JUNE AGNES AMELIA SWANN (THORNTON)

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JUNE AGNES AMELIA SWANN
(nee THORNTON)
May 8, 1932 – December 17, 2021

June Swann (nee Thornton) passed away peacefully, while sleeping at the Grace Hospital in Winnipeg, following another acute COPD exacerbation. Her daughter Joyce and son Richard with his partner Deb were by her side.
June was predeceased by her husband Hugh, her son Ronald, sister-in-law Ada, brothers, Bobby, Jack and Albert. June is lovingly remembered by her children, Joyce, Hugh, Richard, and her grandchildren, Mike, Crystal, Ashley and Matthew. She will also be missed by her great-grandchildren, Rory, Lily, Nick, Aiden, Asher and Charlotte; as well as her sister Ellamae, her brother Allan and sister-in-law Mona, her cousins in BC, the Rattenburys, the Kyles and the Rustands.
June's mother Daisy Granger married Edward Enns, who moved to Canada from London, England and had lived and worked in Winnipeg for 10 years. Edward was homesick for London and so they decided to move to London, England. Daisy did not like London and they separated a few years later. Daisy then returned to Canada with her children. A few years later Daisy married Jack Thornton who then adopted June and her two brothers. They lived in the West End and St. Matthews area of Winnipeg and were blessed with three more children.
June met the love of her life, Hugh Swann, in the mid 1940s. They were married on November 6, 1953. With the arrival of their daughter Joyce in 1954 they began their family with Hugh Jr. being born in 1955, Ronald in 1957 and Richard in 1960.
June was a dedicated stay at home mother until all her children were in school. She then began a varied work career. A true chocoholic, she enjoyed the perks of working at Eaton's chocolate factory. She then went on to work for various insurance companies as a coding clerk.
June discovered her artistic talents in her early fortes when she took up ceramics. She became a skilled painter and eventually started teaching ceramics from their home. She enjoyed knitting, crow hooking and crocheting and her handmade throws are cherished possessions of her many friends and relatives lucky enough to have received one.
June and Hugh were dedicated to their children spending all their summer weekends and work vacations at their small family cottage at Grand Beach, Manitoba. When the family outgrew the Grand Beach cottage they sold it and bought a lakefront cottage near the town of Beconia, Manitoba. The entire family enjoyed their summers at the Beconia cottage that Hugh worked hard at renovating and expanding over the many years. After Hugh's retirement from the CNR they enjoyed living at the cottage for the entire summer every year.
June loved to travel and while visiting London in the late 1970s dropped into the Salvation Army to ask for their assistance in locating her birth father, Edward Enns. About a year later June received a letter from her long lost father who also wanted to meet her. So June and Hugh along with June's mom Daisy flew to London to meet June's father and stepmother. Sadly Edward's wife passed away from cancer about a year later. Edward then came to visit June in Winnipeg.
He subsequently returned to London, sold his belongings and moved back to Canada to be with his long lost Canadian family. Edward lived in Winnipeg for about seven years before his passing. June felt truly blessed to have received a second chance in life to get to know her birth father and enjoy going on a few Caribbean cruises with both her birth parents.
Eventually June's husband Hugh grew to enjoy travelling almost as much as June. During their retirement years they travelled to Morocco, Spain, Israel, Germany, Paris and Singapore. June's eldest son Hugh Jr. retired from his Montreal job in 2010. From then on Hugh Jr. and June, often accompanied by sister-in-law Ada Swann, would escape the cold Canadian winters and go on one of Holland America's Grand Voyages. June was quite fortunate to have cruised around almost every continent and achieved Holland America's 5 Star "Mariner status" with a total of 581 cruise days aboard their various ships.
June maintained the family cottage until selling it around 2010. In 2017 she sold the family home they had lived in since 1959. June then moved to New Westminster, BC to live with her eldest son Hugh Jr. who had relocated from Montreal to New Westminster, BC in 2013.
Both June and her daughter Joyce suffered from severe chronic COPD and decided to share a two bedroom apartment at Winnipeg's River Ridge II assisted living retirement home in October 2021. June's family is very grateful to their staff and especially Manager Chassity McIntyre for all their care and kindness towards our mother.
June's funeral service will be held at Bardal's Funeral Chapel, 843 Sherbrook St., Winnipeg in the beginning of January. June's service will be live streamed for those unable to attend in person. Please contact her son, Hugh Swann at swannhugh@gmail.com or phone him at (778 995 1276) to request your streaming link to the service.

Please refer to the website www.bardal.ca to view this obituary

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Dec 29, 2021