Marie-Anne Sawyer

Marie-Anne is lovingly remembered by her sons, Michael, John, Dan (Irka) and Gilbert (Adrienne); her grandchildren, Danny, Stefan and Amy; and by all who came in contact with her. She is also survived by a large extended family in various regions of Quebec. She was predeceased by her husband, Ajesilas Gagnon, and her son, Mario Gagnon.

Marie-Anne was born on July 18, 1921 in Shawinigan, Quebec. She was born into a very large family of fifteen children. She had eight brothers and six sisters, and they all lived on a farm near Shawinigan. Marie-Anne’s father, born February 14, 1886, died prematurely in 1945 of Tuberculosis, which devastated the family and, in particular, our mother. Marie-Anne became a nurse during WWII. After the war, she met her husband Ajesilas (Archie), were married in 1947 and eventually had five children. Marie-Anne was an excellent caring mother, a good cook, an arbitrator, financial wizard, consummate gardener and lover of life. In her later years, she taught herself how to paint and spent hours at the easel painting scenes of nature and still lifes. Marie-Anne loved to laugh and always enjoyed a good joke.

Marie-Anne was diagnosed with Dementia in 2011 and spent the final four years of her life in long term care. Marie-Anne’s passing is a godsend as she is no longer suffering from the effects of this terrible disease.

In the words of Martin Luther King, one of her favourite public figures – I’m free at last, free at last…

A Celebration of Life will be held on Tuesday, December 1, 2015 at SOUTH CALGARY FUNERAL CENTRE, 12700 Macleod Trail South (at Lake Fraser Gate), at 11:30 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations being made in Marie-Anne’s memory directly to the Alzheimer’s Society of Calgary, #201, 222 – 58 Ave SW, Calgary AB T2H 2S3.