When the soft strings and gentle tones of Vivaldi's Four Seasons floated through the air, Jane Vatcher’s eyes would twinkle just a little more. Her eyes always had that twinkle, at once mischievous and stirring, inquisitive and monitoring the world around her.
She was the supervisor – the one in charge of all around her – but the complexity of baroque music betrayed her command and released the gentleness of her spirit for everyone around her. Her kindness and warmth touched everything.
The day I first met Jane, I walked into her kitchen as a pot of Chili gently simmered upon the stovetop. Her daughter, Becca, had captured my heart and this was the day I would make my impression upon her parents. I don’t know why I did it, but I gathered a few spices from the shelf above the stove, and I seasoned Jane’s chili. Perhaps I was testing her or perhaps I was testing myself – a risky game, for certain – but we passed. The hockey stick and two empty beer cans in the back of my truck had already caught her eye, and as a “good ole’ Canadian boy” who carried the right measure of charm and wit, Jane was welcoming, even as I tinkered with the meal she was preparing.
She was always a softy.
She loved her children and grandchildren deeply. She spent countless hours upon her sewing machine, creating the costumes the kids would wear upon the stage in dance recitals, musicals and plays that would warm the hearts of everyone in Bowmanville who had a ticket to the show. When Jane herself was upon the stage, her bright smile, dazzling eyes and the music in her voice would command the auditorium. It was no different if she was sitting around a campfire with a cozy glass of scotch in her hand.
She was a presence that made everyone around her welcome and curious.
When she suffered a stroke in 2010, certain things changed for Jane. She could no longer walk without support and a wheelchair became her crutch. She relied upon her loving husband Mike for almost everything, but while her sarcastic wit became a little sharper, the kindness in her heart only grew. She could no longer sew the outfits for her grandchildren and the matching scarves for their pets, but she was ever doting.
In a way, things paused for Jane in 2010. She lived in a mix of present and past, always filled with gratitude for the loves she had known through her life. Tracy, Amit, Nathan and Rhea; Craig, Shelly, Nolan and Norah; and Becca, Abby, Eli and myself remained at the core of her thoughts. Carole-Anne and family were as well.
Life and love are complex, in all of the beauty and tragedy each day has the potential to carry, and Jane always soaked it up. Her body betrayed her in the years following her stroke, however. There were tumours pressing upon her brain that would challenge the greatest of medical minds; but she wrestled them with her hand clasped tightly in Mike’s. In early 2021, 11 years after the stroke that first knocked her down, Doctors discovered masses in her lungs. The cancer had spread too quickly and the strength to fight it had long since left her. Mike never missed a breath, always at her side. Becca, Craig and Tracy all had their time with her, carrying the expanded love of friends and family to their mother. On April 2, 2021, with Mike and Becca at her side, her final notes played. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons had played that afternoon and we like to think the soft strings and gentle tones carried her a little farther.
Jane loved deeply – people, nature, animals and music, alike – and she will be sorely missed by many. Though we cannot gather in person to celebrate our love and memories, we will gather in a virtual space on Sunday, April 11. A toast to life and love will be in order, and all who felt Jane’s strength and love are welcome.
Should you wish, donations in Jane’s memory can be offered to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, JDRF, on behalf of her grandson Eli’s battle. Also, The Heart and Stroke foundation that she supported ever since her firstborn’s open-heart surgery, or the Canadian Cancer Society for her loving husband, Mike and, in the end, herself. Jane’s final gift of herself was to donate her body to the Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences at Queen’s University for research purposes.
By Kristian Partington
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JOIN US:
If you would like to join us on Sunday April 11th at 2:30pm EST, we will be hosting a service in memory of Jane and the link can be found here: Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89585901875?pwd=dyszNmZQc3hMZHUxNG51MTc0bmxFQT09 Meeting ID: 895 8590 1875 Passcode: 680138 |
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