Obituary of Andrée Marie Patricia Jeanne Laparé

Age 71, died in Hants Community Hospital, Windsor on Sunday, July 7, 2024. Born in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, Andrée loved the rural landscape of southern Québec that surrounded her as she grew up in Saint-Pie, Emileville and Sutton. Her family later moved to Verdun and from there she launched into her adventurous and creative life.

As a young woman, she circumnavigated the globe as an extreme budget traveller, through Southern Asia, Europe, Canada and the United States. She began her working life as a clerk and later turned her skills as a bilingual writer, editor, and manager into work in many industries: print production, insurance, technical writing, executive search and political organizing. She made many friends during years spent living in Vancouver, Victoria and Ottawa and in the early 2000s, settled down in beautiful rural Hants County, Nova Scotia. Her artistic avocations over the years included photography, gardening, cooking and creative shopping. Her homes were always quirkily decorated and expressed her unique taste. She loved to play with her well-trained pet cats and dogs and often volunteered with animal rescue charities. In her forties, she was afflicted with a chronic illness that put her on a disability pension and in her fifties, she was diagnosed with the slow-moving but deadly cancer that took her life. Through decades of illness, often suffering pain, she showed great courage and patience. Her unique sense of humour, her human insight, her imagination, her playfulness, her curiosity and her kindness will be remembered with a great sense of loss by her much-loved partner, Eric Johnstone and her dear friend, Shirley Tillotson.

Andrée was grateful to many people in the health care system, especially the QEII gyne-oncology physicians in Halifax who advised and treated her during her long illness, palliative care nurse, Amber Phillips and the nurses at Hants Community Hospital who helped her so well through the stresses and pains of her final months.

Arrangements for cremation were entrusted to DeMont Family Funeral Home & Cremation Service, 419 Albert St., Windsor (902-798-8317). A private memorial will be held. Donations in her memory may be made to Hants Community Hospital Foundation, 89 Payzant Dr., Windsor, NS B0N 2T0 (https://www.cdha.nshealth.ca/hants-community-hospital-foundation/donating). Messages of condolence may be sent to the family by visiting: www.demontfamilyfuneralhome.ca