It is with great love and sadness that we acknowledge the passing of our mother, Catherine Ann (Murray) Hubbs. Ann was predeceased by her husband, Hugh. Mother to Jamey (Lynn), David and Jennifer, grandmother to Kate (Paul), Sarah (Phil), Becca and Madelin, and four great-grandchildren Lucy, Claire, Janey and Riley. Loved daughter of her late parents, Harold and Hazel, and sister to Doug (Eunice) and the late Fay (Doug), sister-in-law to Mary and the late Ted Lee, and aunt to Susan (Hugh), Catherine (Andy), Susan, Bruce (Donna), Chris, Tricia, and many extended cousins.
Catherine Ann Hubbs was born in southwestern Ontario, where she lived with her family until elementary school when they moved to Nova Scotia. There, she fell in love with life beside the water, enjoying the sound of waves through the windows. She met her husband Hugh while attending local dances on Saturday nights as Hugh studied at Acadia. The family moved to Belleville, Ontario, for Hugh’s teaching position at Albert College and they were house parents to boarders while raising their family. After moving to Cobourg in 1969, Ann quickly settled into small town Ontario life. She became a member of Trinity United Church and worked as a librarian at the Cobourg Public Library, both places where she met some of her dearest friends.
Music was a vital part of Ann’s life, and the radio was always on wherever she was. She grew up listening to Don Messer, Anne Murray and Peggy Lee; this love of music translated into joining a variety of choirs and attending concerts regularly. Ann also loved beautiful spaces, and her travels across Europe with Hugh meant she could bring back samples of tiles, pottery, and other décor to remember that beauty is found even in the smallest spaces.
Her favourite times and places were spent with friends and family. She delighted in tea parties and conversations with her granddaughters while watching them grow up to become accomplished adults, and she was able to see four great granddaughters join the family. Family meals on the back deck, enjoying ice cream in Prince Edward County and seeing the people she loved at the holidays were always highlights, because Mom could never miss a celebration.
Our thanks to Ann Stokes, Betty and Peter Sterling, Marilyn Waring, and Rhonda Perry for their love and friendship, particularly in the past few years. Special thank you’s to the Palliative Wing at Northumberland Hills Hospital, the staff at Palisades Gardens, Sue Vardi, the visitors from Flourish at Home and the incredible team in the Harmony Wing for their support, care and affection.
Ann adored flowers and would ask that you plant something beautiful in your garden in remembrance. If you wish to donate, please do so in her name to the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada, to support research into this devastating disease, or to the Cobourg Public Library to support library programming in the community. There will be a celebration of Ann’s life with reception at MacCoubrey Funeral Home on April 10th, from 1 to 3 pm with an interment with family to follow later in the spring.
