Dec 7, 1952 – Dec 13, 2021
Colin, Avery, Garrett and Elizabeth Winship of Thompson, MB along with their cousins Emma, Aleksandr, Sienna and Isabelle Plett of Portage le Prairie Manitoba are grieved to announce the passing of their beloved “Nanny Viv” on December 13th, 2021 in Barrie, Ontario as she went peacefully in her sleep, ending a brave battle with Breast Cancer.
Vivienne leaves to grieve her two daughters Caroline (Jason) Winship and Charlotte (Lucas) Plett along with siblings Patsy, Jean (Tony), Jaqueline, William, Michael, Ian, Shawn, Kevin, Keith and Yvonne. She was a dear friend to many but was especially treasured by Margaret Anne Horgan of Toronto, ON, Karen Beardy of Thompson, MB and Heather & Helmut Fiala of Barrie, ON. She was predeceased by her mother Jean “Jennie” Rosetter Blake and her grandmother Charlotte Noden.
Born in Stroud Gloucestershire, mom grew up in care in Cheltenham, England after reportedly being found on a hospital doorstep as a newborn with a paper pinned to her that read “her name is Vivian”. This meant that she learned very early on how to be resilient and independent, with notes in her charts all throughout her childhood about how determined and bright she was. She learned about the passing of who might have been her father at a young age and then that her birthdate had, in fact, been registered incorrectly. She remembered receiving two birthday cakes that year in 1963 when she turned 11 twice in the same week.
It was just a couple weeks prior to this that she remembered coming out of major surgery on her ears to the sounds of televisions blaring and floors of nurses crying. She later learned that she had awoken to the sounds of news reports regarding the death of US President John F. Kennedy. As a sickly child, Vivienne spent much of her youth in hospitals and children’s homes, establishing strong bonds with the nurses who stayed in isolation with her for what was sometimes months at a time as she fought off various infections that left Vivienne with significant hearing loss for the rest of her life. She decided she was done school at Katharine Lady Berkeley’s in Wotton – under – Edge, England and at sixteen years of age, with her favourite Beatles records in her backpack along with a pack of cigarettes and the clothes on her back, Vivienne began her life-long admiration for travel.
First living in Laubach, Germany she began touring France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy and Greece riding the train and staying in hostels listening to ABBA and finding friends wherever she traveled. As an attractive lady in a mini skirt in the 1970’s, she found herself receiving an unwanted advance by a gentleman as she crossed the street. When she suddenly backhanded the brazen man in public, a woman from a nearby embassy ran to pull Vivienne into her office, ordering her to not return to her hostel but to get on the next plane out of Greece as soon as possible. Vivienne had apparently slapped an important Greek diplomat and so she left with what she had with her to begin her next adventure, laughing to herself thinking she'd never considered herself very diplomatic.
Her travels eventually lead her to Canada, where she instantly fell in love with the culture and beauty of this vast nation and would here on out call herself Canadian as opposed to English. In 1976 she moved to Hamilton, Ontario where she graduated from Mohawk College with her grade 13 and CTC Travel Consultant Certificate in 1979. She loved to help others discover their own love for traveling, gallivanting all over North America by plane, ferry, motorcycle, hitchhiking or hauling a camper trailer, never far from her steaming cup of tea or cold and spicy caesar.
She married in 1980 in Gillam, Manitoba and stayed home to raise her girls in the frozen north where she loved the people and many untraveled trails, volunteering with the schools and Ambulance department in both Gillam and Grand Rapids, Manitoba. In 1991, the family moved to Thompson where she was heavily involved as a community volunteer in politics, the Music Parents Association, the annual community Christmas dinner, St. John Ambulance, Operation Red Nose, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and Deaf, and various other opportunities that allowed her to serve and keep busy. In 1994, she enrolled in nursing at Keewatin Community College (now University College of the North) where she worked hard for years to gain the experience she would need to hopefully one day help others, as so many had helped her as a child. In 1998, just six months after her time at KCC ended, her heart pulled her back to England where she later remarried in 2001.
In 2006, Vivienne was thrilled to be in the delivery room for the birth of her third grandson, Garrett, in Thompson and then involved in the lives of all her grandchildren once she permanently relocated to her beloved Canada that same year. She resided in Winnipeg for a short time before spending her final years in Barrie, Ontario where she connected strongly with other expats of the United Kingdom, working for H&R Block, Statistics Canada and running her own business as a Pet Sitter until her illness prevented her from returning to work and social activities.
Viv was best known for her sense of adventure, her loud cackling laugh, and her willingness to give anybody the shirt off her back. Outspoken, she didn’t hesitate to give her opinion. “Once bitten, twice as shy” she’d say as she had no time for crossing a bridge more than once so wasn’t afraid to burn it on her way out. Always a traveler, her last words to her roommates in Barrie were that she had one final trip to see family out west. She then closed her door and went peacefully in her own bed surrounded by her souvenirs of a life well lived as a graduate of the school of hard knocks.
Tunes of her favourite crooner sum up her life and the family thanks all that loved her for adding to her years in big and small ways.
“And now, the end is near
And so, I face that final curtain
My friend, I'll make it clear
I'll state my case, of which I'm certain
I've lived a life that's full
I've travelled each and every highway
And more, much more
I did it, I did it my way
Regrets, I've had a few
But then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do
I saw it through without exemption
I planned each charted course
Each careful step along the byway
And more, much, much more
I did it, I did it my way
Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all, when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out
I faced it all and I stood tall
And did it my way
I’ve loved, laughed and cried
I had my fill, my share of losing
And now, as tears subside
I find that it’s all so amusing.
For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he is not
Not to say the things that he truly feels
And not the words of someone who kneels
Let the record show I took all the blows
And did it my way.”
- Frank Sinatra
No funeral or memorial service is immediately planned. The private cremation will take place in Barrie, Ontario, with her ashes being shared in places that were near to her heart. The family sends special thanks to the following people for their extra care and practical support during this difficult time:
Adams Funeral Home, Barrie Harvest Bible Chapel, Barrie Police Department, Briercrest Seminary,
Charlotte & Norm Yakymiw, Christine Coxon, David & Laurel Stobbe, Dr. Weaver, Heather & Helmut Fiala, Joyce Volkers, Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre, Richard & Marilyn Giesbrecht, Thompson Pentecostal Assembly, and Tricia & Shaun Rempel.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Vivienne’s memory may be made to Northern Manitoba Paws in Need (141 Commercial Place, Thompson MB R8N 1T1) via eTransfer ([email protected]) with Vivienne’s name mentioned in the comments.
Arrangements entrusted to Adams Funeral Home, Barrie. Messages of condolence may be forwarded to the family through adamsfuneralhome.ca