McLoughlin (nee Lacy), Helen, (formerly of Howth, County Dublin, Ireland), passed away peacefully on January 30, 2017 in 
Rigaud, Quebec, Canada. Beloved wife of the late Peter McLoughlin (d. November 13th, 2016). Sister of Ida, Ursula, Alice and the late Billy Lacy. Sadly missed by her loving children Ursula (Mark), Guy, Adele (Michael) and Peta (Romeo), her grandchildren Anna, Rosie, Katie, David (Mallory), Melissa, Matthew, Sophia and Ava, and many relatives and friends in Ireland and Canada. A special, ‘Thank you,’ to the staff at Centre d’Hébergement de Rigaud and friends Ken & Doreen Knowles, who made Helen and Peter’s final years so much more comfortable.
Visitation is scheduled for Friday, February 10th from 7-9 p.m. at F. Aubry & Fils Inc. Funeral Home, 434 Rue Main, Hudson, Quebec. The funeral is being held at St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Church, 413 Rue Main, Hudson, Quebec on Saturday, February 11th at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, please donate to Vaudreuil-Soulange Children’s Foundation (www.fevs.ca) or any charity helping children.
It is with heavy hearts we say, “Goodbye,” to our amazing and loving mother and grandmother, Helen Mary Lacy McLoughlin. The following is a collation of memories from family and friends, recalling the life of an amazing wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, sister, cousin, and friend.
Helen spent her childhood and early adulthood in the picturesque seaside town of Howth, County Dublin, where she enjoyed sailing, reading, dancing, and socializing with her loving family and many friends. These were glorious days of fancy cars, fur coats, social parties with dancing, and fun times. Helen attended the Ursuline Convent in Waterford, where she engaged in a lot of shenanigans that the nuns usually traced back to Helen, and thus she was constantly ‘sent to pray.’ After boarding school, Helen attended an extra year of finishing school, which inspired a passion for gourmet cooking. She was a very personal, caring individual that enjoyed helping others. Helen spent nearly a year abroad in Belgium learning French. Her family remembers that this is also where she met ‘Herman the German,’ a wealthy, older Swedish industrialist who showered her with gifts until he was sent packing by Granny and Grandad Lacy! Upon her return to Dublin, she then took her first job at a prestigious shop, Switzer’s of Dublin, as the librarian.
Helen met the love of her life, the late Peter McLoughlin, at the early age of 13, when her brother Billy brought him home from Glenstal Abbey boarding school for a visit. Peter was immediately smitten with Helen and, unknown to her, Peter intended win her heart over. Their first date was Peter taking her to the movies where he proceeded to try and impress her on his limited knowledge of the movie’s subject, “Spanish Dancing,” and proceeded to talk throughout the whole movie. The first date almost ended abruptly when he told her to go between the buildings and straighten the crooked line on the back of her stockings! Luckily for Peter, she gave him a chance. This was the start of their amazing, soul-binding relationship.
Peter returned to Ireland in 1953, after he attended Royal Roads Military College and graduated from the Royal Military College, with the full intention of marrying and bringing his beautiful bride back to Canada with him. Helen’s father had died years before, but had told Helen’s mother that Helen would marry Peter and had his full blessing.
Helen and Peter made a beautiful life together at RCAF Station in Gimli, Manitoba, where Helen made many life-long friends and even managed to make a small cabin in the woods without running water into a happy, warm and welcoming home. Her first daughter, Ursula, was born there. After post-military career moves for Peter to Quebec and then Ontario, where they met lifelong friends such as the Marceaus and Laws, three more children were born: Guy, Adele and Peta. Once in Ontario, they began cruising with a modest wooden cabin cruiser called “Cayuga,” that they kept in Georgian Bay for family getaways. Gradually they moved larger boats, the last cruising boat was when Helen was pregnant with Peta. They were doing a summer tour of northern Georgian Bay, up around Killarney, and Helen started to have labour pains…their friends with a large Cris Craft had a ship to shore radio, which they used to call an air ambulance. Her labour pains subsided and the family travelled back to Honey Harbour, only to find the car not working…so everyone hitched a ride back to Toronto with a very nice truck driver, who dropped the family by the highway so that they could walk the rest of the way home through some fields.
