HELEN ATKIN

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HELEN ATKIN June 18, 1921 to February 27, 2006 On February 27, 2006, we said a last goodbye to our dear mom, gran and great-gran. What a lively and courageous lady she was. Those who knew her best will remember her generosity, her determined spirit and her great sense of humour. Home for Helen was Rainy River, ON and though she lived in many places she always considered it her real home. It was there that she was raised with her three siblings and there where her fondest memories were. She moved to Winnipeg at a young age to pursue her dancing and went on the road with a dance troupe in the early 1940s. She worked hard as a secretary and a young mother to support and raise her family. This was at a time when she was also in very poor health herself. With the support of her mother, she did it all: a single mom who persevered through the good and the bad times. Her tenacity and strengths through those years still amaze us to this day. Later she studied and fought the system' to achieve a professional career in the Federal Civil Service attaining managerial positions and recognition for her successes. After retirement she worked as a volunteer with the Manitoba Cancer Treatment and Research Foundation. She loved this work and left it only in order to move to a milder coastal climate and to be closer to family members. She gave to this world two children, Jim and Diane, a multitude of fabulous sweaters and much love and support to all of her family including her daughter-in-law Mardy, her grandsons, Mark, Jamie and Aaron and her granddaughter Melanie. The extended family now includes her granddaughters-in-law, Jennifer, Nicole and Liana and her great-grandsons, Brodie and Jared Atkin as well as Braiden and Jaired Deegan. Her passions were music, pie, figure skating, dessert, Canada and her family. Words express so little of what is in all our hearts. She will be missed very much by all of her family and her many friends across North America. A celebration of life will be held this summer.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Apr 01, 2006