ELIZABETH ANNE DAGENAIS (née HADOW)

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ELIZABETH ANNE DAGENAIS
(née HADOW)

Elizabeth Anne Dagenais passed away peacefully at St. Norbert Personal Care Home (PCH), Winnipeg in the wee hours of December 22, 2021, with her daughter at her side.
Elizabeth was born August 5, 1928 in Surrey, England to James Vere Hadow and Marion (Pope). Her benign English childhood when her love of all things four legged was born, followed by the terrors of the Second World War and the loneliness of boarding school life marked her forever. Her final school years were spent at a school in Yorkshire which was taken over by the Army during the War. The girls were evacuated to a local stately home and the seeds of her wanderlust were born there; she would listen to bombers leaving the nearby R.C.A.F. base in the afternoons and lie awake at night waiting to hear the final few limp home.
Life in post war Britain was not easy and in 1950 Elizabeth and a friend set off across the Atlantic. Work in Toronto led to a job in Edmonton where, in a whirlwind romance, she married Jack, an R.C.A.F. airman. They would spend 65 years together and travel the world. Months after their marriage they were transferred to France; Marianne was born there, followed by Jeanette on their return to Ottawa in 1958. The family returned to a base in France in 1963; those years were filled with Christmases with the family in England, summers in Elizabeth's beloved Scotland and jaunts throughout Europe following her intrepid lead. Her creative navigational "short cuts" and their aftermath were family legend.
The final transfer of Jack's R.C.A.F. career led to their permanent home in Winnipeg. At last she could have her own home and create their world there.
After retirement, Elizabeth and Jack lived to travel. Trips back to the UK to spend time at holiday rentals with her brothers in Britain and Europe were frequent. Treasured experiences were flying in a small plane over the Kakadu and Uluru, snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef, bathing in hot springs in New Zealand and the beauty of St. Petersburg.
Elizabeth was predeceased by Jack in 2018 and by her elder brother, Keith Vere Hadow. She is survived by her younger brother, Humphrey Roger Hadow, in England, and her daughters, Marianne (Peter) of Winnipeg and Jeanette (Don) of Abbotsford, BC. She was fiercely devoted to and besotted by her granddaughters and their daughters: Renée Lazar (Pete) and Danielle Lanthier and great-granddaughters, Nina (Avery), Rachel and Hayley, all of the Lower Mainland. Sadly she was unable to meet her great-greats, Luka and Aleyna.
Dementia took Elizabeth's memories, her clear and articulate English voice and her highly valued independence. The pandemic then took what sustained her most: the closeness and love of her family and of her last little dog, Pippin. Sadly, the lockdown and heavily restricted visiting in the long months of the pandemic echoed at the end of her life the loneliness of boarding school life. The three years since Jack's death were difficult ones and she spent them in a series of transitions in care until coming to St. Norbert as the pandemic began.
She was small and feisty, opinionated but innately polite, fiercely political and empathetic, mercurial and very kind. She was an enthusiastic conversationalist and loved nothing more than a witty exchange of ideas.
Mum was a long time donor to the Winnipeg Humane Society, Oxfam and the Health Sciences Foundation. If you think of making a donation in her memory, those would please her.
Thank you to the loving caregivers at St. Norbert PCH, many of whom also cared for our father: you know who you are. And to Barb Wipf, her dear and long time friend, who could still make her laugh and bring out her cheekiness near the end.
Arrangements by Bardal. Condolences can be made at bardal.ca.

You are missed, Mum. At peace at last.

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As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Dec 31, 2021