Noreen Connolly Thompson

May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face. The rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of his hand. 

Obituary

Welcome to the celebration of life for my mother Noreen. I have a few words from my children that were sent to me from Ryan in Michigan, Allie in Australia and Shane who is here today. So lets start back on November 15th, 1929 when Nana arrived in this world. Her parents were both born in Ireland and she was fiercely proud of her Irish heritage. As a matter of fact, her father was a member of the Sinn Fein movement with Micheal Collins. He was was being hunted by the British army and had to be rolled up in a carpet and placed on a ship destined for Canada. His first job was at Ryans hotel in Old Montreal as a bartender, hence Ryan was named after his grandfather. My parents moved to DDO in 1961 when Sources was a dirt road. And they lived across the street from this church and my father became a permanent deacon. He was the most reverend deacon james thompson and my mother always laughed and called him a big shot.

Nana stayed at home with her children and always put her family first. She was the rock who held the home together while my father was out working at the Steel Company of Canada. I remember that my father was given an opportunity to move to Hamilton and move up in the company but my mother said no. She didnt want to uproot the family and so my father turned down the job. While my father was busy as a deacon, my mother quietly did her own part. She would make sandwiches every month for the Benedict Labre house, collect clothing for Chez Doris and always made sure to take care of her parents and her sister Clare, who was a nun.

I learned many valuable lessons from my mother. She once said that I looked up to my father more than her. But that was not the case. I help them in equal esteem. The 3 lessons that I learned from my mother are integrity, compassion and moral principles. She always conducted herself with integrity, always doing the right thing, always telling the truth and always having strong moral principles. Her compassion for others would always be a part of her daily life. And she truly cared about her family and always put us first. Her moral principles always guided her to do the right thing in every situation.

But the loves of her life were her 3 grandchildren. She fell in love with Ryan immediately and was always there to amuse and entertain him. Allie is the only granddaughter and she was spoiled from the very beginning. And Shane made her laugh as he ran through the house playing hide and seek. 

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Noreen Thompson

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