her Honie (pronounced “awnie”) and she was a nurse, a singer, a painter, a community organizer and author. Honie went to university to become a nurse in the 1940s - long before it was common for women to do so. She was a perfectionist in her nursing; her hat always starched, her hand-written notes meticulous, and her hospital corners so tight you couldn’t slide a piece of paper under them.

She was a prairie girl, often regaling us about her life as a child in Abernethy, Saskatchewan. She loved telling stories about her dad whose name was Louis, and who had had bright red hair and was the town jokester. She told the story of how her dad would sit back and look at all his kids and grandkids and say “look what I started!”

Once she married our Poppa she left nursing and had five kids of her own, raising them both in Toronto and in Chemong Park, Bridgenorth.

Chemong Lake was her favorite place. Many hours were spent at the cottage swimming with her kids and grandkids. She prided herself on being the “first one in” after the ice went out each April.

She loved to paint and Chemong Lake and the surrounding pine trees were often her subjects. Each of us has an Honie painting in our homes.

Honie was a go-getter. She brought the first doctors to Bridgenorth, started the Bridgenorth Public Library, and was active in the Bridgenorth United Church and St.Joseph’s Hospital in Peterborough. She often held fancy dinner parties, at which I would serve her guests. She was the person who campaigned to bring the first CatScan machine to Peterborough. And in between all of this, she extensively researched genealogy and history, authoring several books and keeping an office filled with neatly labeled binders of work.

She was Citizen of the Year in Peterborough, and they named a street after her in Bridgenorth, and yet despite her achievements, my dad still lovingly called her “the old bag”.

When you answered her telephone calls the first words out of her mouth were always “my you’re looking lovely today”, and she drove with her right foot on the gas and her left on the brake. If she wanted you to do something for her she would say “I’ll be your aunt for a week!” She made the world’s best sugar cookies. When we were little she always had a chocolate ladybug waiting for us in her pocket. She loved all babies and liked to sleep outside under the stars.

Most importantly, she loved and was loved. She will be deeply missed by many people.”

Private family service will be held.

Arrangements by the COMSTOCK-KAYE LIFE CELEBRATION CENTRE, 356 Rubidge Street. Memorial donations to the charity of your choice would be appreciated. Online condolences may be made at www.comstockkaye.com