I met Jessie in 1988 at the 2nd Nursing Theory Congress in Toronto, a smashing gathering of nursing nerds. I had just finished my Masters and was new to the role of Clinical Nurse Specialist in Gerontology.  Two years later I moved to Victoria and reached out to Jessie. She introduced me to the many wonderful nurses working in the Victoria LTC community. So many told me they became committed to working in eldercare because they had studied with Jessie at UVic.  Jessie helped us believe in the importance of our work.

Jessie was my colleague in the School of Nursing at UVic and provided me with mentorship and support throughout my career. She was full of compassion, intelligence and wisdom; a true triple threat. Her curiosity and passion for research were fully integrated into her excellent clinical practice with the elderly. Her work informed and changed nursing practice for the better and she will always be remembered as a nurse’s nurse.

Jessie loved life and she lived it to the fullest!  




I first came to know Jessie at Queenswood, our Sister of Saint Ann Retreat Centre in Victoria, when she came to take her Reiki training with me.  Little did I realize at that time what an important part she would play in my future.  When Queenswood closed in 2010, Jessie came along as a supportive friend at a time when I needed her gifts, her skills, her knowledge.  She was one of our founding members of Queenswood Holistic Healing and Spirituality Society.  She worked tirelessly along side Sharon Burkmar, our co-founder with myself, along with Marnie Bradfield and Sandra Price, our treasurer.  Perhaps one of her greatest gifts that touched me deeply was her faith and belief in God's goodness and her unselfish way of loving others.  She was an inspired woman, multi-talented, fun to be with and loved by so many.  You will live on in our hearts and in our memory, dear Jessie.

Jessie was an incredible friend. I remember her for her caring, compassion, and thoughtfulness. We met at McGill University School of Nursing. She had a passion to learn French. Jessie moved in with two French sisters who spoke no English! We travelled widely across Canada and beyond. Jessie will be remembered in so many ways. I miss her deeply. Mary Buzzell

Jess was my first prof at The University ofVictoria when I returned to complete my Bsc in Nursing. She was so inspiring and engaged in her teaching, it  motivated me to put the best of my ability into her courses. She later encouraged me to go to grad school (and wrote me a reference letter). That was Jess’s nature..she encouraged and mentored..and supported students,colleagues, friends, ..and I think even a few adversaries. 
I went to grad school,  and it was one of the greatest “gifts” of my life. Thank you Jess,. As I’ve told you, I would never have done it without you.
Jessies became a friend, and in 1986 when we were on sabbatical, she looked in on my mum who was in care facility. Jess help and support  guided me later,  through my mum’s palliative journey. 
I could not pay sufficient tribute to Jess for all she contributed to her profession ..in teaching, research, mentoring, and in her “gifts”  to the lives and health of her friends.
In 2005, Jess visited us when we were on our annual visit to South Africa. She was with us for a month and my husband (as a South African) felt we must really showcase the country to her. Hence evolved a wonderful, fun journey that took us from Zimbabwe to  Capetown,  Always  observant  and insightful, Jess saw things, made observations and asked questions that gave us “new eyes’ for South Africa !!
Jess became part of our family. She sewed little dresses for our grandchildren and accessories for me. She attended our youngest daughter’s wedding with Belinda and our first grandchild’s  baptism.
We shared many interests in wide and various aspects of spirituality. Our contemplative retreats were treasures in this pilgrim journey.
Jess’s interests in gadgets and technology .. her creativity/generosity live on. .I.e Two sewing machines..one a treasure for a refugee mother and one for gran thrilled with all “extras” that came with Jess’s machine.   
Jess,our  unique and precious friend, we miss you terribly.      

Twenty-nine years ago this month, I met Jessie Mantle.  She was the professor of my very first class at UVic as I started my BSN.  A wonderful teacher, she inspired me to trust my intuition and to value my curiosity and creativeness.  Jessie was wonderful, kind and caring and over the years our friendship grew.  I always say that she got me into so much mischief though dowsing, palm reading, astrology and shopping. I like to pretend that I was never guilty. When I think of Jessie now, I especially like to recall how much fun and laughter we shared. I remember asking her advice as I was considering leaving nursing and going into real estate.  Well, wouldn't you know that she had just learned to dowse, so she suggested that she use her special pendulum to determine my future. Strangely enough, it answered positive to both real estate and nursing.  Always trusting Jessie's sound advice, I began my exciting career in real estate.  Years later she admitted that she had never really mastered the pendulum technique!! I did eventually return to nursing.
One special memory was the time that I wrote and she endorsed something about me that was published in a local magazine - which almost got us into lots of trouble. Luckily we managed to get out of it. We decided that if they did plan to send us to jail, we would insist on the same cell and laugh our way through our prison sentence.
And, laugh we did, often, and every time we got together or spoke on the telephone. We came up with spontaneous ideas and adventures.  I loved the time she played the outdoor piano and I sang at Cattle Point. We felt like stars; even though there was no audience. 
Jessie was the most fun friend I have ever had and I do miss her. We did make a pact in the past 2 years that both of us will be reincarnated at the same time and we will become Nurse Practitioners and work with the Inuit.
Farewell dear friend and, please start working on your dog sled skills. Iditarod here we come!!



