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Coley, Annie

June 29, 2009 97

COLEY, Annie “Delta“ (nee McFadyen) - In loving memory of Annie “Delta“ Coley (nee McFadyen), 97 years, who passed away at the Sudbury Regional Hospital - Laurentian Site, on Monday, June 22nd, 2009. The family of Annie Delta Coley announces her passing in the early hours of Monday, June 22, 2009 in Sudbury, Ontario, shortly after her 97th birthday. Delta was born in Rosedale, Manitoba on June 10, 1912, to John B. and Jean (nee Coulter) McFadyen. She was the sister of Wilma Liddle, Dorothy Olsen and Lorraine McIntyre. Delta was schooled in various towns on the prairies and attended secretarial school in Winnipeg. It was in Winnipeg that she met her future husband Oliver Coley. Delta and Oliver married on July 1, 1933, and were together close to 73 years before his passing on June 11, 2006. Home, whether Fort William, Fort Frances, or Pickle Lake, was wherever there was employment during the depression and war years. Opportunity brought them east in 1937 and they spent the majority of their married life in Sudbury and at their West Arm Narrows camp on Lake Nipissing. Together Oliver and Delta raised three children: Glen (wife Honor, deceased); Douglas (wife Wenda); and Louise (husband Gary Barr). Delta was grandmother to Casey (Pauline, deceased) and Lynet; Cory and Arthur, Colene and Richard; Geoff and Brenda; Bruce and Lisa; Darrell and Chantal; and Laura and Mark. Eight great- grandchildren survive: Ben Christakos, Karl and Katie Klopfer, Alexander and Emma Coley, Connor Coley, Mirabelle and Camille Barr. Delta was a member of the Eastern Star and attended St. Paul's and St. Peter's United Churches in Sudbury. A woman of quiet faith, she could be likened to the woman of Proverbs 31 who watched over the affairs of her household. She was a masterful seamstress and knitter; there always seemed to be a project on the go to help clothe her family. Delta spent many hours in her garden, growing, preserving and preparing the produce for family and friends. Berry picking and picnicking was a usual summer tradition and those blueberry pies she baked up were legendary. Many memorable gatherings took place at camp and, in later years when she and Oliver became snowbirds, in Largo, Florida. One could always count on a good cup of tea and chin wag at the Coley's table. Delta's prize-winning oration skills were sometimes committed to paper in the form of a poem written for a special occasion. She loved a challenging game of bridge and turned her attention to the study of music and art once the child-rearing years had passed. We cannot help but remember her words of concern bestowed on loved ones over the years: “Eat your porridge, it'll stick to your ribs“; “turn out the lights, you're wasting money“; “always do your very best“, “don't let the gas tank get below half“; “make sure you have money for a phone call“; and finally, from a poem by Dave White, To Those I Love and Those Who Love Me, found among her papers after her passing, the following: I am gone, release me, let me go I have so many things to see and do You mustn't tie yourself to me with tears be happy that we had so many years. I gave to you my love, you can only guess how much you gave to me in happiness. I thank you for the love you each have shown but know its time I travelled on alone. So grieve a while for me if grieve you must, then let your grief be comforted by trust. It's only for a while that we must part, so bless the memories within your heart. I won't be far away, for life goes on; so if you need me, call and I will come. Though you can't see me or touch me, I'll be near, and if you listen with your heart you'll hear all of my love around you soft and clear. And then, when you must come this way alone, I'll greet you with a smile and say “Welcome Home“. A committal service will take place at Park Lawn Cemetery on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 at 2 p.m. Tributes in honour of Delta's life may be made to the Shriners' Hospital, 1529 Cedar Avenue, Montreal PQ H3G 1A6, to the Heart and Stroke Foundation or to the Sudbury Food Bank. Arrangements entrusted to the LOUGHEED FUNERAL HOME. Flowers, donations or messages of condolence available online at www.lougheed.org



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