Nell Lilian Cobb

What a life! Our beloved Mum, Grandma, and Auntie, Nell Cobb, passed away on June 8, 2024, to rejoin our Dad (he had passed away on November 27, 2000). She went in time to prepare for their reunion, a 73rd wedding anniversary party on June 9th. Together, they had embraced life with unconditional love. Her passing was filled with love, peace, and a flicker of joy for the thought of being finally reunited after so many years.

Their lives both started in England, yet they first met in Lindsay, ON, Canada when, following WWII, they each came seeking new adventures. Mum’s closest family, her elder sister, Gwen, had already started to make her life here with her husband, Leo Timmons, and eldest daughter, Theresa. Gwen and Leo had four more children: Sue, Diane, Paula and Steve.

Nell and Geoff married in Lindsay and went on to have two children, David and Joan. Mum stayed home to care for and raise us, while Dad’s work took our family, first to Ottawa, then Peterborough, and finally to settle in St.Catharines in 1968. Mum went out of the house to work when we were old enough. Her first job was in a local bakery (oh, those eclairs and cream buns!). Then she worked for a catering company that took on some prestigious jobs (serving dignitaries in a candle-lit setting in historic Fort George in Niagara-on-the-Lake). Lots of stories of amazing feasts….

Mum and Dad travelled back to England several times over the years to visit family and friends: early on to visit Dad’s parents and his brothers, Ernie (Olivia) and Frank (Audrey and children: Richard (Jean and Katie), Chris (Nigel and Anna), and Sally (Richard)), as well as Mum’s cousin, Ann (Cyril and family), and of course Aunty Daisy.

When the time came for Mum to give up her home in 2012, Dave and family packed up her things and drove her out west to start a new chapter of life with Joan and Marc in Calgary, AB.

Born on August 20, 1924, Nellie Lilian Daley, at the young age of 5, along with two sisters, Gwen and Sis, were placed in a girl’s naval orphanage after their mother passed away while giving birth to her seventh child. With their father away in the Royal British Navy, his eldest two children remained at home caring for the youngest child. Life in this environment had set routines which sounded strict yet compassionate. When they had time off (and if they couldn’t go to be with their families), the girls were placed in foster homes. Mum’s “Auntie Daisy” became like a Mum to her. At 15 years of age, she was given a work opportunity in a manor house as a kitchen maid. Does Downton Abbey ring a bell? This early start to acquiring skills in the kitchen shaped the rest of her life as an amazing cook. When she was 16, WWII began and she joined the WRENS (Women’s Royal English Navy) and continued honing her skills as a cook, this time for Naval officers, and was eventually stationed in Scotland, cooking over coal-fired stoves and preparing meals at all hours, including big breakfasts of bacon and eggs after late night parties! Over the years, our family and friends were spoiled with amazing meals and baking. I have fond memories of getting home from school on a cold wet day and experiencing the comforting yummy smells wafting from the kitchen. Then, sitting down to a cup of tea with freshly baked treats! Oh, and those awesome Sunday dinners!!!

Another of Mum’s lifelong passions was knitting. This also began in the orphanage where she would knit stockings, sweaters, and dolls’ clothes for the girls. Mum kept up this activity and produced many amazing sweaters, blankets, and dishcloth/towel sets for family and friends over the years. Her last legacy was making squares which have been transformed into blankets for her five grandchildren (Dave and Lise’s children: Kristen (Todd), Peter (Brynn), and Celine (Brad). Joan and Marc’s children: Ella (Ron) and Simon (Eve)), her great-grandson, Jasper (Peter and Brynn), as well as other family and friends.

Mum and Dad loved singing and were both members of the Grantham United Church choir in St. Catharines, ON. And while she didn’t sing much in her last chapter, she continued to enjoy music all the way through including her nightly watch/listen to the perennial Lawrence Welk show. Her musical abilities were most recently shared at rehearsals with the Rhythm Methods Band here in our home in Calgary, where she could sure hold the rhythm while shaking a shaker along to our tunes!

Other activities that Mum embraced were sewing (as an accomplished seamstress, she made and altered clothing for family and friends as well as doll’s clothes for the Waldorf school where Dave and Lise’s children attended), quilting, cross-stitching, gardening (she and Dad proudly grew lovely flowers, vegetables, and fruits, which were enjoyed fresh, frozen, or canned, keeping us all happily fed), making and decorating wedding cakes, volunteering to cook and carve turkeys for the church dinners, playing scrabble and cribbage (she joined the Bowness Seniors’ Centre group while in Calgary) and assembling jigsaw puzzles. The later two years of Dad’s life (1998-2000) were spent in Linhaven Nursing Home (which became his home away from home after he developed dementia). Mum connected with other people whose spouses were residents there, becoming a volunteer with The Friends of Linhaven. She continued helping after Dad passed away and during her 15 years of volunteering, the group raised over a hundred thousand dollars towards improving the facilities for the residents.

Mum was devoted to her family and friends. She really loved animals, too, and embraced all of our four-legged or winged family members: Perky, Reuben, Casey, Tye, Frankie, Brandy, Dudley, Emma, Maya, Suri, Lucy, DJ and Princess. She left us 73 days shy of her 100th birthday. While we all know she was holding out for a letter from the Queen (or King, as it proved to be), we all know that her 73rd wedding anniversary on June 9th was the more important date.

We will forever cherish the memories and hope to carry on the wonderful legacy she left behind.

As we say our goodbyes, we know that Mum and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, Nell and Geoff, are finally together again, sitting on their bench along the Welland Canal, watching the boats go by as they pass through the locks.

A Celebration of Life will be held to honour and remember Nell at Bowness Seniors' Centre (6422 35 Avenue NW, Calgary, AB) on Sunday, September 29, 2024 from 1:00 - 4:00pm. 

We’ll share stories with afternoon tea and snacks. The Rhythm Methods will present some of Mum’s favourite songs.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Nell Lilian Cobb, please visit our floral store.