Obituary of Celestine Hussain

Celestine Hussain passed away peacefully at Arbor Trace Care Home at 3:54AM on April 03, 2019 in the company of family. Loving partner of Frank Bailie; Devoted mother to Purveen Skinner and Tariq Hussain; Treasured grandmother to Jamila & Jasmyn Skinner, Taylor, Will, & Gillian Anderson; Loving mother in law to Bill Anderson. 

Born in 1934, Celestine grew up by warm waters of the South Pacific, in Suva, Fiji. She immigrated to Canada in 1961 and settled in the the Eastern Townships region of Quebec, working as a nurse at Brome-Missisiquoi-Perkins Hospital. She will be remembered for her recipes (shortbread cookies, apple pie, curried chicken), her stories (skiing through a carpeted ski lodge or the “frozen turkeys debacle”). Sometimes she’d laugh so hard her eyes would water. She’d struggle to get the words out, but we’d always wait to hear the end of a story, even though we knew them all by heart. She taught us Fijian words like how to say hello—Bula vinaka! She never taught us how to say goodbye, though. She loved to sing, everything from Top 40 to “Country Roads Take Me Home” and her favourite Fijian farewell song, "Isa Lei.” “Isa, Isa, you are my only treasure, must not leave me so lonely and forsaken.” We will remember her with pink flowers in her hair, singing. 

A service to celebrate Celestine’s life will be held on Saturday April 06, 2019 from 2PM to 5PM at Boler Mountain.

Memorial donations to Alzheimer’s Society