Carol Mary De'Ath

December 26th, 1954 – May 11th, 2023

With a heavy heart, we share the news that Carol De'Ath passed peacefully on Thursday May 11th at the Oakville Trafalgar Hospital after a 10-year battle with Cancer. Carol was a fighter to the end and will be missed dearly. Every time the sun shines or the daffodils bloom, we will know it's Carol. Carol's fun-loving and courageous spirit will live on forever in the memories of all that knew her.

Some of Carol's last words were "I have had a wonderful life with no regrets". Carol was born on December 26th, 1954, in the British Military Hospital in Germany where her father was then serving in the British military followed by service in Northern Ireland. After Carol's father left the military the family moved to England, firstly to Bucknell for a couple of years and then to Solihull where Carol spent all of her young life through until she got married to Alan in 1978. Carol was very active in the Girl Guides and Brownies organisation during her early life and took great pleasure in arranging and decorating their float in the town's annual carnival parade and winning first prize on a number of occasions!

Carol commenced her career as a Technical Librarian with International Nickel (INCO). In 1981 Carol and Alan moved to Cornwall where Carol worked for many years for the Cornwall Health Authority including a number of years as research assistant to one of the UK's leading doctors in Parkinson's disease. Carol was an amazingly caring person and would spend many hours with each patient with Parkinson's not only on research but in helping them in their daily lives. Carol leaves a legacy of care and compassion in everything that she did.

From 1990 onwards Carol joined her husband on a number of international assignments in the mining industry around the world. First to Portugal for 5 years which Carol grew to love as her favorite place she lived. Following the birth of daughter Laura in 1992 Carol devoted herself to motherhood and giving Laura a wonderful childhood in countries around the world. Next it was on to Namibia in 1995 for 2 years where Carol was very active volunteering in the local community including helping at the British Consulate with organising the catering at a number of large functions – Carol's passion was always as a gourmet cook!

Then, it was on to Canada in 1997 where Carol lived for the next 25 years but still enjoyed lots of international travel over those years visiting most of the continents of the world, including spending extended periods of time with her family in England. In Canada, Carol spent many years volunteering at Ian Anderson House running the Resource Centre where Carol with the support of colleagues applied for and received a substantial Trilium grant to develop "The Caregivers Toolkit" which became a "go to guide" for end-of-life caregiver support throughout Ontario.  Carol was a finalist for the 2009 Oakville Community Spirit Awards for her work at Ian Anderson House and for the development of that toolkit.

In between all her caring voluntary work, Carol enjoyed life to full and was a charismatic fun person to be around who loved displaying her gourmet culinary skills in hosting large dinner parties and functions. Always the life of the party.

One of Carol's personal highlights as a staunch royalist was meeting and talking to the Queen Mother in Cornwall in the late 1980's and meeting the Queen and the royal family at a Buckingham Palace Garden Party in 1990 to which Carol and Alan were invited in recognition of community work for Cornwall.

However, the major highlights for Carol were seeing her daughter Laura married to Benjamin in 2021, and the birth of her grandson Leo in 2022. Truly memorable and magical moments that Carol cherished to the end.

Sadly, Carol was involved in a near fatal vehicle accident in 2009 spending many months in hospital in the trauma unit and ICU where she displayed her fighting spirit to survive but which impacted her health significantly thereafter. Carol has battled Cancer for more than 10 years and has fought that battle so hard over many years. Her strength and resilience are admirable. Carol was a fighter to the end.

Rest in Peace Carol you can be very proud of your life – yes it was a wonderful life with no regrets. We will love you forever, miss you for always. As long as we're living, our angel you will be.

Carol is survived by her mother Margaret, husband Alan, daughter Laura, son-in-law Benjamin, grandson Leo, sister Ursula and Ursula's partner Steve, brother Graham and his family, nephew David, niece Samantha, brothers-in-law Graham and Christopher and sister-in-law Jean. Pre-deceased by her father Ronald, father-in-law Clifford, mother-in-law Joyce and sister-in-law Sue. Carol will be lovingly remembered by all her family and many friends.

Visitation will be held on Sunday, May 28th from 2pm to 5pm at the Kopriva Taylor Community Funeral Home, 64 Lakeshore Road West, Oakville. A funeral service will be held on Monday, May 29th at 2:30pm at Jude's Anglican Church, 160 William Street, Oakville L6J 1CS. Following the service there will a Celebration of Life and reception from 4pm onwards at Spencer's at the Waterfront Observatory, 1340 Lakeshore Road West, Burlington L7S 1B1 (on the lake waterfront in downtown Burlington) at which all Carol's friends, family and all who knew Carol are invited and very welcome to celebrate Carol's beautiful life.

In lieu of flowers, anyone wishing to make a donation may like to consider a donation to the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation where a funding page has been set-up in Carol's name. Simply click the above link.