Peter’s career moved them back to Quebec in 1970. Helen was always able to make the most difficult situation into a fun and memorable event and she raised her children in an environment of fun, laughter, happiness and moral purpose. Her children remember a period of flooding in Montreal, where she made a game of performing Bing Crosby’s “Singing in the Rain” with umbrellas, followed by a swim in the front lawn drainage ditches. During an extreme snow storm in 1971, she helped the kids make igloo forts and toboggan off the garage roof. Helen was spontaneous and would often spring a fun event or road trip on to her kids, often involving her neighbour and good friend, Elaine Law.
Helen missed sailing and convinced Peter to purchase a sailboat in 1972. This was the start of numerous family vacations exploring the Lake of Two Mountains and the Thousand Islands. Life was always an adventure and fun with Helen. She had an amazing ability for problem solving, coming up with creative solutions with her husband. Most notably was the time she sat on the end of their sailboat’s boom with a bucket of water and invited passersby to jump on the side of their sailboat to tilt it under power lines to pass through the Sainte-Anne-de -Bellevue locks, rather than take down the mast as instructed by the lock master. Rumour has it that their boat was banned from using those locks again; good thing that they sold that boat!
Helen finished a real estate course in 1976, but when Peter realized what that might mean to his calm and happy family life, he whisked her off to Spain and she missed writing her final exams. Her real estate expertise certainly showed through when she sold her Beaconsfield home in 2 hours, after ensuring that a frenzied crowd was present by booking all the viewings at the same time. Helen also attended John Abbott College in 1978, where she studied English Literature and Accounting courses receiving higher marks than her children, who were attending the College at the same time.
Helen talked Peter into an adventurous road trip where they ended up buying a plot of land and their family home on Rigaud Mountain. This is where she met her good friend, Helen Foody of Hudson, with whom she shared many late nights laughing over dinner and drinks.
Helen was always creative in her adventures. She arranged picnics in winter on the top of the mountain with cross country skis and hot chocolate. Helen may have been the first to coin the phrase ‘family movie night,’ as she loved watching movies with her kids, especially the classics, which reminded her of her glory days as a young debutant growing up in Ireland.
Helen was a great socializer. Many of her children’s friends loved talking to her and it was normal to come home to find some young person chatting to Mum at the kitchen table with a mug of coffee or a bowl of her delicious soups, pouring their hearts out to her. She had a great view of life and a wonderful sense of humour.
Helen was instrumental in helping Peter found and run their own pharmaceutical company, which was named after Peter’s late mother, “Ferdy” Dormer. Helen ran the company finances and proved to have great business intuition. Helen was extremely smart, but humble; she just enjoyed making other people laugh and smile.
Helen had many loves but her most cherished were her Irish family, her own children and, perhaps most importantly, her grandchildren. She was present for most of her grandchildren’s births, and in fact almost delivered her first, Anna, in her own bed! She loved all her nieces and nephews and was especially proud of her godchildren. She often made creative dishes such as ‘eggy in a cup’ or ‘toast soldiers’ for them. Helen loved animals, birds, and cooking (she could make a gourmet dish out of any minuscule leftover), and she had a real talent for gardening, as her flowers always bloomed beautifully! And she loved her games, playing any card game, Yahtzee or her beloved backgammon—many of her offspring and friends were schooled in these games by Helen. But most of all, Helen was a loving and devoted wife to her husband, who was her ‘One True Love,’ and she missed him terribly since his passing last November. There is no doubt that she is happy again now that she is reunited with her soul mate.
God bless you Helen-Mum-Nana-Granny-Auntie Helen–you will be greatly missed!
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