Passed away at Mountain Lea Lodge, Bridgetown, N.S. on March 2, 2009, Mamie Pearce of Bridgetown, N.S.; formerly of St. John’s, age 93 years, 10 months. Born at Musgrave Harbour, she was the daughter of the late Adam and Mary Jane (Coles) Kean. She was the last surviving member of her immediate family. Predeceased by husband, William ‘Bill’; sister Marion; son-in-law Kenneth ‘Ken’ Carter and daughter-in-law Liz. She is survived by two daughters: Joan Carter, Brickton, NS and Ethel, Ormstown, QC; three sons: William ‘Bill’ (Lucy), Mount Pearl, George, London, ON and Randy (Linda), Torbay; 13 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. Cremation has taken place. A family graveside service will take place at St. Paul’s Anglican Cemetery, Harbour Grace on Saturday, July 18, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. Donations in her memory may be made to the Tim Horton’s Children’s Foundation, 874 Sinclair Road, Oakville, ON L6K 2Y1. Please visit www.noelsfuneralhome.ca to sign the memorial guest book.

The Next Place
By Warren Hanson
The next place that I go
Will be as peaceful and familiar
As a sleepy summer Sunday
And a sweet, untroubled mind.
And yet . . .
It won't be anything like any place
I've ever been. . .
Or seen. . . or even dreamed of
In the place I leave behind.
I won't know where I'm going,
And I won't know where I've been
As I tumble through the always
And look back toward the when.
I'll glide beyond the rainbows.
I'll drift above the sky.
I'll fly into the wonder,
without ever wondering why.
I won't remember getting there.
Somehow I'll just arrive.
But I'll know that I belong there
And will feel much more alive
Than I have ever felt before.
I will be absolutely free of the things
that I held onto
That were holding onto me.
The next place that I go
Will be so quiet and so still
That the whispered song of sweet
belonging will rise up to fill
The listening sky with joyful silence,
And with unheard harmonies
Of music made by no one playing,
Like a hush upon breeze.
There will be no room for darkness
in that place of living light,
Where an ever-dawning morning
pushes back the dying night.
The very air will fill with brilliance,
as the brightly shining sun
And the moon and half a million stars
are married into one.
The next place that I go
Won't really be a place at all.
There won't be any seasons --
Winter, summer, spring or fall --
Nor a Monday, Nor a Friday,
Nor December, Nor July.
And the seconds will be standing still. . .
While hours hurry by.
I will not be a boy or girl,
A woman or man.
I'll simply be just, simply, me.
No worse or better than.
My skin will not be dark or light.
I won't be fat or tall.
The body I once lived in
Won't be part of me at all.
I will finally be perfect.
I will be without a flaw.
I will never make one more mistake,
Or break the smallest law.
And the me that was impatient,
Or was angry, or unkind,
Will simply be a memory.
The me I left behind.
I will travel empty-handed.
There is not a single thing
I have collected in my life
That I would ever want
to bring Except. . .
The love of those who loved me,
And the warmth of those who cared.
The happiness and memories
And magic that we shared.
Though I will know the joy of solitude. . .
I'll never be alone. I'll be embraced
By all the family and friends
I've ever known.
Although I might not see their faces,
All our hearts will beat as one,
And the circle of our spirits
Will shine brighter than the sun.
I will cherish all the friendship
I was fortunate to find,
All love and all the laughter in the place
I leave behind.
All these good things will go with me.
They will make my spirit glow.
And that light will shine forever
In the next place that I go.