IRENE VIVIAN MAXWELL (KEMP)

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IRENE VIVIAN MAXWELL (nee KEMP) Peacefully, surrounded by her family, Viv left to join her beloved husband John. Viv was born to Herbert and Alice Kemp in Winnipeg as a New Years baby in 1919. She attended various schools in Winnipeg, graduating as she put it with matriculation from Kelvin High School and attended Success Business College. She married John Maxwell in 1940, moving with him to BC and then to Nova Scotia during the war years as John served in the RCN. In 1949 with their two daughters Lynne and Karen, Viv and John moved to Dauphin, MB. They spent many fun filled years there, meeting new people and enjoying many activities. Mom worked for Bond and Penrose as a typist for several years until she and John returned to Winnipeg in 1968. They built a new cottage at McIntosh and after 1975 spent four to five months a year there. Mom was no longer able to travel to the cottage after 1993. She loved her grandchildren and wanted them around her and John as much as they could be. Viv was a complicated, precise person with a wonderful sense of humour. Her family and maintaining her home, knitting, cooking and sewing were her special joys. She also played the piano and loved to sing carols with the family at Christmas. Viv and John also shared many years involved with Anglican Marriage Encounter. She loved her cottage at McIntosh, ON where she and John met as children and spent their married summers and retirement, for her, totalling almost 70 years. Viv lost her beloved husband John in 1995. She endured hip surgery, several illnesses and two strokes. She had lived in a personal care home since 2001, first in the Maples, then her last four years at St. Joseph Residence. Viv is survived by her brother Jack Kemp, her daughters Lynne (Ron), Karen (John), six grandchildren, Marnie, Lucinda, Glen, Kara, Deidra (Bram) and Chandra (Sean), also six great-grandchildren, Samantha, Raven, Coral, Ethan, Ryan and Christopher. She is also survived by her brother-in-law Jack Adams. Viv's father predeceased her in 1961 and her mother in 1997. The family would like to thank the staff at both the Maples and St. Josephs who genuinely cared for her and gave her kind and dignified care, making her last few years as comfortable as possible. A celebration of Viv's life will be held at St. Stephen's Anglican Church, 220 Helmsdale Ave. on Monday, November 12 at 2:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Alzheimer's Society. GREEN ACRES Funeral Home and Cemetery Hwy. #1 E. at Navin, (204) 222-3241 Life stories may be shared with friends and family across the globe at www.mem.com

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Nov 10, 2007