Nécrologie de Joan Hamilton Beauchamp

Joan Kathleen Theresa Hamilton Beauchamp

It is with great sadness that I take up pen to summarize the life of one of the best and kindest people I have had the opportunity of knowing, my Mom.  She was born in Ottawa on July 2, 1932, to Mary Hayden Hamilton and Wallace Hamilton, who she loved beyond measure.  She came into this world accompanied by her twin sister, June (Powell).  No one knows who was born first!  She had an older sister, Mary (Nichols).  She left school early, never quite finishing high school, which is incredible based on what she achieved in business in her later life.  She started working at an early age, which is where I guess I got my work ethic from.  While in her teens, she met, fell in love and married my dad, Bernard, but life was difficult leaving a sheltered Catholic Presbyterian Irish Scottish German family and suddenly being brutally dropped into a Lebanese Orthodox milieu.  In a few short years, she had won over my grandfather, George, and she became his favourite daughter in law.  The stories of her teasing him (usually with a hot teaspoon), him pretending to be upset and then giving her the biggest smile ever, are legend in our family.  She was probably the only one who got away with such behaviour.  She learned to cook Arabic food which further cemented her place in her new family.  She was loved by all of her in laws.  Life was hard with my dad, but she still managed to achieve many positive things in spite of all of the obstacles he placed in her life.  These included moving her away from her Ottawa based family to Montreal to support him in a new business venture.  They had two children, my older brother and her favoured son Robert, and me.  My dad started businesses and Mom was always there to support him in each effort.  Dad was never a successful business person, as he was a born salesman, not a manager.  When he left my Mom free to run things, we had much success.  Whenever he reinserted himself into the management process, failures followed.  Running a million dollar small business in the 70’s was quite an accomplishment for her, but this prepared her for later success working for a major Montreal clothing retailer as their bookkeeper and girl friday for many years.  Through all of this, she was a supportive Mom to Robert and me, the first generation of latch key kids.  Love was never missing, but given the work challenges she faced with my dad’s businesses, she couldn’t always be there.  That helped make me a better, more independent person.  She and my dad eventually divorced.  During this period, when my brother fell on difficult times, my Mom asked him and his family to live with her in her one bedroom condo because that’s who she was.  During a couple of prior separations, she came to live with me and my then wife Irene and son Justin.  My physiognomy reminded her of dad, so it was tough on her, but Irene, Justin and Snoopy the Siamese filled the hole in her emotional needs.  In fact, when she left she took pains to thank Irene in a card for letting another woman into her home (wasn’t hard because Irene thought that she was the best mother in law on earth).  In later life, she started to show signs of dementia.  I think it started in the 90’s but she hid it well given her innate intelligence and ability to deflect.  Around 2010, I started to become more involved in her daily life and quickly realized that her future would be in assisted living of some sort as her dementia, later confirmed to be Alzheimers, progressed.  Given her awareness of the health issue she was living, she accepted the suggestion to move to assisted living with her typical stoicism.  We found a place together in Orleans at the Promenade (thanks for making it financially feasible Peter) and she moved back to Ottawa to be closer to the family. Again, everyone whose life she touched at the residence adored her for her kind and gentle nature.  And those smiles!  After several happy years she moved to a memory floor and, within a year of that, to Garry J Armstrong where she lived and was loved by all until her passing.  The last day and send off ceremony at GJA and the tears which flowed were a fitting tribute to the love she inspired in those around her.  So who was Mom?  She can best be known and understood by the impact she had on those around her.  She made us better.  She made us happier.  She made us kinder.  And her smile infected us with hope for a better day.  Now that she is gone, the holes in our hearts are replaced with memories which will remain until we pass.  Truly a living legacy.  You will be missed by all.  Bye Mom.  Love you… Your favourite sun, Rick

A Memorial Service will be held at a later date.