My memories of Jessie will always bring back those associated with her enthusiasm and willingness to accept the challenges of being offered a
 first time Gerontogical Clinical Nurse Specialist, Juan de Fuca Hospitals - School of Nursing, University of Victoria  Joint Appointee position.
She came to Victoria determined to succeed  and to be able to share her nursing and teaching experiences with those Care professionals faced with the ever increasing  complexity of  health related needs of the elderly!!   How fortunate we were!!  Her legacy remains never to be forgotten by those who have followed in her footsteps!! Bless you, Jessie!!
                                         Elizabeth Laugharne 
Associate Executive Director, Health Care Services (Retired)
                            Juan de Fuca Hospitals, Victoria, B.C.

Jessie was a force; she lived life large and with contagious exuberance. She and I became friends just over the past two or three years although we had met at Positively Africa on its Board. I have a background in Nursing from U of T (6T4), Boston College Master's in Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing, and then teaching on their faculty.  Jess and I enjoyed spirited reminiscences about her career and mine over lunch at Cattle Point, Fernwood Square,  or anywhere else she wanted to go.
I miss Jess terribly. I miss her kindness, her thoughtfulness and her caring. She told me I was on her prayer list. That was a first for me although spirituality is central to my life. Early in the pandemic she decided to call me each evening since I am alone.  We had great phone talks, some short,  others extended. She soon told  me that although she had started calling me because of my need she soon realized how much she enjoyed our talks. We had great laughs.
Jess  was a mentor to me about aging, about which  I feel immense gratitude,  especially how to age with grace and appreciation for help offered. 
And now she has joined  the wild and strong women ancestors who surround and guide me.
Lucky me!

Jessie was a long-time and wonderful friend as well as an imaginative and impactful nursing colleague. Visiting Victoria will no longer be the same for me without Jessie there. Jessie and I are both Vancouver Island girls, she hailing from Chemainus and me from Duncan, towns in the Cowichan Valley which are just a few miles apart. When we were both working as clinical instructors at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, we would often travel together on the Nanaimo ferry to visit our families on long weekends. My father would meet us and drop Jessie off at her parents in Chemainus enroute to my parent’s home in Duncan.   Later, I followed Jessie to Montreal to study at McGill and to benefit from boarding with the same Geoffrion sisters with whom Jessie stayed during her Montreal years---yes, they were relatives of hockey great, Bernard (Boom Boom) Geoffrion. Both of us benefitted from the proficiency we attained in speaking French by living with people who spoke little English and through the experience of living in a very French part of Montreal.  

As others have noted Jessie was a person of many parts. What good fortune to have known her for so many years and to enjoy the blessings she brought into our lives. 

Jessie was so inspiring. She remained connected to people through technology all her life, and loved nothing more than a good visit.  It was so important to her to stay current that she knew more about Mac computers and iPads than most people. She was a great one to help me resolve technical issues. I knew that something was very wrong when Jessie went "offline."

Jessie was incredibly generous when she saw a project or a group that needed her support. She shocked her financial advisor when she asked for $5000 - cash - for a positively AFRICA project in Zimbabwe.  There was more to that story - after explaining that US cash was needed because inflation in Zim was so horrendous, she explained that she would be sending the envelop of money with a stranger - a totally reliable stranger, but someone Jessie had never met. Upon arriving in Zimbabwe, that woman gave the cash to two people she had never met at coffee shop in Harare's National Art Gallery. The education project was funded for a year which felt like magic to the farmers and their families. Jessie had faith and that proved to be very effective in supporting grassroots initiatives. After this memorable contribution, she contributed her time, expertise and energy to positively AFRICA's Board. We all admired this wise woman and although the Society known as positively AFRICA is gone, members of the Board continue to meet and chat about lives well-lived - like Jessie's.

I loved Jess and miss her human form so much. I see her presence  in other ways and know that her generosity of spirit lives on through her friends.

