Obituary of Patricia Bernadette Dooley

Patricia Bernadette (Devoy) Dooley, 89, born in Dublin, Ireland, passed peacefully away on February 8, 2021 at the home she shared with her daughters Sheila and Roisin in Fall River, Nova Scotia. Pat was predeceased by her husband Robert, parents Rose and Jim, siblings Maura, Michael, Kay, Una and Eileen. She is survived by her brother Seamus, sister in law Marie Devoy, brothers in law Sean Ussher (Anne) and Leonard Dooley. She leaves with such loving memories her children Maureen (Geoff Holwell), Anne, Sean, Ciaran (Heather), Roisin, Marina (Rick Borden) and Seamus (Nancy) as well as Gabe O’Reilly, Paul Connor and Kostas Chantziantoniou. Mom was a wonderful role model for her grandchildren: the original 5, Ryan (Allegra), Laragh (Greg Toner), Seamus, Brendan (Sorcha) and Patrick (Kim) followed by Liam, Elliott, Colin and Claire. She was very grateful for the Atlantic bubble when she became a great grandmother -Mumsie-in 2020 to Tallach and Aoife. Always a lover of travel, after Mom graduated from Baggot Street Nursing School, Dublin she set sail for new adventures in Newfoundland. There she met Dad and made her life in a new country. In many ways, Mom was a woman ahead of her times. By the time she was 32, she’d had eight children in eight years while continuing to pursue her nursing career. Mom was very proud to have dual citizenship in Canada. This country helped provide a great life whether she lived in Newfoundland, New Brunswick, where the family moved in 1976 or Nova Scotia where she spent the last ten years of her life. Mom also spent time in Florida and made great friendships wherever she went. Those friendships sustained her throughout her life. It is a testament to her love of family that although separated by an ocean, she maintained such strong bonds with her siblings and their families. She was lucky enough to make frequent trips “home” where “Aunty Pat” was showered with love by her large circle of nieces and nephews. Mom had incredible times taking “sidetrips” during her visits to Ireland whether it was celebrating her 65th birthday by riding a camel across the Tunisian desert or sailing on the yacht “The Cristina”. Her love of Ireland was shared by Dad and was such a gift to her children. We are blessed by having such a loving circle of Irish (and English) cousins and now our children are also all connected. Our roots run deep. Although Mom’s health declined over the last few years, she always maintained her love of life. She was blessed with the kindness of many, from family friends to “the girls” who helped with her daily care, “The Breakaway” family who provided weekly social interaction or her grandson Liam who treated her each day to a DQ pineapple sundae. We would sing all the old songs together even though its a notorious trait that the Dooleys cannot carry a tune. Dear now, dear now darling Mom.