CALLAGHAN, Joan Madeline (Doucet)
November 12, 1919 – September 23, 2012
Joan died peacefully with family at her side, at the Villa Acadienne in Meteghan, N.S., her home for the past year, following a brief illness. Mum enjoyed a long, rich life.
Born in Bathurst, she was the fourth of six children of Napoleon and Loretta (Meahan) Doucet.
She married Vincent in 1943. Her husband’s career took them from Bathurst to New Richmond, P.Q., Nackawic, N.B., the Philippines, St. George, N.B., and finally "back home" to their beloved cottage on Youghall Beach in Bathurst.
A born athlete, in her younger years Mum loved downhill skiing, and later on was a keen member of Gowan Brae Golf Club. She skipped the rink representing the Bathurst Curling Club and the province of New Brunswick in the 1964 and 1965 Diamond D Canadian Curling Championships. The Callaghan Rink was inducted into the Bathurst Sports Hall of Fame in 1991. Compassionate, generous and community-minded, she was a long time member of the Catholic Women’s League and the Bathurst SPCA.
She loved Nature, children, flowers and animals. She and Vin took great pleasure in their day-long walks in the woods in the Fall, ostensibly hunting partridge, but really simply enjoying each other’s company and the beauty of the autumn colours. Mum appreciated the smallest pleasures; to her, sitting on a log beside Vin, enjoying peanut butter sandwiches and a thermos of hot tea, was a feast better than anything served in the fanciest restaurant! She was a beautiful, dark-eyed woman with high cheekbones, a distinctive white streak in her raven hair, and a trim figure. She loved to dress well, and as a skilled seamstress made many of her own clothes. As she grew older, she still took pleasure in looking nice. Her greatest pride and joy in life was her family, and we will never forget all the laughter around the dining room table. She had a wonderful sense of fun; many times the Callaghans were the only ones on the whole beach crazy enough to tackle the huge waves rolling in after a storm. Surely our shrieks of laughter still echo somewhere out there.
Joan is survived by her sisters: Gwenyth Doucet, Chateauguay, and Paula Campbell, Youghall Beach, Bathurst.
Her sons: Sean, Amherst, and Dan (Elaine), West Berlin, N.S.
Daughters: Jane Lawlor (Don), Dartmouth, Christine (Andy Moir), Freeport, N.S.
Grandsons: Matthew (Khrista) and Peter Lawlor, Ben and Neal Callaghan; great grandchildren: Brandi and Brooke Lawlor, Patrick Loughran and Logan Smith, as well as her beloved cat, Paddy.
She was predeceased in 2010 by Vin, her husband of 66 years. She was also predeceased by her sister, Claire, and brothers: Wayne and Rupert.
The family cannot adequately express our appreciation of the loving care extended to Mum by the staff at Villa Acadienne during the past year.
Cremation has taken place. There will be no visitation at the Funeral Home.
Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Saturday (October 27, 2012) at 11 a.m. from the Sacred Heart Cathedral, St. Andrew St., Bathurst.
Arrangements are in the care of Elhatton’s Funeral Home (www.elhatton.com), in Bathurst.
Donations in Joan’s memory to the Bathurst SPCA or the Alzheimer’s Society would be greatly appreciated.
