Helena Mary Brasnett

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved mother, grandmother and great grandmother. Helena leaves behind four children, Brian (Ewa), Cheryl (Dean), Dale (Margaret) and Rex (Sheila), seven grandchildren (Stefanie, Tomas, Natasha, Michael, Alexis, Emma and Connor) and five great grandchildren (Wyatt, Eli, Hadley, Holt and Jade). Helena is survived by her sister Janine (Jerry) of Ogden, Utah and brother James of Cornwall, Ontario. Her husband Allan predeceased her in 2015.

Helena Mary Frances Brasnett (nee Simpson), born April 11, 1931 in Kirkland Lake, Ontario died peacefully in Surrey, BC on February 20, 2024. Though born and raised in northern Ontario, Helena developed an early passion for to travel. After spending a year in southern California following high school graduation, as well as time in Toronto, she met her future husband Allan Brasnett, an RCMP officer, in Kirkland Lake. When his career took him across the country to BC, Helena followed. They were subsequently married and she soon realized her true calling as mother extraordinaire to four children, and the calming influence in a bustling family who hopscotched across the province in the 1960s and 1970s, following her husband’s job. She instilled in her children a strong sense of right and wrong, of compassion and respect, and of joie de vivre. Most importantly she fostered the value of the family unit which has been passed through the next generations of Brasnett’s.

Both her annual holiday dinners and summer garden parties were noisy and rambunctious. The more the merrier was her motto.

In her retirement years she enjoyed more of the travel she loved and was an integral part of her grandkids’ lives, wherever they lived throughout the world. Indeed, 1-800-GRANDMA, became the ‘go-to’ for all her children, which she relished. She remained in good health well into her mid- 80s, attending aquafit classes and lunches with the ‘younger gals’, as well as volunteering in her community.

She touched the lives of all she knew.

Helena’s Celebration of Life will be held at 1 pm on Saturday, April 6 at the Regency Amenities Room, 3170 Gladwin Rd in Abbotsford.

In her memory donations to the Canadian Cancer Society or Alzheimer Society of Canada are gratefully accepted.