Delorey, Beatrice Gertrude, age 92, passed away peacefully on September 23, 2022, in the Palliative Care Unit of St. Martha’s Regional Hospital, Antigonish.
Born in Merland, Guysborough County, she was a daughter of the late Owen and Annie (Haley) Wallace.
Beatrice was a kind, caring, and loving mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and great-great grandmother. A most humble, compassionate matriarch to all, a pillar of great strength, faith, and love.
St. Anne was her patron saint, whom she prayed to every day. Others always came first; her own needs last. She always protected her family, always reminding us to call when we got home – and don’t forget to put on your seatbelt! She worked so hard for us all, always providing a meal even when times were tough. These memories we will always cherish.
In her younger days, Mom worked at the Golden Glow and Rex Café restaurants in Antigonish as a waitress. She also did housecleaning.
Mom and her siblings walked to school in Merland, but not before filling the barrels with water and doing the same upon returning home. There were always household chores and barn work to do.
Music filled the Wallace home: fiddle, piano and singing to the wee hours of the morning. Mom loved to dance and could she dance- The Merland Dancer. On many weekends, Mom and sister, Julia, walked to the dances at Smiths Hall in Tracadie. Mom also sang, played the fiddle, guitar, and piano, true to her Irish and Scottish upbringing.
She is survived by seven daughters, Margie (William) DeYoung, Pomquet; Mary (late Laurie) Breen, St. Joseph’s; Theresa, Harbour Centre; Rita (Brian) Pelley, Pleasant Valley; Jane (late Curtis) Pelly, Somers Road; Helen (Kenny) Bayne, Antigonish; Clare (Chris) Holmes, Monastery; three sons, Simon, Afton; John (Bernadette), Afton; and Jimmy (Rachel), South Merland; brother, Thomas Wallace, O.S.A., Mary Lake, ON; Julia MacMillan, R.K. MacDonald Nursing Home; sisters-in-law, Rita Hearn, Annapolis Royal; adopted sister-in0law, Jean MacGillivray ,Vanderhoof, BC; 33 grandchildren, 33, great grandchildren, and two great-great grandchildren.
Predeceased by her husband, Joseph Henry; sons, Owenie and James Edward (in infancy); daughter, Emily, grandchildren, Jeremy and Marc DeYoung; six brothers, five sisters, two sisters-in-law, and two brothers-in-law.
Visitation will be held Wednesday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9pm in C.L. Curry Funeral Home, 135 College Street, Antigonish. Funeral Mass will be held Thursday at 11:00am in St. Peter’s Church, Tracadie, with Fr. John Barry presiding. Burial in the parish cemetery.
Donations can be made to the family, or an act of kindness can be done in Beatrice’s memory.
Online condolences: www.clcurry.com