Our Mother and Grandmother Hélène Marcotte Roberts passed away peacefully surrounded by her family in the early evening of November 11.
She is predeceased by her husband Joseph Harry Roberts and her son in law Douglas Lion.
She is survived by her daughter Constance, her sons and their spouses, Harry and Claire Lepage, David and Nadine Peck, her grandsons Allan and Jeremy Lion. She is also survived by her sisters Gisèle and Louise Marcotte and many nieces and nephews.
She was born in Grand Mère, Québec to a large family enamored of the great outdoors, skiing and hockey.
Hélène and Harry married in 1952 and thus began their great journey together.
Summer has always been at The Lake, whether the Lac des Piles with the Marcottes, Lac aux Sables with the Roberts, The Lake became the Lac des Grandes Baies when Hélène and Harry build their own cottage on a point of land overlooking the lake in the early sixties. Harry passed away in 1968, but Mom continued the tradition of summers at The Lake and, as per her wishes, The Lake will be her final resting place.
Mom was a determined woman, and when in the early seventies the quality of the waters of her lake was threatened, she singlehandedly started L’Association pour la protection du Lac des Grandes Baies. Through her work with her association, as well as Stop Pollution, she was instrumental in establishing standards such as mandatory septic tanks and seeing them passed into law. We all spent many hours collecting water samples at every corner of our lake which is six kilometers long. She was a great communicator and a great convincer, few were those who did not join in her efforts to improve the water quality of The Lake. Her reward was to observe a progressive improvement in the water quality of the lake. Today her association is still active, known now as l’Association des Résidents du Lac des Grandes Baies, and her Lake continues to enjoy good water quality.
She was a prolific tireless letter writer, although stopping pollution in all forms was her main focus, Amnesty International and other causes benefited from her inexhaustible determination to make the world a better place.
She will be fondly remembered by her coworkers at CHSLD Bayview in Pointe Claire where she worked in admissions until her retirement at sixty-five.
Our sincerest thanks the Team at Sunrise de Beaconsfield where Mom spent her last years, this dedicated group of caring individuals enriched her daily life and cared for her with such kindness.
We would like to thank the Lakeshore General Hospital Emergency Team for their considerate care of Mom and our family, allowing her to pass with great dignity.
In her memory we invited you to take a small step in making our world a better place or a donation to the charity of your choice in her memory.
She will be remembered by many, walking or skiing in the Arboretum with her girls, the basset hounds, Daphne and Cassandra.