BERTA MARIA “BETH” BELISLE

BELISLE, BERTA “BETH” MARIA (nee BALLIGEER) November 12, 1912 – April 15, 2019 It is with profound sadness to announce the peaceful passing of “Beth” Belisle in the late evening of April 15, 2019, midway in her 107th year, at the Village of Humber Heights, Toronto, while in the presence of her son, Allan.

“Beth”, as known by her friends, was predeceased by her loving husband, Joseph Lucien “Eugene” Belisle in 1989, after 56 years of marriage, her loving daughter, Janet Parisella, in 2001, (a Manhattan Nurse Practitioner), her nephew Neil Backlin, in 1997, a number of uncles and 5 siblings, 4 of whom were sisters and one a brother. She is survived only by her son, Allan (Beatrice), a retired Toronto lawyer, who was devoted to her throughout her residency in the stated Nursing Home for 9 ½ years, a facility for which she had generally appreciated the superlative nursing care, particularly during the last year of her life, which was of a palliative nature.

Beth was born of Belgian heritage in SW Manitoba, ever mindful of the roots of hard-working parents who had immigrated to Manitoba at the turn of the 19th Century and spoke Flemish, Walloon and English. She was an avid gardener and fond of her agricultural upbringing. She enjoyed bowling, dancing and playing card games into her semi-elder 80’s and 90’s. Her loving husband, “Eugene”, of French Canadian heritage, dating back to the mid-1600’s, was an aircraft machinist with TCA (now Air Canada) until retirement. With the advent of the Jet Age in commercial aircraft travel, the Maintenance Department of TCA was transferred from Winnipeg to Dorval, Quebec in 1960, where Beth and Eugene resided until after retirement, at which time they moved to Toronto in 1976. Eugene passed in 1989, at age 80. Beth and Eugene loved to travel and with their two children, respectively of the ages of 11 and 12 years, saw our developing Nation from the Pacific to the Atlantic by rail, leaving an immense respect for the breadth and beauty of Canada, instilling in them memories much later vividly recalled.

Beth was a gentle soul, dedicated in her ambit of care for others during her lifetime, highly spirited, respectfully outgoing with persons of a congenial character. She was very courageous and resilient, of a highly moral respect for persons of different religious faiths and ethnic origins. She will be remembered fondly by those still surviving, who are of a relational and friendship connection.

The small Roman Catholic funeral service, cremation to follow, for Beth was held on Saturday, April 20, 2019 at the Weston, Ontario branch of Scott Funeral Homes, with the intention that a Memorial Service will be held later in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

In lieu of flowers, it would be appreciated that any memorial donations be in Beth’s memory to the Alzheimer Society of Canada or a Charity of one’s choosing.