Rita Lynch (née Fournier)
In Beloeil on June 4, 2018, Mrs. Rita Fournier Lynch passed away at the age of 86. She was the beloved wife of the late John C. Lynch and daughter of the late Aristide and Pearl Fournier of Ferland, SK.
She leaves to mourn her children: Shaun Lynch (Jean Suzette Stutsman), Marianne Lynch (Miles DeNora) and Charles Lynch (Annick Buchholz); her grandchildren, Eithne Lynch, Elinor Lynch, Zachary Lynch (Celine Legault), Sacha Lynch and Nicholas Lynch; great-grandson Logan Lynch; her sisters, Lucienne Fournier Chabot, Ferland, SK, and Marianne Fournier Lalonde (André Lalonde), Cornwall, ON, and her brother Lionel Fournier (Hélène Roy Fournier), Gatineau, QC; her sisters-in-law Rachel Fournier [widow of Raymond Fournier], Saskatoon, SK and Marina Fournier [widow of Roger Fournier], Ferland, SK; as well as her godchildren, Marc Chabot, Woodbridge, ON, Hélène Chabot Elik, Regina, SK, Marcel Fournier, Cleveland, OH, and Eric Fortier, Orléans, ON.
We also remember the other departed members of her family; her brother Albert Fournier, o.m.i. and her sister Irène Fournier Chabot and Irène’s husband Alfred Chabot.
A proud “fransaskoise” (Saskatchewan francophone), Rita was born in the French-speaking farming village of Ferland in southern Saskatchewan. As a young adult she left her home province to take up a position as a journalist in Québec City. She later earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Ottawa and, while studying in the nation’s capital, met and married Royal Canadian Air Force officer Jack Lynch, a widower with a young son, Shaun.
Her daughter Marianne was born in Ottawa just before the family moved to Winnipeg where, a year and a half later, she gave birth to Charles. Subsequent moves took the family to Gatineau, QC, Trenton, ON, and finally, upon Jack’s retirement from the Canadian Forces, to St. Bruno, QC. She returned to university in the late 1970s to earn a diploma in translation from McGill.
In a career that spanned more than half a century, Rita worked as a journalist, but also as a translator, an advertising copywriter, and a government communications officer for both the Province of Saskatchewan and the City of Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville. During much of this time, she also taught French, first at Loyalist College in Belleville, ON, then as a substitute teacher in St. Bruno, and later giving French conversation classes in her home. For many years she also tutored young students in language, writing, study skills and social sciences.
She remained very active in the Catholic Church wherever the family travelled. While living in St. Bruno she was a member of the Parish Pastoral Committee of Paroisse Saint-Bruno and provided voluntary communications services to the Diocese of St-Jean/Longueuil.
In her final years she refused to be slowed down by the mantle cell lymphoma to which she ultimately succumbed in the early hours of June 4, 2018, missing by less than three hours sharing the same day of death as her husband Jack, who had passed away 14 years earlier, on June 3, 2004.
The family would like to express our tremendous appreciation for the empathetic efforts of Rita’s healthcare providers, in particular the oncologists at Hôpital Pierre-Boucher in Longueuil and the staff of that hospital’s Oncology Department; we especially want to recognize the support Rita received from her pivot nurse Gail West-Dupèré. We are equally appreciative of compassionate care that Rita received from her personal physician, Dr. Christiane Martel.
Finally, we would like to express our deep appreciation to the staff of la Maison Victor-Gadbois, an extraordinary palliative care facility where both Rita and Jack were cared for in their final days. We invite those who would like to make a charitable contribution as a tribute to Rita’s extraordinary life to consider making a memorial donation in her name to la Maison Victor-Gadbois: https://maisonvictor-gadbois.com/faire-un-don.
She leaves to mourn her children: Shaun Lynch (Jean Suzette Stutsman), Marianne Lynch (Miles DeNora) and Charles Lynch (Annick Buchholz); her grandchildren, Eithne Lynch, Elinor Lynch, Zachary Lynch (Celine Legault), Sacha Lynch and Nicholas Lynch; great-grandson Logan Lynch; her sisters, Lucienne Fournier Chabot, Ferland, SK, and Marianne Fournier Lalonde (André Lalonde), Cornwall, ON, and her brother Lionel Fournier (Hélène Roy Fournier), Gatineau, QC; her sisters-in-law Rachel Fournier [widow of Raymond Fournier], Saskatoon, SK and Marina Fournier [widow of Roger Fournier], Ferland, SK; as well as her godchildren, Marc Chabot, Woodbridge, ON, Hélène Chabot Elik, Regina, SK, Marcel Fournier, Cleveland, OH, and Eric Fortier, Orléans, ON.
We also remember the other departed members of her family; her brother Albert Fournier, o.m.i. and her sister Irène Fournier Chabot and Irène’s husband Alfred Chabot.
A proud “fransaskoise” (Saskatchewan francophone), Rita was born in the French-speaking farming village of Ferland in southern Saskatchewan. As a young adult she left her home province to take up a position as a journalist in Québec City. She later earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Ottawa and, while studying in the nation’s capital, met and married Royal Canadian Air Force officer Jack Lynch, a widower with a young son, Shaun.
Her daughter Marianne was born in Ottawa just before the family moved to Winnipeg where, a year and a half later, she gave birth to Charles. Subsequent moves took the family to Gatineau, QC, Trenton, ON, and finally, upon Jack’s retirement from the Canadian Forces, to St. Bruno, QC. She returned to university in the late 1970s to earn a diploma in translation from McGill.
In a career that spanned more than half a century, Rita worked as a journalist, but also as a translator, an advertising copywriter, and a government communications officer for both the Province of Saskatchewan and the City of Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville. During much of this time, she also taught French, first at Loyalist College in Belleville, ON, then as a substitute teacher in St. Bruno, and later giving French conversation classes in her home. For many years she also tutored young students in language, writing, study skills and social sciences.
She remained very active in the Catholic Church wherever the family travelled. While living in St. Bruno she was a member of the Parish Pastoral Committee of Paroisse Saint-Bruno and provided voluntary communications services to the Diocese of St-Jean/Longueuil.
In her final years she refused to be slowed down by the mantle cell lymphoma to which she ultimately succumbed in the early hours of June 4, 2018, missing by less than three hours sharing the same day of death as her husband Jack, who had passed away 14 years earlier, on June 3, 2004.
The family would like to express our tremendous appreciation for the empathetic efforts of Rita’s healthcare providers, in particular the oncologists at Hôpital Pierre-Boucher in Longueuil and the staff of that hospital’s Oncology Department; we especially want to recognize the support Rita received from her pivot nurse Gail West-Dupèré. We are equally appreciative of compassionate care that Rita received from her personal physician, Dr. Christiane Martel.
Finally, we would like to express our deep appreciation to the staff of la Maison Victor-Gadbois, an extraordinary palliative care facility where both Rita and Jack were cared for in their final days. We invite those who would like to make a charitable contribution as a tribute to Rita’s extraordinary life to consider making a memorial donation in her name to la Maison Victor-Gadbois: https://maisonvictor-gadbois.com/faire-un-don.