Obituary of June Therese Linennen
It is with profound sadness that our family announce the death of our dearest mother Linennen, June Therese (nee Stewart) who passed away peacefully at the Long-Term Care home in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada at the age of 91. Her children, Ann, Kay and Patrick are all heartbroken. June was a truly strong, independent, adventrous, loving, generous and family-oriented mother. She was lovingly raised by the Canossian sisters whom she is forever grateful to. She was also greatly admired by her grandchildren; Victoria, Jocelyn, Michael and Nicholas. We will all miss her with all our hearts. We have lost our mum and grandmother, but we have gained her in spirit and loving memories of mum and grandmother will forever live in our hearts. The liturgy will take place in June's home town on January 28, 2021 with burial to follow. Arrangements have ben entrusted to the GEORGE DARTE FUNERAL HOME 585 Carlton Street St. Catharines. For those who would like join us at 11AM on January 28 2021 via livestream, here is the link https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxLr2VJVj7WMJRfNp4PE0cg?
Our Appreciation:
Our dearest Mother, everywhere we go, we know you are still around us, in the sun and the clear blue skies, in that little bird hopping through the hedgerow, in the wind sweeping across the fields. Of course, you are still here in our hearts and will forever be in our hearts. Our Mother dear, thank you for all the love and joy you gave us. As a family, we are heartbroken when you left this earth on the 17th January, 2021. Our mother, a true lady, who was wise beyond words. She was often quietly spoken, but when she spoke, her ideas and inspirations always captured our attention. She gave us a lot of beautiful and unforgettable memories. She will be missed greatly by all of us, she leaves behind a legacy of compassion and kindness that we will always remember. She has touched the lives of so many people; be it her friends or her family. This legacy means that she will be with us forevermore, stirring our hearts to be more like her. She would want to continue to love one another and to grow in faith together.
Our Family would like to thank everyone for their messages of love and tribute to our Mother dear; June Therese Linennen. It is overwhelming. Your thoughts and prayers meant so much to us. We are very grateful and comforted with your messages of love, support and beautiful flowers.
Just as you thought her room must be the loneliest place in the world when she was battling for her life, she was not alone. She was surrounded by angels. Kim, the nurse at the home, Patricia, her roommate both has always been a sweetheart to our Mother dear and was always there for our mother.
We are so grateful to our sister Kay Therese Linennen for being there for the family to help us ensure our Mother dear was not alone at her passing in the shivering cold and placed her to her final destination. She played a critical role; her love and spiritual leadership were greatly appreciated by the siblings.
Thank you Mr. Joseph Andrukonis for the care, trust and always being there for our Mother dear. We will always be grateful for all your kindness and assistance.
To Extendicare in St. Catharines, our appreciation to everyone for their kind, gentle care and love to our Mother dear. We are thankful to the staff that made our mother’s stay feel more like a family, a wonderful community and the sense of togetherness. It’s of great comfort for the family during this extraordinary time to know that MAMA wasn’t alone when she left us.
We would like to thank Crystal from George Darte Funeral Home for her genuine kindness and hard work. Travelled to Windsor before sunrise from St. Catharines with our Mother dear to her final resting place.
Mother dear you gave so much to us but took so little in return. We will always remember for all you have taught us about love and devotion. We will carry on your vision and love one another; we know you will always be watching and guiding over us in all we do. Thank you for being in our lives, you are a shining light to us all. You are in your Heavenly Home now. God bless you and we will continue to pray for our beloved Mother dear.
With all our love,
Ann, Kay, Patrick, Agnes and the Grand Children
Patrick's Eulogy:
On Monday 18th January minutes past midnight Hong Kong time I lost my beloved mother whom I loved so much, the best and most virtuous woman who loved unconditionally and always had such a graceful way, it was ever my privilege to have been born into the family. I was of course quite oblivious of the fateful moment when seeing her breathing so heavily with the help of a ventilator and being diagnosed with covid-19 at the beginning of the year. Leaving this earth the second her heart stopped in her sleep no chance to say goodbye. How do you make sense of her fate, four years almost to the day after she had fallen at the door steps of her home and broke her hips, since then bed ridden in a long term care home.
