Jean Galt

She will be greatly missed by her nephew, David Galt, her niece, Sheila Galt, her nephew-in-law, Anders Norberg, and her great nephews, Peter and Daniel Norberg. Jean was pre-deceased by her parents, Ian and Mabel Galt, as well as her brother, John Galt, and sister-in-law, Rena Galt.

Jean was a remarkable person, extremely kind-hearted and always willing to help a friend in need. She never married, and had no children of her own, but her far-reaching “family” of friends was a very important part of her life. Jean was an active member of the First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto for many years.

During her working life, Jean was an illustrator for schoolbooks and dictionaries. She also put her artistic talents to work in her own studio, often painting landscapes, with her love of autumn colours shining through. Jean loved the rustic way of life at “Red Pine Cabin”, on the Ottawa River, often stopping on her trips to photograph reflections in a swamp or brilliant red sumac branches.

Jean got heaps of pleasure from cats, crossword puzzles and comedy shows. She stayed sharp in her mind, readily discussing the latest world news, or the definition of an unusual word, and sent funny jokes to her friends by e-mail even when she was 94!

Welcome to her Celebration of Life on Sat. Sep. 24th at the Giffen-Mack Funeral Home at Danforth & Main. Visiting with friends and family, including an art show, starts at 1 pm with a Celebration of Life scheduled for 3 pm, followed by light refreshments. For those who wish, one can join the celebration at 3 pm (Toronto time) by connecting online, see details below.

Please send an e-mail, entitled “Jean’s Celebration” to Sheila (with real dots) to help plan the number of people attending: Sheila (dot) Jean (dot) Galt (followed by the symbol “at”) gmail (dot) com.

In lieu of flowers, Jean’s wish was that donations be sent to either of the following two organizations:

First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto, www.firstunitariantoronto.org/donate/

SeedChange, formerly known as the Unitarian Service Committee of Canada, weseedchange.org/donate