DUFOURNAUD, Agnes - March 5, 1951 – January 4, 2021
With her daughter, Catherine, and her son, Daniel, by her side, Agnes Dufournaud (née Demers) passed away peacefully on January 4, 2021.
Predeceased by her parents, Margaret and Louis, and her brothers, Michael and Denis, Agnes will be dearly missed by Catherine and Daniel; her grandchildren, Dominique and Christian; her son-in-law, Peter; her sisters, Louise and Patricia; her brothers, Francis and Fred; her dear friends, Gay and Stan; and all of her extended family and friends.
Agnes grew up in a culturally diverse neighbourhood in Hamilton, where she learned the value of hard work and humility.
Professionally, Agnes began her career as a public-school Teacher before ascending the ranks to Vice-Principal and then Principal.
She worked twice as hard to gain half the respect enjoyed by her male colleagues.
And yet, she managed to leaven the serious with the lighthearted, routinely filling her colleagues' days with laughter and whimsy.
After leaving the Waterloo District School Board, Agnes worked for several years in the Government of Ontario's Ministry of Education. There, she was a tireless champion of Indigenous rights. She belonged to a team that designed and implemented Indigenous centric curriculums for schools primarily attended by First Nations students.
Meanwhile, Agnes performed the labour of two parents at once. She elevated self-sacrifice to an art form. It feels insufficient to say that Agnes contained multitudes. She did, of course, but words cannot encapsulate her impact on people. She was caring, generous, compassionate, forgiving, adventurous, funny, optimistic, and peerlessly selfless.
She brought warmth to everything she did. She made everyone laugh. She made family and friends feel held. And she was an extraordinary parent, the kind of mother whom daughters and sons have in mind when they dilate lovingly on the person who brought them into this world. She has left an indelible legacy.
A private Funeral Mass will be held on Saturday, January 9, at St. Mary's Church, Kitchener, with interment to follow at Parkview Cemetery.
Due to the lockdown, the Mass will be livestreamed on the St. Mary Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows' Facebook page, which may be accessed through the Church's webpage (http://stmarysrcchurch.ca/mass-schedule/).
A public Celebration of Life is being planned for the summer. Donations to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada may be made.
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