My father, suffering from a severe heart attack left this earth thirty six years ago she missed him dearly, not a day goes by that she does not think or speak of him. Both now at peace with their maker– no fading of the light and with no chance to say goodbye to anyone.
If I were to give you a catalogue of my mother selfless acts you would scarcely believe that such a person could have travelled to five of the continents of the world, the last being Africa in 2016. But all of us who knew her knew that she was an extraordinary lady with passion and dedication to her charges no matter what demands it placed on her. Her expectations of the family was being simply honest, true to each other, support one another, love one another deeply from the heart, keep your promises and do your very best in life.
Her patience and dignity, her selflessness, her total lack of vanity, her determination and will power has brought her to uproot after papa death from Hong Kong to the natural beauties of Canada.
She was a devout Catholic of unimpeachable faith: I was a skeptic. What we shared was an abhorrence of intolerance, fanaticism and zealotry; which meant that she respected my skepticism and had in her gracious way tried to convince me to be at weekly Sunday masses with her. Her devotion to her savior was predicated on nothing more (it seemed to me) than a desire to follow in her ways as the best and only way of living a good life. We talked endlessly on matters of religion and my responsibilities to life. She was the visionary. I threw in contrarian ideas; she would evaluate them. Her views were quite conservative despite she was an enthusiast. I never left a conversation with Mother dear without having my views nudged.
Shortly after being in Canada, we started venturing off to fulfill our dreams. A sad and shocking time for Mother dear being all alone yet she had never given up instead overcoming her fears and grew very independent.
It was typical of us (my Sisters and I) that we took our turns visiting her (or vice-versa travelling across the pacific) many at times at her home she would be all excited to catch up the lost times. She would always want to eat out every meal despite a great collection of cook books and abundance of kitchen utensils. She loved very much spending time with her grandsons; she would cook the meal telling them juicy stories of my past, which would raise their eye brows. They would have session of teaching granny pressing buttons on a computer just to Skype with me, inevitably she still prefered the telephone.
Over the past few years I became aware of just how hard life had become, not least of course with the sudden accident that has made her bed ridden and totally dependent. But it went beyond that. It would be indelicate of me to enumerate the crosses she bore for the last years of her life, demands that only someone of inner strength and peace could have tolerated, she has always wanted to be home again. Suffice to say that whenever I enquired how she was holding up under the pressure she would chuckle and give a typical smile and shrug of the shoulder and say ‘I’m fine and I love you my son” bearing all her pains and sufferings in silence and never wanting any burdens or worries for us.
I am thoroughly saddened that my mother’s life could have been made much more comfortably in many ways.
She was more than a true Catholic; she was a Stoic. She loved her children and grand children, and was longing for our visits and/or even phone calls. If we stayed away too long she would remind me “today is a blessing you can shed all the tears and I will never be back again”, I treasured our time. Fortunately her grandsons together with their girlfriends were so blessed to see her on Christmas Day at her long term care home in St Cathaerines, Ontario when she was still so clear in mind, happy and beautiful, a time that they will always remember and treasure. I am thankful to technology, the grandsons in the Netherlands and Toronto managed to express their love and said their final good bye,
A lasting memory of our mother dear, a great lady of faith, always wanting the very best for us all the time despite all the sacrifices she’s gone through to accomplish, she found true personal love, fulfillment of her catholic goals and happiness. And then hit by Covid, all that love, that knowledge, that compassion, that kindness, that generosity, that wisdom, that joy, that gratitude GONE and now her legacy lives on for many generations to come!
In loving memory to my Mother dear, I treasure all the care, the love, the memories and I will miss you dearly MAMA I will continue to pray, I can always feel your presence living in our hearts, now watching us, guiding us like a guardian angel I LOVE you forever and till I come back to you again,
We are so blessed for your love and passion
Michael, Nicholas, Patrick & Agnes