On November 26, 2016, Katherine Judith (Judy) Ross, passed away quietly after a brief illness, surrounded by her family.
Judy is predeceased by her parents and her beloved dogs, Kendall and Kersey. She was survived by her husband Murray Ross, children Sarah Ross (David L'Heureux) and David Ross, and siblings Tony Tunbridge and Susan Augustyn (Ed), as well as numerous nieces and nephews.
Judy was a teacher both by profession and as a person; she had the innate talent of touching people's lives and seeing the potential for greatness in everyone. She will be missed and remembered not only by friends and family, but by grocery store cashiers, our family handyman, bank tellers and her former students.
As a mother, Mum always had time to throw elaborate haunted house birthday parties, create DIY Berenstein bears books on tape, plan camping trips and help us (sometimes by sheer force of will) through our math homework, all while running our household and juggling a full-time career.
Mum's sense of humour and her quick wit is legendary. Family and friends eagerly awaited her annual Christmas letter, always begun with a clever poem and full of jokes often aimed at herself and our family's daily foibles. Even during her last days in hospital, Mum was trying (and succeeding) to make the doctors, nurses and her family laugh.
Our mother genuinely enriched the world with her love and her light. Her passion for Christmas, her requirement that we ate dinner as a family every night growing up, her absolute joy in her garden and her ready ear to listen and dispense advice are just a few things for which she will be remembered.
Should anyone wish to honour her memory, a donation to a charity of your choice would be gratefully accepted; Mum gave generously and often to a multitude of charities including cancer, heart and stroke and the Island Crisis Care Society, among others. At her request, no service was held and her ashes will be returned to the nature she loved so much.