Atkin Helen
June 18, 1921 - Feb 27, 2006
On February 27th we said a last goodbye to our dear Mom, Gran and Great Gran. What a lively and courageous lady she was. Those who knew her best will remember her generosity, her determined spirit and her great sense of humour.
Home for Helen was Rainy River, Ontario and though she lived in many places she always considered it her real home. It was there that she was raised with her three siblings and there where her fondest memories were. She moved to Winnipeg at a young age to pursue her dancing and “went on the road” with a dance troupe in the early 1940’s.
She worked hard as a secretary and a young mother to support and raise her family. This was at a time when she was also in very poor health herself. With the support of her mother, she did it all: a single Mom who persevered through the good and the bad times. Her tenacity and strengths through those years still amaze us to this day.
Later she studied and ‘fought the system’ to achieve a professional career in the Federal Civil Service attaining managerial positions and recognition for her successes.
After retirement she worked as a volunteer with the Manitoba Cancer Treatment and Research Foundation. She loved this work and left it only in order to move to a milder coastal climate and to be closer to family members.
She gave to this world two children: Jim and Diane, a multitude of fabulous sweaters and much love and support to all of her family including her daughter-in-law Mardy, her grandsons Mark, Jamie and Aaron and her granddaughter Melanie. The extended family now includes her granddaughters-in-law: Jennifer, Nicole, and Liana, and her great grandsons: Brodie and Jared Atkin, as well as Braiden and Jaired Deegan.
Her passions were music, pie, figure skating, dessert, Canada and her family. Words express so little of what is in all our hearts. She will be missed very much by all of her family and her many friends across North America.
A Celebration of Life will be held this summer.