AUDREY CECILIA BELYEA

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AUDREY CECILIA BELYEA

(nee COOKE)

August 1, 1930 - September 5, 2026

In the early hours of Saturday, September 5, 2026, Audrey Cecilia Belyea (née Cooke) died peacefully at Misericordia Hospital. She was 96.

There are some people whose passing marks more than the end of a life; it marks the end of an era. Audrey was the last of her generation: an icon in Winnipeg’s music community, a beloved matriarch to her large and loving family, and a woman of faith, substance, tradition, and exacting standards. Straightforward, organized, capable, and deeply principled, she lived with quiet stoicism, unmistakable presence, and enduring grace.

Audrey described her early life as happy. She was the eldest daughter of Richard and Constance Cooke, and from them she learned her love of music, along with a deep sense of responsibility and duty to family and community. She often said her parents had such a small family and that their deepest wish was to see it grow. At the end of her life, she was profoundly proud of the large, loving family she had helped create.

She met Herbert Belyea, the love of her life, when he returned from service in the Second World War. Audrey was a stunningly beautiful woman, something that lasted her whole life. Together, she and Herb raised three children and built an extraordinary life filled with music, teaching, faith, tradition, and family. Their impeccably kept three-storey home on Grosvenor Avenue was a place of order, hospitality, and constant music.

Music was at the centre of Audrey’s life. She and Herb forged a professional partnership in music as impactful as their personal partnership in marriage. For more than 70 years, she was an accompanist for Winnipeg choirs and soloists, and she served as organist at St. Jude’s, St. Luke’s, Young, and St. Andrew’s River Heights churches. She taught thousands of piano and music theory students, including her great-grandson in her final years, and in earlier years served as president of the Junior Music Club and Wednesday Morning Musicale.

To perform with Audrey accompanying you was to feel braver. No matter what happened, she would catch up, improvise, or simply remain the steady and reassuring presence everyone trusted. As a teacher, she expected hard work, but never more than she was prepared to give herself. Her standards were high because her confidence in others was high too.

Audrey made community wherever she went. At only 18 years old, when St. Jude’s Church found itself without an organist, her parents told her she would become the new one despite never having played the organ before. Dutifully, she learned in a short time and continued for the rest of her life. She did not waste time fussing or expressing worry over problems. She decided what could be done, did it with determination and skill, and accepted with grace what was beyond her control.

Audrey understood the importance of acknowledging an occasion. Whether the recipients were under ten or in their seventies, all local children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren received cupcakes and cookies for Halloween and Valentine’s Day without fail, including this year. She never forgot to send a birthday or anniversary card. Tradition, ritual, and duty were part of who she was.

She showed her love by sharing her gifts: music, sewing, knitting, preserves, elaborate dinners, and the countless practical offerings that made family life richer. She was a renowned hostess of multi-course traditional roast dinners served with fine gleaming silverware, and piano recitals in her home were elegant affairs. She was the ultimate homemaker, entertainer, accompanist, seamstress, knitter, cook, decorator, teacher, and mentor. When she was not hard at work, she loved to socialize with her friends, travel, play games or relax with a good book.

She was a force of nature: organized, disciplined, practical, and capable of accomplishing far more in a day than most people. Instead of one batch of jam, it was jam, jelly, marmalade, and antipasto. She started each day by doing the worst chores first, simply to get them out of the way. She respected anyone who worked hard and carried an unquestioning faith that, with effort, a person could become excellent at whatever they chose to do.

Audrey loved people, and she remained open to change and growth throughout her life. Even after losing Herb and many of her closest friends, she had the courage to keep living fully and forming new friendships. Although she never thought of herself this way, Audrey was an incredibly smart woman. She was straightforward, but never simple; practical, but never ordinary. Her life and love were her true art.

In her final hours, Audrey shared that she felt she had done her duty here on earth. Thankfully, she is at peace and reunited with her beloved Herb and her family. She will be greatly missed, but her legacy lives on in the generations of family she loved, the students she taught, the music she shared, and the traditions she honored so faithfully.

Audrey was predeceased by her husband, Herbert Belyea; her parents, Richard and Constance Cooke; her brother, David Cooke; her sister, Phyllis Cooke Thomson; and her granddaughter, Joilinn Edgar.

She will be lovingly remembered by her children: Margaret Harrison (John), Olivia Arnason (Bruce), and Allan Belyea (Lisa). Her grandchildren Dorothy Heron (Allan), Andrea Mitchell (Todd), Meredith Mackay (JP), Nicola Harrison (Pablo Faña), Brock Arnason (Nadia Lotfi), Freyja Arnason (John Thompson), and Lara Arnason. Her great-grandchildren Meghan Heron Soucy (Maxim), Lianne Heron, Annika Heron, Stephanie Heron Miculita (Edward); Alysse and Cassidy Mackay; Noah Faña Gough, Isla and Skye Faña Harrison; Fjóla, Valdimar, and Bjarni Arnason; Kahyanehwo, Aria, and Brynja Thompson. Her great-great-grandchildren Jonah and Isaac Soucy, and Ezekiel and Eleanora Miculita. She also leaves behind her sister-in-law, Ann Cooke; and her much-beloved nieces and nephews Allison Cooke, Jennifer Cooke, Andrew Thomson, Christopher Thomson (Sheryl), and Celia Thomson (Don Richardson). Her grandnieces and grandnephews Alastair Thomson (Darcie), Fraser Thomson (Chelsea), Matthew Thomson (Leah), Jaqueline Hanson (Jordon), Taïcha Cooke, and Gabrielle Cooke.

Audrey was also a beloved aunt to many nieces and nephews on the Belyea side of the family, and a treasured friend and mentor to a great many former students, neighbours, and colleagues.

A memorial service and celebration of Audrey’s life will take place on Saturday, October 10, at 11:00 a.m. at St. Andrew’s River Heights United Church, 255 Oak Street, Winnipeg.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the St. Andrew’s River Heights Foundation, 255 Oak St Winnipeg, MB R3M 3P7 or to the Winnipeg Music Festival, Herbert and Audrey Belyea Scholarship Fund, 88 St. Anne’s Rd Unit 2, Winnipeg, MB R2M 0L1.

Chapel Lawn Funeral Home

204-885-9715

Tribute Link: www.chapellawn.ca

AUDREY CECILIA BELYEA

(nee COOKE)

In the early hours of Saturday, September 5, Audrey Cecilia Belyea passed away peacefully at the age of 96.

A memorial service and Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, October 10, 2026, at 11:00 am at St. Andrew’s River Heights United Church, 255 Oak Street with Reverend Karen Lumley officiating. A longer obituary will follow on October 3rd.

Chapel Lawn Funeral Home

204-885-9715

Tribute Link: www.chapellawn.ca

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Sep 12, 2026, Oct 03, 2026