Mme Louise Florida Desrochers

It is with great sadness that the family of Louise Florida Desrochers announce her passing on January 13, 2021, aged 83 years. Louise will be lovingly remembered by her children James (Marina), Katherine and Celeste (Peter). Louise will also be fondly remembered by her 6 grandchildren, Lisa, Benjamin, Timothy, Liam, Katie, Matthew, by her great-granddaughter, Jaymee, and by her sister Paulette, brother Jean-Claude, niece Pamela and nephews Laurent and Hugo. Louise was predeceased by her parents, Paul Emile and Irene Barbier, her sisters, Lorraine and Reina, her niece, Debbie and special friend, Paul Webb.

Louise was born in Ottawa on May 30, 1937 and moved to Montreal with her family at age 10. She lived her life with kindness and generosity. She had an amazing sense of humor and wit and loved to laugh. Louise always made a joke in every circumstance, even until the very end of her life. She was a real lady and always so polite.

Early on in years, Louise became a skilled seamstress and made the most beautiful outfits for her daughters and herself. She was passionate about plants and gardening. In Western Bay, where she lived for 22 years, she grew colorful perennial flowers. In Montreal, her balcony was always filled with bright impatience and her apartment with African violets.

While living in Newfoundland, Louise fell in love with the people and especially the kindness of the O’Flaherty family. She greatly admired the Newfoundland landscape, loved the fish, adored the icebergs and enjoyed boil-ups in the woods. Louise was an excellent cook and always won the hearts of family and friends by cooking delicious meals of spaghetti and beef bourguignon.

The most important thing in Louise’ life was her family. She enjoyed our regular family gatherings, cooking her special meals and knitting blankets, socks, hats, scarves and endless pairs of slippers for all to wear. Always known for her boundless generosity, she would make cranberry loaves for the teller where she banked and a pair of slippers for the cashier at the grocery store and cherry cakes for her neighbours. Most of all, Louise was always there for her family.

Back in her native Montreal, Louise eventually met Paul and spent 20 wonderful years showered by his kindness, company and daily outings before he passed away in October, 2017. Together, they took pleasure in life’s simple things; watching “Casablanca”, listening to Dean Martin, going out for meals and taking a drive to the eastern townships in the fall of the year.

Louise was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at the young age of 21 but this never held her back from being happy, giving and outgoing. Although MS caused her health to decline in her later years, she never complained, was always determined to go places in her wheelchair; from St. Joseph Oratory to attend a mass service, to McGill University to take Beethoven for a wheelchair walk, to a shopping center to get some wool and have a meal and to Sherbrooke to tour the city with Paul. Louise was always concerned for other people’s health before hers, even up to her last days. Her kindness was unmeasurable.

In the spring of 2020, Louise contracted COVID-19. Since then, her health steadily declined.
We will miss her smile, gentleness and positive outlook on life.

Thank you to the staff at the CHSLD where Louise has lived for the past 8 years. They cared for her deeply. A special thanks to Gina and Lise who treated her like their mother.

Louise loved dogs and especially the many animals our family has had over time; Tiny, Little Red, Princess, Sheba, Luke, Coal, Couchoulou, and Beethoven all had a special place in her heart. And so, in lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Louise Desrochers can be made to the Montreal SPCA (click here for the form), in efforts to help dogs in need.

Due to the current pandemic, a celebration of life will be scheduled at a later date.