Eileen Emmaline Alton (nee Brigham), our beloved G-G, has left the building. She was 101 but do not be confused by that exulted number. In her heart she was still a girl of 15, and a young wife during wartime, a mother of two teenage boys, and a doting grandmother, and finally a grand old dam who loved to laugh and tease and yes, even crawl on the floor with the great grandbabies. She was all this and more, living the life we all imagined. Until recently, she was ageless. She passed away suddenly January 3 ^rd at Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital. She will be missed.

She will be missed especially by her sons Don and Doug Alton and their wives, Marg and Karen. She will be dearly missed by her grandchildren, Ed, Colleen, Jonathan and his wife Jennifer, Benjamin and his husband Nick Barnett. And she will surely be missed by her great-grandchildren Kyle, Carter, Cole and Rose.

And of course, as everybody's favourite Auntie, she will be mightily missed by her many admiring nieces and nephews: Hedy, Mike, Chris, Marty and Neil on the Brigham side; Carol, Bob, Mary Ann, Mike, George, Jim, Bill, Marnie and John, on the Alton side, and all their respective families. She was a marvel at remembering birthdays and filling the freezer with cookies and fresh Niagara peaches. She knew the little things to do to make a big difference. She laughed a lot.

Eileen Alton was a people person who never forgot the sting of being poor during The Great Depression and never failed to value good fortune when it smiled. For much of her life she got up in the morning to swim laps in the pool and punctuated the end of the work day with a rum and coke, her sweetie by her side. She was predeceased by that sweetie, the love of her life, Gord, her husband of more than 50 years. She was also predeceased by her two dear brothers Herb and Ken Brigham. When the men in her life were gone (though not forgotten), however, she sailed on with courage and grace, and an infectious joie de vivre.

In the final few years of her life Eileen found comfort and friendship at Amica Bronte Harbour. Never did she stop making new friends even as the years piled up. Her ability to connect with people may have been her greatest quality and the love she inspired in family and friends her greatest legacy.

G-G will be cremated and interred in the spring in the family plot at Springcreek Cemetery. Her family will be planning a good, old-fashioned wake and a celebration of her life later this month.

If you are inclined to make a donation to the charity of your choice, to honour a life well-lived, please do so with joy in your hearts.