PATRICIA RUTH NAYLOR

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PATRICIA RUTH NAYLOR (KEPLER) On the early morning of September 28, 2015, at the Winnipeg nursing home where she'd lived since last winter, Pat died. She suffered from dementia and hadn't been able to communicate for the past several months. Before a stroke and dementia took away her abilities, Pat was a fantastic cook, a voracious reader, a solver of crossword puzzles, and a nurse. She loved to travel, and took her children - ages 13, 11, 9 and 5 - on a long freighter voyage to Bangladesh where first husband Don Ellis taught while on sabbatical. She scorned the lazy bigotry of many expats there, remaining curious and egalitarian. Pat liked her wine dry, her meat rare, her art modernist, her chocolate and coffee dark. She could sing a multitude of show tunes with a voice better than she ever credited. She was suspicious of all organized religion, and voted NDP ever since moving to Canada in 1961. She adored carnations, babies and the ballet. She got her nursing degree as a mature student, and worked at Klinic for many years. She loved Ella Fitzgerald and Paul Newman. She was a formidable bridge player, a casually terrifying driver and knew about a thousand recipes for chicken. She believed in proper hemlines and well-kept yards, but thought it would be great to have a life-size inflatable man to set on the couch as a deadpan, absurdist joke. She hated sanctimony, smugness and her childhood nickname, because she was nobody's Patsy. Losing her ability to find the right words and reason things out was the cruelest blow. We will miss her, but she's at peace. Patricia Ruth Naylor (b. 1933) is survived by brothers Jim and David (Greg), sister-in-law Cheryl, children Scott (Anna), Brian (Karen), Matthew (Nancy), and Jennifer (Ragnar), grandchildren Ava, Robin, Miles, Rory, Ian, Lauren, Kate, and Julia, and great-grandchild Juliette. A celebration of Pat's life will be held this coming spring. The family would like to thank the staff at Poseidon Care Centre. If friends so desire, memorial contributions may be made to The Heart and Stroke Foundation.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Oct 17, 2015