Evelyn Jean Tremain

Cremation has already taken place and a private interment will be held at Beechwood Cemetery. Family and friends are invited to a celebration of Evelyn's life on Friday, November 18 from 2-4 pm at the Beechwood National Memorial Centre, 280 Beechwood Avenue, Ottawa. 

It is with deep sadness that Evelyn Jean Tremain née Lutes, beloved wife of David Tremain, passed peacefully away on October 24 at Forest Valley Terrace retirement home, after a long battle with dementia.

  Evelyn was born on June 24, 1952 in Chatham, New Brunswick, to Leslie Stead Lutes and Mildred Lutes née Leaman; sister of the late Neil Lutes (Carol) of Edmonton, and Eric Lutes (Peggy), of Lower Coverdale, New Brunswick. Part of Evelyn’s early life was spent in Zweibrücken, West Germany, where her father had been posted with the RCAF.

  She created for herself a lifelong path of learning and growing. In 1974 she received a BA  in Social Sciences from the University of Western Ontario, having begun her studies at Acadia University, Nova Scotia; and another BA in General Psychology from the University of Waterloo in 1990.

  She began her career working for the Department of External Affairs as a secretary and had postings to the Canadian embassies in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and The Hague, The Netherlands. After quitting the Foreign Service and immigrating to Sydney, Australia, where she worked for about a year as an administrator, she returned to Canada and worked for Husky Oil as a land manager in Calgary. Later, she returned to External Affairs & International Trade Canada, where she worked in the Human Rights and Justice; International Cultural Relations, and Communications divisions.

  After graduating with an MA in Pastoral Counselling at St. Paul University, Ottawa in 1996, she established a private practice as a psychotherapist, in which she worked for seven years before returning to the federal public service.

  She worked first at Health Canada and then at Transport Canada as an English writer/editor in their Executive Correspondence Units. This was followed by a position as an Access to Information & Privacy (ATIP) Advisor at Transport.  Before her retirement in 2011 she worked for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada as a Case Analyst, and as a Senior Privacy Investigator.

  Even though Evelyn was a quiet, shy young woman, she was also highly intelligent and gutsy.  She was an intrepid traveller (something she shared with husband David), travelling to the interior of Saudi Arabia to Hegra (Mada’in Salih) to see the Nabatean tombs; Yemen; Cyprus; the Lebanon; Belgium; the UK; Egypt; India, and France. With David, she visited England; Paris; New York; Washington, DC; Basel, Switzerland; Amsterdam; Bangkok; Cambodia; China, and India. Their last trip was to Florence, Italy in 2018 when Evelyn had just been diagnosed with early onset dementia.

  Evelyn also shared with David a love of books. A voracious reader, particularly British and Scandinavian mysteries, she managed to meet a number of British authors at book signings. She developed lasting friendships wherever she went, but a chance encounter at the Ottawa Antiquarian Book Fair in 1992 led her to David, and friends immediately recognized that she’d found her soul mate, who she referred to as her ‘bookstore man’. That fall they got engaged in Paris, and married in England the following year. Their shared passions are reflected in their bookshelves: travel, art, archaeology, politics, international food, and cats. Right to the end, she adored David, and he could always make her laugh.

  Her diagnosis of dementia was difficult for both of them to accept, but thanks to David’s support, she continued to enjoy life as much as she could.  Gratitude goes to Zahra for her compassionate care of Evelyn at home, and then the loving staff at Forest Valley Terrace over the past year. And a special thanks to faithful friend Alice, and Cynthia of the Dementia Society of Ottawa & Renfrew County who has been David’s guardian angel throughout this difficult time.

  Cremation has already taken place and a private interment will be held at Beechwood Cemetery. Family and friends are invited to a celebration of Evelyn's life on Friday, November 18 from 2-4 pm at the Beechwood National Memorial Centre, 280 Beechwood Avenue, Ottawa. In lieu of flowers, a donation in Evelyn’s name can be made to the Dementia Society of Ottawa & Renfrew County, the Canadian Cancer Society, or the Ottawa Humane Society.