Maureen Joan L’Heureux (nee Vaughan)

Our beautiful Irish Mum, so gentle, kind, resilient and loving; the most loyal of friends; devoted wife and mother; an educator; a creative with endless artistic talent; a patient, nurturing gardener; a self-taught culinary whiz; a keen reader; a faithful letter writer; an animal lover (particularly corgis); a woman who laughed easily and contagiously, with a devilish sense of humour. She was sharp - so very sharp, learning continuously throughout her life. She firmly believed anyone could learn and she readily and generously shared her knowledge.

Maureen faced hardship as a young child in England, and eventually moved with her mother, Frances, to County Down, Northern Ireland to be safer at the beginning of WWII.  She flourished at Down High School and Stranmillis Teachers College, where she made lifelong friends. She bravely emigrated alone to Strathroy, Ontario, Canada in 1951 where she taught nursery school. She achieved her ambition of becoming a WRNS officer in the Royal Canadian Navy and enjoyed training pilots to fly using instruments only. While at Shearwater, Nova Scotia, she met and married her sailor, Lt Edward L’Heureux (later Cdr) in 1956. Linda arrived in 1957 and Julie in 1960. Maureen created a most loving and stable home life for her children while supporting Ed in their postings in Canada and the United States. They put down firm roots in 1971 in Blackburn Hamlet, Ottawa, where they continued to raise “the girls” and made a “forever” home for all.  Maureen spent her final years at the Bearbrook Retirement Residence where she made new friends.

Our Mum enjoyed a long and contented life enriched by her family and her good friends.  She was our biggest cheerleader whom we are most blessed and honoured to have known and loved.  Linda (Tamra Thomson) and Julie thank Dr. Christiane Kuntz for her many years of excellent care and support.  Heartfelt thanks also to the medical staff at the Civic Hospital 2nd fl (A) for their recent exceptional care.  

Tributes may be sent through our mother’s memorial page on the Beechwood Cemetery website at www.beechwoodottawa.ca

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Operation Come Home (https://operationcomehome.ca) or to a charity of your choice.  A service will be held in the National Military Cemetery of Beechwood Cemetery, 280 Beechwood Avenue, Ottawa, on Friday June 23, 2023 at 1 p.m. with a reception to follow.  For those who wish to join the procession to the National Military Cemetery, please be at the Beechwood National Memorial Centre at 12:30 p.m.