Patricia (Taylor) Thompson

It is with sadness that the family announce that on October 24th Patrica Thompson (nee Taylor) passed away peacefully, surrounded by her immediate family, at Bobby's Hospice in Saint John after a hard-fought battle with cancer over the final six months of her life.  She chose to face the end of her life privately without telling even her closest friends and extended family that she was ill.  She wanted to be remembered for her life rather than her death and, true to who she was, she didn’t want to be a burden to anyone.

Patricia is survived by her son Herbert (Michelle Richard) of Saint John and Melissa Earle (Andrew) of Hampton. Along with her parents, Patricia was predeceased by her husband Rev. William Clifford Thompson, brothers Austin Taylor and Edward “Ned” Taylor and her sister Beulah.

The family thanks Dr. Christian Mackin, Dr. Chris O’Brien, and the nursing staff at both the Saint John Regional Hospital and Bobby's Hospice for the care they provided to Patricia.

Arrangements are under the direction of Fundy Funeral Home, 230 Westmorland Road, Saint John 506-646-2424. By Patricia’s request was no formal visitation or service. A private burial was held prior to this announcement.

Donations in her memory can be made to the Bobby’s Hospice or to the charity of the donor’s choice.

To send a message of condolence please visit www.fundyfuneralhome.com

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Patricia began her life in 1944 on a rural stretch of Shediac Road with her mother Thelma (Hodgson), father Herb, sister Beulah, and brothers Austin and Ned. She graduated from Moncton Highschool in 1962.  When she expressed interest in a career in photography her high-school guidance counsellor told her that photography equipment would be too heavy for a woman to carry and that she should consider something else.  She then thought about becoming a lab technician but decided to do her first year of post secondary education at the Atlantic Baptist College which she discovered did not have a science curriculum adequate to prepare her for a career as a lab technician.  While at Atlantic Baptist College, in addition to making a few deep friendships that she would hold for the rest of her life, she met the man who would eventually become her husband.

She began her working life as a teacher of several grades in a literal one room school house in a deeply rural area of early 1960s New Brunswick.  After marrying her husband Bill, she gave up teaching to become a preacher’s wife and a mother.  Because Bill, who eventual became the Reverend William Clifford Thompson, was not a man to stay one place or situation for long, her life was far more varied, colorful, and complicated than that of a traditional preacher’s wife.  Her life as a preacher’s wife was punctuated by tenures as a farmer’s wife, clerical worker outside the home, and many other adventures too complex or personal to explain to anyone not there at the moment.

Her life required her to be a strong woman but her inner strength was surrounded by outer kindness and compassion that was the basis for a number of friendships that were important to her.  She formed the type of friendships that did not require perpetual togetherness.  Whether you knew her as Patty or Patricia, a friend that she engaged with only once a year, or once a decade, was no less important to her than a friend who might call once a month.  Among her closest friends were her two children who had the perhaps uncommon good fortune to have their relationships with their mother transform to become deep adult friendships over the final four decades of Patrica’s life.

Much of her life was about her roles in other people’s lives but that was only part of who she was.  At heart she was an artistic and curious person.  At a young age she learned to play the piano and paint. Painting was a pursuit that fell by the wayside when crowded out by the responsibilities of life but the paintings that she left behind are a window into an inner life that was not known to many. Her curiosity seemed boundless. Her interests ranged from local history to astronomy and seemingly everything in between.  She was an avid reader of the astronomy column in the local newspaper and was always grateful when its author would answer her occasional questions.  Her family would frequently receive phone calls telling them to look out the window at something in the night sky.

Of all of her interests and pursuits, it was photography that tied almost everything to together.  Whether it was black and white film in a Kodak Brownie in the 1960s or the digital camera that she used up to her final Mother’s Day, she found a way to weave photography with almost all of her interests and pursuits.  She was a birder, so she took pictures of birds.  She was a gardener, so she took pictures of her flowers. She loved the ocean so she would get wet in a storm trying to get a picture of the biggest wave crashing onto the shore.  If the planets or stars were aligned in an interesting way, then stay up late to get a picture.

Her borderline obsession with moon chasing over the last ten years of her life united her curiosity, enthusiasm, and artistic desires.  On what heading would the full moon rise this month? How close to sunset?  How many degrees to add or subtract to the magnetic compass heading to get the true heading?  Where to point the tripod?  Where to go to get an unobstructed view?  Will the sky be clear?  Then with justifiable satisfaction and excitement, she’d email her best pictures of this month’s full moon to her family.

Her friendship, curiosity, and enthusiasm for beauty in nature will be missed by those who knew her.  Noone in her family will look at a full moon again without thinking about her.

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