Jessie was an amazing woman who dedicated her life to improving care and quality of life for older adults.  She was a long-time member and supporter of the Greater Victoria Eldercare Foundation (formerly Juan de Fuca Hospitals Foundation).  Jessie co-authored, with friend and colleague Jeanette Funke-Furber, "The Forgotten Revolution" a book created in dialogue with Vera McIver about "The Priory Method - A Restorative Care Model for Older Persons".  The Priory Hospital, proudly supported by Eldercare, truly changed the way the elderly were cared for  by restoring dignity and personhood with this innovative "Priory Method".  Jessie was always just a phone call away whenever the Eldercare Foundation was in need of advice, support, or just a friendly, knowledgeable, and caring ear.  Jessie was such a remarkable person on all levels.  She will be truly missed but always remembered!    Lori McLeod, Executive Director, Greater Victoria Eldercare Foundation

When I think of Jessie Mantle I think of living life to the fullest.  She savoured every part of life and all the occasions, experiences, and activities, in which she was engaged.  She loved the anticipation, the planning, the event itself, and the post-event debriefing.  We lived and relived many a happening through Jessie’s post analysis and vivid stories.   Jessie also had a spiritual and contemplative side that made her a wonderful, caring, sensitive human being—ever ready to reflect on the human condition.   As a professional steeped in nursing practice, research and academia she was a leader par excellence.   
I first met Jessie when I was a master’s student at Western, where she led the graduate program and taught nursing theory among other courses.  I remember so well her ability to challenge our thinking, reinforce our highest goals, and move us to action to achieve results.  Jessie also knew how to build networks—she connected students, practitioners, researchers, professors, nurses, non-nurses, and was always ready to host a party engaging numerous persons from all her endeavors.  The result was new friendships, new partnerships, and new thinking that led to proposals, curriculum plans, and article outlines. I always felt so fortunate to have met Jessie and be introduced to what it meant to have a professional network, in which we could dialogue for hours about nursing theory, the state of nursing, nursing education, health care, and caring.  
As a solid advanced nursing practitioner and champion for older persons, Jessie devoted much of her career to making care and quality of life better for those in their senior years.  This was her passion, which she shared with many, truly shining a light on and bringing to the forefront the importance of quality, person-centred elder care in health care and for humanity.  
Jessie was a genuine friend and while I miss her dearly, her laughter, excitement, animated stories and peaceful reflections, are never far away.

Jessie and met through our shared interest in Spiritual Health. She and a health committee at her church developed a Parish Nurse program and I was hired as the Parish Nurse. That was about 18 years ago and we have been friends since then. Jessie valued all of her friends so strongly. She always commented on how blessed she was for having them in her life.
Jessie loved to have thoughtful conversations about anything. I always tried to pay very close attention because she was very good at asking the tough questions.
The Sunday before she passed, we went down the road to the Beacon Hill Drive-In for a hot dog and ice cream cone. It was a beautiful day.
I feel very blessed to have had Jessie in my life and as a friend. 

I attended  Western University Faculty of Nursing between 1969 and 1973, Jessie was one of my nursing professors.I remember her fondly as a caring bright woman whose lessons I still remember. Her legacy has been strong and enduring.
Barbe Carruthers

Jessie and I were the first leaders of the Out of the Rain night shelter at St John the Divine church.  It was for young street people.  There were lots of meetings and many volunteers to organize to provide breakfast and snacks.  Jessie was full of energy and so pleasant to work with and we became friends.  She had a tremendous gift for empathy.

What an enormous legacy Jessie left on the world. She was a giant in inspiring and mentoring generations of nurses whose enthusiasm for gerontological nursing has led to so many innovations and creative care approaches. We were so fortunate in British Columbia to have her fierce professionalism, passionate commitment to practice excellence, and visionary sense of where the profession needed to go to meet the needs of patients and families into the future. 
May she always be remembered.

Jessie was one of my dearest and loving friends.  We met in 1969 at the University of Western Ontario where we taught first year nursing students. We bonded immediately. I called her my spiritual soul sister as we shared our thoughts and ideas on the meaning of being human through our favourite authors like Leo Buscaglia, Deepak Chopra and Cynthia Borgeault.   I recall our trip to Russia where she asked me to bargain fo her as we bought our Russian shawls.  In Turkey we listened to pan flute music and had such fun . She was most caring and thoughtful exemplified by this memory. I was down in the dumps while writing my thesis at U of Alberta. Jessie  said” you have Ph.D. itis . You need a break. I will send you a return ticket to Victoria as your early present for your graduation “  This is the measure if the woman, nurse, friend and soul sister. Caring and compassionate. She will remain forever in my heart.   She is in the heavenly realm with the angels as she was such on earth. May her soul Rest In Peace.





Dear Jocelyn,
We are so sorry to hear of the passing of your long-time friend and colleague, Jessie. 
She was our 1st year nursing instructor at the University of Western Ontario back in 1969-70.  Our classmates fondly remember Jessie as a sincere professional woman who was a wonderful teacher and kind mentor with a sincere love of nursing.  She had a tremendous impact on us throughout our careers.  
May you  experience some comfort in knowing that our collective thoughts and prayers  are with you as you celebrate her extraordinary life.  

Shirley (McCracken) Christo
(On behalf of the U.W.O. Nursing Class of '73)

 

OBITUARY

Jessie Mantle

January 19, 1932 – September 2, 2021

First Memorial Funeral Services

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