Kathleen Farrell

Kathleen Farrell was born on May 31, 1925 to Ursula and Edward Blake. She grew up on a general farm in Port Dover, Ontario. Kathleen better known as "Kay", was raised in a family of seven siblings. Four brothers: Lawrence, Dan, Joe and Gerald and three sisters: Mary, Helen and Rita. Growing up she never liked doing housework or dishes, she always rathered being out working the farm with the "boys". She was always a hands on person, one of her favorite pastimes was crafts. This love of hands on worked in her favor as she went on to become a nurse and mother.

Kay was a respected nurse for eighteen years. She first trained to be a nurse by the nuns at St. Joseph’s in Ontario. After she moved to Cape Breton with her husband (Michael Farrell), she started work at St. Rita's Hospital before moving on to the Cape Breton Hospital. She had taken some psychology courses and ended up being head nurse of one of the wards. She seemed to understand the patients and their behaviors. She knew many were troubled and it wasn't their faults(in many cases they had been abused. Kay always tried to bring out their best qualities, tried to find out what they were good at, activities like paint by numbers. She was known for her excellent judgment of character when she was training nurses. Kay could often tell if they had what it took to work on a psyc ward. In one case when a female patient got out of hand, three male nurses were struggling to restrain her. Just by talking to her, Kay calmed the patient down. Kay was a head nurse, an R.N. until her retirement.

Kay was a strong willed mother of ten: Mick, Ed, Dave, Pat, Lawrence, Greg, Diane, Kevin, Doug and Judy (oldest to youngest). She is most remembered for being a calm and understanding mother. If anything happened or anyone was hurt she calmly addressed the situation. By her being calm she eased the child. She always had a sense of humor living with ten monkeys. Once she got up extra early to cook them breakfast as they left to rage a snowball war on the neighbors as they left for school. Of course with ten kids there was arguments and fights. She was constantly saying: "One day you'll need each other!".

Kay was determined as she fought two rounds of Cancer. In 1972 Kay found a lump on her breast. She notified her doctor who was F.B. MacDonald at the time. He sent her to Halifax to have it removed. She spent six weeks in Halifax receiving Cobalt treatment (radiation). Her oldest was eighteen and her youngest was eight. She fought Breast Cancer and won. She had won the battle against Cancer but unfortunately she lost the war. In 1989 Kay was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer. She would often have fluid on the stomach. This caused her stomach to swell and made it hard for her to get around. The fluid would have to be drained every two or three months. After one such occasion she didn't bounce back as she normally did and she got sick. On the night of January 27,1991 they decided to call an ambulance to take her to the hospital. She knew show wouldn't come back to her home again. She called her son Mick, who was living in Toronto at the time, to tell him she was going to the hospital. He booked a flight for February 14th, but he never made it home in time. On February 4th her son Lawrence told her he was going to take the next day off to spend with her, she didn't complain which wasn't like her. The next day she called her daughter Diane and said she didn't feel right. This had been the only day she hadn't been able to get out of bed. They had had to keep upping the medication and the nurse never notified them she was dying until it was to late too call her family. Kay passed away in the company of her daughter Diane, her son Lawrence, her daughter-in-law Jane and her granddaughter Faith on January 5, 1991 at age sixty-five. She was never afraid. She was determined and was able to accept her Cancer and deal with that fact!

Kathleen Farrell was a loved, trusted and respected person, but she was also my grandmother. She was always helping someone, whatever it was, bringing supper to the older people up the road to helping one of her children with some problem. She was a beloved casualty in the never-ending war against Cancer. She will always remain in our heart as a kind loving wife, mother, grandmother and friend. People often ask why good people die. I myself know. It's because in this world we need more angels! Nan, you will always be a hero in the hall of fame of my heart!