Gwen on , , , , 23 Jul 2010 05:32 pm

Katherine Mary (Forwood) Floyd

 

smCIMG0923

 

Katherine Mary Floyd nee Forwood, 60 of Halifax passed away the 22nd July 2010 at Victoria General Hospital. Born in Halifax in 1949, Kathy was the daughter of Muriel (Zinn) and the late Gerald Forwood.

 

sm005-1966

 

During her early career Kathy worked for Canadian Customs before she had her son and became a full time stay at home mother. Kathy was very involved in many volunteer roles in both her children’s schools and in the greater community including work as a playground supervisor at both George Bissett and Col.John Stuart Elementary schools. During the early 90’s Kathy helped set up and run a Meals on Wheels program in Cole Harbour. She later became involved in many aspects of the Dartmouth Skating Club including volunteer work for Skate Dartmouth and Skate Canada. Her many roles included hospitality, registration and she could be counted upon to do whatever was needed. Most recently Kathy worked at the Diocesan Bookroom.

 

smCIMG2051

 

Kathy is survived by her loving husband John, son Anthony, daughter Paula, grandchildren Aidan and Quinlan (Floyd,) brother Paul Forwood and cousins Maureen, Patricia and Frank (Zinn.)

 

smIMG_9371

 

Visitation will be held Sunday 25th July 2010 at 2 pm to 4 pm and 6pm to 8pm at Cruikshank’s Funeral Home, 2032 Robie Street, Halifax. The Funeral Service will be held on Monday 26th July 2010 at 11 am, St. Patrick’s, 2267 Brunswick St, Halifax with Father LaPorte officiating. Interment will be at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Lower Sackville.

 

sm002

 

In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to Ovarian Cancer research at www.ovariancanada.org or a charity of your choice in Kathy’s name.

 

smCIMG0907

 

The family would like to send special thanks to a number of people involved in Kathy’s cancer treatment; the nurses and staff of the ward 11 chemo unit particularly: Ramona, Vivian, Smiley and her doctors Dr. Paula Rittenberg, Dr. Katharina Keiser, and her nurses Kathy Mac, Laverne, Thelma and Jodie. The kind support and sensitive care over the last 5 years has been appreciated more than you know.

***

This was one of the hardest things I have ever had to write. Kathy was a fine mother-in-law, a great mother, loving wife and a doting grandmother.  She could be sarcastic and stubborn but she loved to laugh and have a good time.  I am pretty sure that is why Anthony had such a strict curfew for the longest time.  Even though she was a little worried about her little boy being so serious so early she made me feel welcome in the family . . . eventually.  I know she took distinct pleasure in telling others that “Gwen was such a quiet and polite girl before she became involved in our family.”  Kathy took full credit for making me the sarcastic person you know today, and she wasn’t too far off.

I know that Kathy was very happy when Anthony and I became engaged, but it was nothing like when we told her she was going to be a grandmother.  I know she must have been absolutely thrilled and it was momentous because it was the reason she quit smoking. There was almost nothing she wouldn’t do for her grandsons.

We love her and we will miss her very much.

Anthony on , , , , , 26 Mar 2010 08:04 pm

Aidan’s 5th birthday was yesterday. He was pretty excited.

We had been to Toys’R’Us two days previous, where we bought his major gift from us (a new bike, no training wheels) and a Lego set from my parents. So of course, he was up early (“Daddy! Guess what? I woke up 5 today!”) and immediately wanted to build his Lego bucket truck.

smIMG_1292

smIMG_1311

By daybreak, Gwen and Quinlan got up, and Aidan opened presents before breakfast.

smIMG_1312

smIMG_1329

smIMG_1358

smIMG_1369

Later that night, there was AWESOME cake, hand made by Gwen.

smIMG_1460

smIMG_1380

smIMG_1385

smIMG_1405

We took some video of the blowing-out too:

Anthony on , , 21 Mar 2010 12:43 pm

On Saturday, we packed up the kids and headed to Whistler to take in some Paralympic Alpine events. There were some events scheduled for Sunday, but the weather forecast was such that VANOC moved the Sunday events to Saturday. This was good for us as it mean that we were able to see the men and women’s nordic combined events: Super-G and Slalom for standing, sitting, and visually impaired.

I’ll spare you the story of getting there. Suffice it to say that Quinlan makes the third member of the family who gets carsick, and we had an unscheduled visit to Wal*Mart and Shopper’s Drug Mart.

Getting to the venue involved driving to a parking lot well south of Whister, then taking a shuttle coach to the bottom of Whistler Creekside.

smIMG_0778

From there, we were fortunate to be able to take the “accessible” shuttle to the venue site (a significant walk, up the mountain for most). Having the baby on my back apparently qualified us. After seeing the walk people were taking, I didn’t mind taking the bus at all.

The venue was very impressive. The grandstands were at the bottom of the ski run, with the incredibly steep final slope right in front of us.

smIMG_0932

We had a pretty good view of the last part of the skier’s runs, and what we couldn’t see was shown to us on a giant screen.

smIMG_0873

smIMG_0895

The crowd was quite excited too! There were lots of international fans. The loudest and most stand-out were the Germans and Japanese.

smIMG_0786

smIMG_0842

With the kids, we were a bit more reserved.

smIMG_0944

The performance of the athletes was nothing short of awe-inspiring. I can’t imaging going the speeds they do going on one ski, a sit-ski, or BLIND. Incredible.

smIMG_0977

smIMG_0981

As part of the event, they had set up an area where kids (and adults) could try out some of the Paralympic equipment.

Aidan got to try out the cross-country sit-ski, and had a great time with it!

smIMG_0950

smIMG_0961

Aidan and Gwen got to play a little bit of sledge hockey too!

smIMG_1002

smIMG_1005

smIMG_1013

And finally, as we were leaving the venue (a bit early because the kids were restless, bored, and hungry) we saw William Elliot, QC, the Commissioner of the RCMP (ie the top of the RCMP org chart). He had quite the colour guard with him. As an aside, there have been tonnes of Red Serges at all the events. Nothing wrong with showing the colours, making the tourists forget about the less-uniformed security.

smIMG_1026

A pretty good day for only $15 per ticket! The Paralympics were excellent value, and this was reflected by the number of people with kids at all the events. It’s a shame that it doesn’t get more media exposure.

Anthony on , 18 Mar 2010 06:25 pm

This is BEYOND awesome. Click below to start then wait (patience) for it to load. Or, click it again to make it larger. In fact, it deserves to be embiggened.

« Previous PageNext Page »