June Thistle

Very peacefully, early on Sunday morning (July 18), June went to her heavenly home.  She has now been reunited with her husband, Clement, & together they celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary on July 19th.

June’s earliest memory is teaching herself to sew & make clothes for her family. That’s where her creativity started.  Fast forward to 1946, Clement Thistle had just returned from the war. He attended a local church & spotted June singing in the choir.  He went home that day & told his mother he had found the woman he was going to marry.  Six months later she married the love of her life. They soon started their family & had three children, Leslie, Danny & Pam.  And of course, this led to four grandchildren, Adam, Amy, Michael and Michelle.  Then came six great grands, Victoria, Stephanie, Thomas, Rebecca, Adrian and William. She was only months away from becoming a great, great, grandmother.  Sadly, Stephanie didn’t get the chance to tell her that she was pregnant with her first GGG.

During those years my mom’s creativity soared.  She would make curtains & clothes & everything required to make her home beautiful.  She learned to quilt & crochet & I’m sure has taken millions of stitches over her life creating beautiful works of art.  Family members have her artwork displayed in their homes. She made both Pam and Leslie’s wedding dresses which were exquisite. She was a very determined woman & nothing was too hard for her.

Over the years, June and Clement helped many couples to renovate & decorate their homes on a shoestring budget.  They were the original Chip & Joanna Gaines.  They themselves lived in over 30 homes.  Buying, renovating & selling.  From Toronto, to Windsor, to Florida, to Kingsville, & back to Whitby.

Very sadly, June lost two of her children & lived through some very difficult years of grief.  But she was always an overcomer & her determination won.  Her creative endeavours were part of her healing in life.

A very important thing about June is she LOVED to save money.  She taught her children to play the game “let’s see how much you can save”.  What a wonderful legacy. 

After she lost Clement in 2016, June moved into Viva Pickering Retirement Home. She made friends with many community members & was always known as “the lady who knits”.  

In the summer of 2020, June fell and broke her pelvis and spent the summer in the hospital.  After that, she became very unsteady on her feet and was really tired of simply coping with life.  

Those of you who knew her will remember that she wouldn’t do well if she couldn’t be busy and creative.  Her sight was bad with macular degeneration and she couldn’t see to do any type of crafting.  Thankfully, she could read her books on her Ipad and that was a saving grace.  But, she was ready to go.  She knew that by her faith in Jesus, she would be welcomed into her heavenly home and would be able to once again see, run, and create!

Some have said that she is probably painting and rearranging the clouds. Isn’t that a lovely picture?