Claudette and Jackie are my elder sisters and they both guided and supported me during life challenges, simply by being there, by sharing their endless humour and love, by living a life full of adventure, by always being there for me. Despite the many challenges that came her way, Claudette, the fierce warrior always prevailed. Her life exploration began in Timmins, on to Bralorne in the wild and ruggedly beautiful mountains of British Columbia that she so loved, back to the wilds of Timmins :-) and South End, onwards to the far north arctic hamlet of Norman Wells in the Northwest Territories and on to Calgary where she settled, close again to the Rockies that spoke to her soul.
There has never been a day in my life that Claudette was not in it. While we were separated for a time by miles, she was always a towering presence in our family. Her accomplishments are legendary and a personal source of inspiration, driving school buses over icy mountain roads, coming in 2nd in the Alberta provincial championship, helping out military verterans as a volunteer in the Legion and giving of herself to seniors, all with humour and grace. I still hear in my mind her infectious laugh, and the joy in her eyes when she jitterbugged to a tune in the Legion, when she had her family and friends around her.
I will miss her every day but there is consolation in knowing that she will remain in our hearts and that another star lit up the night sky, shining light to keep us on the path that will in time bring us back to her.
