JUDITH EVA STEPHENSON (FRASER)

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JUDITH EVA STEPHENSON (nee FRASER) It is with great sadness that we mark the end of our mother's life at Lake of the Woods, Ontario, on July 4, 2007. It is with great joy that we celebrate her legacy of love and devotion to her family and friends. Our mother was a person of great integrity, character and strength. We are devastated by her death and strengthened by her life of loyalty, friendship, humour, dignity and generosity of self and spirit. We reflect on her life with wonderful remembrances of her devotion to us and her dear friends; her enthusiasm for all things social and sociable; and gorgeous summers on Zig Zag Island at Clearwater Bay. Born in Winnipeg in 1937, Judy spent her early years in Calgary, Alberta, with her loving and loved parents Jack and Alice Fraser. Her memories of childhood were characterized by Stampede Week, holidays in Banff and Jasper, piano lessons which led her to become an accomplished pianist and teacher, her earliest friendships and her parents' examples of hospitality and commitment to family. She and her family returned to Winnipeg in 1951 where she attended school at Robert H. Smith and Kelvin and enrolled at United College in 1954. Judy loved her university days and began enduring friendships which she considered among her greatest gifts. She was very active in many events and activities at United College where she discovered the theatre - both as an actress and audience member - and developed her eclectic interests, musical talents and her famous sociability. She was a proud member of the Pi Phi Sorority and was recently honoured with her 50-year membership pin. Her friends' reminiscences and remembrances from this time describe her as eloquent and elegant; a natural actress and true friend. These same friends also report that she liked to skip class, drink coffee at Tony's and play bridge in the common room. In spite of these distractions, in 1958 Judy graduated from United College with a Bachelor of Arts and from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Music. Upon graduation she pursued her love of reading and knowledge through her work at the Winnipeg Public Library where she was one of the first to work on the Book Mobile. Her affinity with the library, innate intelligence and ease with people guided her return to the workforce in the early 1980s and her career with the departments of Municipal Affairs, Rural Development and Education through to her retirement in 2001. In the early 1960s Judy became a mother: a role she described as the best thing that ever happened to me. She is survived, loved and sorely missed by her children Elizabeth, James and John; daughters-in-law Christine and Michaela; and wonderful grandchildren Kyle, Kendra, Liam, Jack, Kate and William. Our mother is also loved and missed by her dear friends with whom she loved to socialize. She was always keen to meet for breakfast at Stella's, lunch at McNally's or supper at one of several favourite spots. A generous and welcoming hostess, she also loved to entertain at dinners, lunches, cocktails and her famous tea parties. She was an ardent lover of the arts, and with friends and family a longtime subscriber to and celebrant of Winnipeg's cultural offerings including the opera, symphony, musicals (particularly Gilbert and Sullivan) and the theatre. Hers was a life well lived. We will celebrate her life and honour her memory at a service of remembrance on Monday, July 9, 2007, at 3:30 p.m. at Neil Bardal Inc., 984 Portage Avenue, Aubrey Street entrance. Flowers are gratefully declined; charitable donations in her memory are welcomed. neil bardal inc 949-2200 nbardal.mb.ca

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Jul 06, 2007