On Sunday, December 19th, 2021, at the age of 67, I passed away leaving behind my loving family and wonderful friends. To my darling husband, Brent, my loving children, Megan and Paul (Laura), and my sweet grandchildren, Evie and Graham, thank you for all your love, understanding and compassion as I moved through my cancer journey. To my thoughtful and compassionate friends, thank you too for spending so much time with me, lending a hand when needed and always checking in to see how I was doing. You will never know how much your kindness meant to me. And Brent, you were my rock, never faltering in your support and always there to help me. Your realistic optimism kept my spirits up and yet kept me grounded in the stark reality of my illness.

Even though I wish I had been able to stay longer with all of you, I had a great life. Thanks to my parents, Brian and Berenice Dunsworth, my childhood in Edmonton with my brother Glen was blissfully happy. Marrying Brent and having my two darling children only added to my joy. At the age of 20, I became an ESL teacher, a wonderfully fulfilling career that spanned more than 20 years and allowed me to touch so many lives. At that point I embraced a new field-instructional online course design and teaching which led me to becoming an instructional designer. It was in this field that I achieved a Master of Arts. Another door opened that enabled me to my greatest academic accomplishment- the completion of my PhD at the age of 57 that led me to my second career in the field of curriculum and the chance to work on many intriguing and challenging projects as an instructional designer, online teacher and curriculum developer.

Although I truly enjoyed my academic and educational work, the life roles that brought me the most joy were as a sister, wife, mother and grandmother. To my brother Glen and my darling sister-in-law Tina, thank you for your love and support always and the many, many happy times we spent together. As a mother, I feel so fortunate to have raised Meg and Paul and am so proud of the adults they have become – talented, kind, funny and thoughtful… such treasures in my life. I also had the fantastic privilege of being Evie and Graham’s Gigi, truly one of the greatest joys of my life. I love you both more than you could ever know. And Brent…my love for you is immeasurable.

In lieu of a sad funeral, my wish is to have a joyful celebration of my life, full of music and the happy chatter of friends and family. This will be held at a future date. In my honour, please wear bright colours but no flowers please. If you wish, a donation to the Canada Cancer foundation would be much appreciated.

“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”
-A.E. Milne

Published on December 29, 2021