Lois Kenning

Peacefully at the Ottawa Heart Institute, with her daughters Kim Leblanc and Jane Anderson at her side, Lois Dorothy Jane Kenning (nee Munshaw b. August 21, 1925) passed away on October 19, 2022, to join her beloved husband Bob (Robert, d. 1967) and her son Rod (Roderick, d. 2018).

Growing up during the Great Depression and the Second World War gave Lois a unique perspective on life.  Widowed at 41, she met life with a determination and energy that became her mantra for her 97 years.  Lois worked as a ward clerk in the OR at the Civic Hospital, and she was a successful real estate agent in her quest to support her family.  Active in her youth, this continued throughout her life: playing golf well into her eighties, solo travelling or with family/friends, and baking countless batches of goodies for all the people she met.  Known for making scrumptious strawberry pies and designing and knitting her famous ‘no burn’ oven mitts for friends/family, mother embraced this new world with her iPad, Sudoku and digital bridge.  Decisively, at 96 she decided to stop driving and sell her car - she never looked back.

A true Renaissance woman -  Mother changed the oil in her cars, hunted with Bob, was an accomplished rifle marksperson, skilled oil painter, gracious hostess who could host a high tea but also help dress a deer, entertained to the nines, relished properly prepared frogs legs, fished into her 90s, routinely swam at her condo and cottage, bargain hunted at garage sales, volunteered at her church St. Martin’s and gardened at her condo until this spring - she used her walker for balance and to crawl up. Lois was feisty, strong willed and fiercely independent and was still living successfully on her own in her Ottawa condominium before going into hospital for pacemaker surgery.

Lois will be sorely missed by those who called her Mom, her seven grandchildren who called her Grandma, her eight great grandchildren who affectionately called her "GG", those who called her Aunt or Cousin, those who called her Friend and her many acquaintances who knew what a gem she was the minute they met her.  Many thanks to the wonderful doctors, nurses and staff at The Ottawa Civic, Elizabeth Bruyere Rehabilitation Centre and The University of Ottawa Heart Institute as your compassion allowed mother to live her final days with the dignity that this great lady deserved.

Following Mother’s wishes, no wake, no funeral, just cremation and a private graveside service with family.  We all will miss her terribly.  A Celebration of Life will take place next year on mother’s birthday. Donations in her memory can be made to the Elizabeth Bruyere Rehabilitation Centre, Ottawa Civic Hospital or the Ottawa Heart Institute.