The matriarch of the Dickinson clan – and friend and teacher of many Anglo-Quebecers – passed peacefully and with great dignity at home in Laval this week, surrounded by family and the smells of home cooking.

Mum’s journey was an amazing one that took her from Belfast to Northwich, Manchester, St. John’s, Quebec, Poitiers, Bedfordshire and eventually Laval. She loved to travel elsewhere, too (though rarely the journey to get there).

A self-professed hippie, Mum was well before her time, teaching family to embrace diversity and a love of life beyond tangibles. She encouraged her children and grandchildren to follow their dreams rather than the expectations of others, and instilled in many of the family a love of chocolate, theatre, music, travel, fashion and Coronation Street.

Mum never lived to work but rather took pleasure in her hobbies and friends. The results of her art were of a professional quality and were enjoyed over the years through her costumes for plays, altar frontal restorations and designer clothes. She had fond memories until the end of the Quebec Art Company, reading group, volunteer work and the choir at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Quebec.

Mum’s British sense of humour will be remembered by us all. Her war stories were not of the drama but more likely of asking U.S. GIs, “Got any gum, chum?” Her wish for how she would be remembered was that it not be with tears but rather the brass band sounds of a New Orleans-style funeral.

Mum rarely looked backwards. Whether it was the loss of her sons, David and Alaric, or unwanted moves for the greater good of the family, she would simply close those doors and remind us that “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

Mum’s only possessions of value in her mind were her family. She was adoringly proud of all her children and grandchildren. Her love for John was without parallel. In her final days she remembered a love letter she had written to him that began: “Even though I’m getting fat and funny looking…” and ends: “I still love you very, very, very much.”

Jane is now reunited with John, so let us celebrate her and remind John in our prayers that he’d better be on his best behaviour in Heaven from now on.

All our love, the Brats, their offspring and partners, and Fiona the cat.

A memorial service for Jane will be held at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Quebec City, at 2 p.m. on July 31, 2026.

Messages to the family can be posted to the funeral home website at Yveslegare.com.