A wife to one, a mother to six and a friend to everyone she met.
July 25th 1939 – January 6th 2018
It is with the heaviest hearts that we announce the passing of Beverly Ann Norris in Kenora, Ontario on January 6th, 2018. Bev will be forever remembered for her love and dedication to her husband Garry, their 6 children and spouses, their 15 grandchildren and the countless friends who spent a day, a night, a month or years growing up at the Norris family home on Black Sturgeon Lake.
Bev was born an only child, in Montreal in 1939 to Mary Beatrix Jamieson and Cpt. Hugh Stanley Brydges. She was just 5 years old when her father died in World War 2. At 14 she was thrilled when her mother married Fred Giffen. She often spoke of how happy she was to finally have a big brother, Donald Giffen. Bev’s summers as a child were spent at the family cottage in Riviere Beaudette, Quebec where she first met her ‘one and only’, Garry Norris at the age of 13. It was from then on that the two were inseparable sharing 52 years of marriage and countless adventures.
While attending secretarial college after high school Bev felt drawn to the nursing profession. She graduated from the Royal Victoria Hospital School of Nursing in Montreal where she received numerous accolades in surgical nursing. Following graduation she worked at both the Royal Victoria Hospital and the Kingston General Hospital.
Bev put her nursing career on hold for a number of years as she poured all of her energy and love in to raising her six kids. Gordon Hugh was born in Montreal after which Garry’s work took them to Melfort, Sask. where Katharine Elizabeth and Brian Everette joined the brood. The next move took them to Barrie, Ont and the addition of Heather Marie; the only one to follow her mom’s nursing path. In 1970 the family of six moved to Kenora where the family grew by two, Karen Margaret and Susan Mae. It is Kenora that the children call home and where the memories of Bev flourished like the flowers she tended to in the gardens surrounding their property. Bev’s generous nature and kind heart welcomed anyone at any time (animals included) for as long as they wished, extending her family even further. As her children grew she embraced their lives, their activities and their friends as her own, with an open heart, an open mind and an open door. Everyone was welcome to the Norris family dinners and the memorable conversations that ensued.
In 1976 Bev accepted a nursing position at Birchwood Terrace Nursing home in Kenora, following gentle encouragement to return to the Nursing Profession from her dear friend Carol Peterson Sr . Here she continued to love and care for other people, which was her life calling. In 1985 Bev became the Director of Care at Birchwood, a position she embraced so much she returned to it on four separate occasions following her retirement.
Bev was always up for an adventure, she and Garry camped coast to coast across Canada (with six kids!), travelled through most of the United States, went to several European countries on their own and with their kids and grandkids , the Dominican, Mexico and Cuba.
Bev put life into everything she did. Whether it was teaching the RPN nursing program and the Personal Support Worker programs at Confederation College, participating in community endeavors or being ``Mom's Taxi`` for her kids many activities, she put her all in everything and without complaint. She found the best in every person she met and every situation she encountered, even if that meant hauling water from a frozen lake or heating snow on a stove top to bathe the kids. She met every challenge head on and instilled this character in her children while always cherishing her love for poetry, CBC Radio, her flower gardens and above all, her family.
She will forever be missed by her cat Fingers, her children/grandchildren Gordon (Heather) Bradley and Amanda Norris; Katharine (Dave) Julia and Chloe Edmondson; Brian (Alexis) Jaida and Amy Norris; Heather (Scott) Aliyah, Rowan and Tate Phillips; Karen (Craig) Judson, Amelia and Sawyer Schulz; Susan (John) Kai, Maren and Elsa Cyr; brother Donald Giffen (Nancy, Murray and families); Sister-in-law Elaine Norris (Ken, Doug, Katie, Sally and families).
Bev was predeceased by her parents Hugh, Mary and Fred, her brother-in-law Bob Norris, her sister-in-law Linda Giffen and her loving husband of 52 years, Garry Norris, also predeceased by her mother and father-in-law Dr. Kenneth Everette and Martha Elizabeth Mae Norris.
Beverly …… You will forever be missed, forever remembered and loved by us all dearly. We will continue to share your love and stories with our families.
A special thank you to our Black Sturgeon neighbors, our friends and families (near and far) and all those who brightened our mother's days with a visit. Thank you Gloria and Irene for the lunch dates, dinners and routine visits that mom adored and talked about until the next, Amy and Gloria Beck for your long-time friendship and to all who visited in the hospitals over the last couple of months.
A Celebration of Bev’s life will be held at the family home on Sunday August 12, 2018 at 2:00 pm. Those who wish to donate in her memory can do so to the Birchwood Terrace Activation fund or the Lake of the Woods District Hospital Foundation.
Online condolences may be made at www.brownfuneralhomekenora.com
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