Obituary of Rose Cecilia Blouin (Cloutier)

Rose Cecilia Blouin (Cloutier)

Submitted by Lorraine Merrick

It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Rose Cecilia Blouin (Cloutier), resident of Rolla, British Columbia, on Monday, January 10, 2022, at the age of 97 years.

Rose was born to Ebriam Blouin and Mirilda Aubin on August 8, 1924 in General Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta. The family was living in a small-town call Lamaureux.

In 1927 Rose’s mother passed and the family was moved to Jussard where her father, a carpenter, could work and take care of his 10 children. Rose’s siblings are Leonida, Alfred, Leo, Eugene, Albert, Oram, Jeanine, Emma, and Laurier. Her mother is interred in Lamaureaux.

Rose was three years old at the time of her mother’s passing and was fostered out. From what she told me, she passed from pillar to post until she was put in a convent and got together with her sisters and met her brothers again. She learned a lot of her cooking, sewing, and craft skills in her early years. Cooking and serving on the farms of aunts and uncles, for threshing crews, she learned her great work ethics.

Rose married my father, Ben Cloutier, on August 30th, 1943. Together they had 10 children, Norman, Raymond, Yvonne, Joyce, Carmen, Denis, Lorraine, Emil, Roger, and Rick. Rose had 22 grandchildren, 34 great-grandchildren, and 4 great-great-grandchildren.

They started their married life on the homestead. They had their first 5 children, all born in McLennan, and moved to Dawson Creek in 1951 where the next 3 were born. In 1959 they moved to Pouce Coupe, where her last 2 babies were born.

In 1964, Rose moved her then 7 children to White Rock, where we lived on the bottom of Kerfoot Road for 6 years. She made another couple of moves and ended up in Kelowna with her 3 youngest boys. In 1969 she made the decision to send the 3 boys to live with their older siblings because she knew that having the boys on their own while she worked wasn’t good for them. She worked at the lunch counter at Woolworths and The Olympia until she had a stroke in her 60th year. She retired then. Not sure when she got her driver’s license and bought her first vehicle, but pretty sure it was in her 60s. She took up doing some road trips to the coast, even up here to Dawson. She even moved here for a small stint but moved back to Kelowna because she really didn’t like winter. She spent her days knitting, crocheting, embroidering, doing needlepoint, and produced piles of mementos that her children are all pleased to own, even some of her grandchildren and great grandchildren.

In her last 20 years she had 2 knee replacements, sold her vehicle, and got herself a scooter – which she was using when she got caught in an automatic door and broke her arm. Joyce decided that mom was not going to be alone anymore at 80 years old. She moved her into a home in Vancouver, where she spent, I think the next 9 years. Mom enjoyed her time there, meeting all the home-stay students from all over the world and was loved by many. They called her gramma and to this day they still have fond memories of her.

In the early fall of 2013, she moved back up to Rolla to live with me. We had numerous road trips to Jussard to visit Aunty Jean, St. Albert to visit Norman, and down to Williams Lake to visit her baby boy Ricky. She was doing countless hours of needle point and made quite a few Christmas stockings at the time. We spent many days on huge puzzles, she was great at them. She also did several books of crossword puzzles at the time. We had several family dinners with local families, thus her great-grandchildren and even later great-great-grandchildren were able to get to know gramma Rose better.

In December 2014, Rose became ill enough to be hospitalized and spent Christmas in the hospital where we catered so she could have a good meal. She came home January 4th, 2015. She’d dropped a lot of weight and had to use her walker in the house. January 2016 found Rose in the hospital once more. This time she ended up in a state of delirium from which she never fully recovered. Her concentration and balance were affected. During her stay in the hospital plans were made for several outings with family. I or my son Sean would push her in her wheelchair to the place we were going to dine. She was in the care home by her 92nd birthday. She met her great-great-grandson Tyler in April 2017. The next couple of years were great with family dinners held at Rotary Manor in the lunchroom there. In November 2018 Rose fell and broke her hip. She was operated on and came through with flying colours. The doctors were amazed by her recovery.

In the fall of 2019, she decided she wanted something to do with her hands, so I got her some crochet cotton and hooks. She produced hundreds of washcloths, giving to her favourites and I managed to send some to siblings so they could hand out the mementos to their families. Her 33rd great-grandchild was born on June 25th, 2020, and she had several visits with her. Some through windows, but also in person. She loved the name Mikayla Rose, saying it sounded just right, and would say it over and over. Her final visit was on January 1st, 2022.

Her 97th birthday was celebrated in the home, just the two of us, because restrictions allowed for me as essential. Plans were in the works to bring her home and on October 21st, 2021, I moved her in. To me it was divine intervention that allowed for everything to happen as it did and I will never regret bringing her home.

Rose was the surviving member of her family for several years. She was predeceased by her parents; all her siblings; her four sons Norman, Denis, Emil, and Roger; her son-in-law Peter Strand; and her daughter-in-law Donna Cloutier.

Rose passed away peacefully in her sleep, Monday, January 10th, 2022, at my home in Rolla. I was honoured to have her in my home in her final months. She was 97 years old at the time.

She is survived by her children Ray Cloutier, Yvonne (John) Merrick, Joyce (Murray) Wallace, Carmen Strand, Lorraine Merrick, and Rick (Jill) Cloutier; her daughters-in-law Jeanine Cloutier and Sharyn Cloutier; all her 22 grandchildren; 34 great-grandchildren; and 4 great-great-grandchildren.

Interment to take place Friday, July 1st, 2022, in Pouce Coupe Riverview Cemetery at 2 pm, with reception to follow, the venue to be decided at a later date.

Very Respectfully, Reynars Funeral Home and Crematorium