SEELY, RETA CLOWATER PATTERSON- Born at Doaktown, New Brunswick, May 7, 1907. Died at Fredericton, New Brunswick, February 8, 2006. On May 7, 1907, Abel Clowater lay Carrie Mitchell down on a fainting couch in the spring cold and carried her to the Miramichi River at Boiestown where he balanced her on a scow and poled her down river to the Mitchell Pond below Doaktown. From there, a horse hauled Carrie and her fainting couch on a drag up the hill and across the road to her mother's house. Soon after that, Reta Jane Clowater was born. Almost a century later, Reta took to her bed at the Farraline Home in Fredericton and after a brief and gentle decline, she died there on February 8, 2006.
Adored by her parents and grandparents, Reta knew she was a special little girl and would become a very special woman. And so she did. Reta had oversight of her six younger siblings and she infused in them and in their children and in their children and in their children, her view of the world and how things were to be done just so. Reta was as sweet smiling in her acceptance of our foibles as she was steely when we crossed some invisible line of decorum, but she always loved us - and we are many.
Reta outlived Glen Patterson, father of her only child, Weldon; her second husband, Errol Seely, who brought with him his only child Mary Lou; her eldest grandson Robert Glen Patterson; and her younger siblings Vinta, Oran, Emelie Hubert and Clara Stickle. With Weldon and Mary Lou, Reta leaves her daughter-in-law Judy; the mother of her grandchildren Charlotte; her surviving siblings Inez Wood, 93, Weldon, 97; several nieces and nephews; and all their children and their children and their children.
Reta's family is gathering for a memorial service at Brunswick Street Baptist Church in Fredericton at 1 o'clock in the afternoon on Saturday, February 11, 2006. We hope you can join us there for some lovely old-fashioned hymns and prayers. We look forward to the pleasure of your company about 2 o'clock at the Farraline Home at 776 Queen Street in Fredericton for light refreshments and storytelling. Reta would be delighted to know that she is the heart of such a gathering and that we did indeed learn how to do things properly.
Should you choose to make a charitable donation in memory of Reta, you might consider the Farraline Home where Reta received incredible kind, loving and generous care. Please contact Judy O'Donnell, Administrator, Farraline Home, 776 Queen Street, Fredericton, NB, E3B 1C6. Telephone (506) 455-6443; facsimile (506) 474-1569; or by e-mail at judyo@nbnet.nb.ca to arrange for a donation and a tax receipt. There will be neither viewing nor visitation. A graveside service will be held at another time. You can send condolences to Reta's family through the kind auspices of McAdam's Select Community Funeral Home, 160 York Street, Fredericton, NB, E3B 3N7.
Published in the Telegraph Journal on February 9, 2006
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