MAURICE GRAHAM CURRIE
Card of Thanks
Maurice Graham Currie
Many people helped us through the challenging years of Maurice’s illness: members of health-care teams on the Northside; in Baddeck while Maurice resided at Alderwood Rest Home; at the Regional Hospital in Sydney and, finally, at Cove Guest Home. I thank them for their professional guidance and personal caring throughout our journey.
Thank you to Maurice’s honourary pall bearers: Martin Steele; Michael, Kevin, and Mary Lou Musial; Marilyn Musial Jones; and Mary AuCoin.
Thank you to everyone who attended his memorial on April 29, 2014: family, friends, and neighbours; Maurice’s New Waterford Currie cousins, the Connors family, and his childhood classmates who shared memories with me. Thank you to Maurice’s daughter, Patricia, for her support; and to Maurice’s son-in-law Fred Pegley, my sister Marilyn, and Pat Campbell, all three of whose words so gracefully evoked Maurice’s endearing personality and his huge heart. Special thanks to the management and staff of Cove Guest Home for caring for both of us, for their hugs and smiles while he lived, their hugs and tears when he died, and for their magnificent floral tribute. Ceilidh Unit, we were safe in your hands. To our Parkinson Support Group, especially past president Mary Langlois and her husband Alex, whose energy and enthusiasm for our various projects never wavered, we were blessed to have you at the helm of our little ship. To my fellow scribes at Boularderie Island Press, your words and presence comforted me. To my son Martin Steele and his wife, Julie Demairais, my sisters and brothers, my aunts, uncles, and cousins, nieces and nephews, thank you for letting me know in various ways how much you cared. To my cousin Sandra Gouthro, my aunt Darlene Rostek Zanth, and my fabulous neighbours the Cookes, Kennedys, and Lings, your contributions to my table nourished many bodies and souls during those sad early days.
Thank you, Bill Curry and the staff of Curry’s Parkview Chapel, for your remarkable kindness, sensitivity, and exquisite attention to detail. If I’d asked for the star under which Maurice was born, you’d have found a way to get it for me. For every lovely floral tribute, card, visit, phone call, email, on-line condolence, charitable donation, memory shared, message passed on, and for every heartening hug, I thank you. ...
Our dear friend, Mary AuCoin (who along with Lorne was with us the night Maurice and I met) said upon hearing of his death, “When I think about Maurice, I smile.” What a beautiful legacy: he left us smiling. Thank you, Mary, for the perfect words. Thank you, all, for every kindness and for sharing in the celebration of Maurice’s life.
Charlotte Musial
