Bernadette Kirouac – October 12, 1923 to August 1, 2009

In loving memory of Bernadette Kirouac, age 85, whose death occurred at the Dryden Regional Health Centre on August 1, 2009.

Bernadette was born on October 12, 1923 in St. Labre, Manitoba. At the age of 18, Bernadette moved to Winnipeg, where she worked at Western Steel, which was an airplane factory.

She met the love of her life, Joseph Kirouac on a blind date. They were married on June 12, 1944. During their marriage they lived in various bush camps in Manitoba before they moved to the “Pumps” in Ontario in 1950.

Bernadette had the ability to make any house a home, even the tar paper shack they lived in at the “Pumps”. Even if those were hard times, Bernadette managed to make it a warm and welcoming home.

They family built a home n Red Lake Road and moved there in 1961. To Bernadette, this was the height of luxury as she now had running water and indoor flushing toilets.

Joe and Bernadette bought a cabin on Indian Lake in 1972 and made it their official home in 1977. Bernadette and Joe loved their life on the lake, where they enjoyed fishing, working on antique cars and having company to play cards.

Upon Joe’s retirement, they had more time for the things they enjoyed, especially their yearly trips to British Columbia to visit their daughter Yolande and her family and their numerous trips to Las Vegas.

Joe passed away in December 1996 and Bernadette started a new phase in their life. She moved to Dryden, where she attended a new church and made new friends and she was always surrounded by her family.

During these years she traveled to Winnipeg to visit her sisters and spend weeks at the cabin in Woodridge.

Bernadette enjoyed baking and cooking and always had food for company. She had a knack for turning nothing into a wonderful meal. She always enjoyed people visiting her home wherever that may have been.

She loved gardening and always had beautiful flowers and gardens that produced enough vegetables to feed many families.

Bernadette will be remembered for her zest for life. She always had a kind word, a smile or a joke for everyone she met. But Bernadette’s greatest love was for her family. She especially cherished the opportunities she had to spend with her grandchildren, great grandchildren.

Bernadette is survived by her five children Yolande Lecomte (Joe), Angele Leutschaft (Walter), Roland (Joanne), Norman (Tammy) and Jerry (Lorraine) and her ten grandchildren, Donald and Dino Lecomte; Debbie Danielson, Lisa and Larry Leutschaft; Jason and Brent Kirouac; B.J. Kirouac and Jenna and Dylan Kirouac and her 11 great grandchildren.

She is also survived by her sisters Beatrice Dubois, Marcelle Gauthier, Jeann D’Arc Yvon, Sister Theresa Andre and Ferdinande Girardy.

Funeral services were held on Wednesday, August 5 at 1 p.m. at the Roman Catholic Church in Dryden with Father Campeau officiating. Interment was in the Lady of Fatima Cemetery in Vermilion Bay.

If friends so desire, donations may be made to the Heart and Stroke Foundation through the Dryden Community Funeral Home, 249 Grand Trunk Avenue, Dryden ON P8N 2X