Beautiful Kate was always happiest when she was holding court with a roomful of young people–the kitchen in Pointe Claire with her boys and all their friends–the breakfast nook in Kerrisdale with her girls and all their friends–talking about boys-and-clothes-and-makeup and singing–always singing: Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hammerstein and The Beatles.

Kate was born in Stoke-on-Trent in 1923, the third of four children. To her father’s dismay, she joined the Women’s Royal Air Force at the tender age of eighteen. To her father’s further dismay, three years later, the brave Kate agreed to marry a Canadian, and over the course of the next few decades she became mother to the six of us.

We weren’t an easy crew, but Kate rose to the occasion and was easier on us than we deserved, and she loved us more than anything. And when her grandchildren came along, she blossomed into the perfect grandma. In her later years, she enjoyed travelling the world with her husband, but nothing gave her more satisfaction than sitting on her back deck in Kerrisdale and entertaining her kids and grandkids.

Kate’s last week was difficult because she had experienced a stroke and was largely unresponsive, but we played her favourite music in her good ear and belted out the songs she loved from old musicals and songs from the 1970s that we used to sing together back in the day. She was able to tell us she loved us and even to wish Johnny a happy birthday. On Saturday, Bid told her it was okay to go, and on Sunday evening, she did.

Kate was predeceased by her husband, Don, and her son, Stephen. She is survived by her children, John (Johanna), Anthony (Charmaine), Elizabeth (Paul), Sheila (James), and Mark, and her grandchildren, Suzanne, Sharon, Mathew, Erin, David, Joey, Annie, Stefan, Emily, and Dana.

At some point, when we’re allowed to gather again, we’ll hold an Irish wake for the lovely Kathleen (Gallagher) Pooley since it's what she always said she wanted.