Eleanor (“Bunty”) Elizabeth Mary Kula

On Wednesday, April 3, 2024, in Ottawa, Ontario, after almost a decade living with dementia. 

Eleanor was born at Harrow, England on August 29, 1932 to Cyril and Constance Phillips (nee Barker). Her parents could not decide on her name for several days after her birth so the maternity nurses nicknamed her Bunty after a popular musical at the time. The name stuck and she was known as Bunty for most of her life.

Bunty’s childhood was shaped by World War II and she regaled her children and grandchildren with tales of rationing, gas masks and sheltering under the dining table during air raids. At age 16, she spent a year at St. James’s College, a secretarial and finishing school, and then entered the Nightingale Training School for Nurses at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London. Her time at both schools led to lifelong friendships which, like the others she made throughout her life, she carefully nurtured and maintained over the years. Bunty was a proud Nightingale and her work as a nurse brought her deep satisfaction. Woe betide those who made a bed in her house without hospital-grade corners!

In 1959, Bunty, together with three Nightingale friends, set sail for New York City, where she worked at New York Hospital. In 1961, she ventured west to San Francisco where she continued her nursing career and met her future husband, Sam Kula. The two were married in Los Angeles in 1964 and welcomed their first daughter Helen two and a half years later.

The family moved to Washington, D.C. in 1969 where their second daughter Jocelyn was born. The four then moved north to Ottawa in 1972. After an extended break from nursing to raise her family, Bunty resumed her career at West End Villa, where she worked part-time until her retirement in 1999.

Bunty’s adjustment to life post-retirement was not an easy one but she enjoyed the additional time in her beloved garden, regular lunches with friends, travel with Sam and the arrival of her grandchildren. Bunty was devastated by Sam’s cancer diagnosis and subsequent death in 2010 but found comfort in her daily walk around the neighbourhood and in her time with friends and family. Bunty began her struggle with dementia in 2015.  When living at home became no longer feasible, she moved to the Duke of Devonshire Residence and then to the Waterford Retirement Residence, where she spent the last four years of her life.

Bunty is survived by her daughters Helen (Michael Dolenko) and Jocelyn, and her grandchildren, Harriet and Lucy.  The family wishes to thank the nursing and activity staff of Waterford’s Windsong neighbourhood for their support of Bunty during her time there, with a special acknowledgement of their compassionate care during her final days.  A celebration of life is being planned, with arrangements entrusted to Beechwood Cemetery Ottawa.  In lieu of flowers, donations to Doctors Without Borders or the Dementia Society of Ottawa and Renfrew County would be appreciated.