It is with broken hearts that we announce the passing of Mavis Maureen Helseth (Elliott), our dear mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, cousin, and friend, on Sunday, July 30, 2017, with family by her side, at the Emo Health Centre in Emo, Ont.
Mavis was a remarkable woman, and her story began on April 10, 1928 at the Bungalow on Wood Lane in Gotham, England.
Mavis was the youngest of three born to George and Selina Elliott, and she spent her early years on the farm with her siblings, Ken and Muriel, where she learned the value of love and the rewards of hard work and determination.
Mavis loved all forms of dance and as a young ballerina, she performed for Princess Elizabeth before giving up ballet when World War II broke out.
Mavis’ father, George, was a Canadian veteran from World War I and when war broke out, he and Selina opened their homes to Canadian servicemen. Mavis met Forest Helseth at the Palais de Dance in Nottingham and they were married on Feb. 3, 1945 in Gotham when she was 16 years old (she often said that during the war years, you lived two years for every one).
Mavis embarked on the Aquitania on April 3, 1946 in Southampton and sailed to Halifax, N.S., arriving on April 10, 1946–her 18th birthday.
This was not the end of her great journey. She then boarded the train to Winnipeg, Man., where she was met by her new husband and his family and neighbours, and they further took her by car to the backwoods of Northwestern Ontario, where she first settled at her in-laws’ log home at Helseth Corner.
Mavis and Forest, along with his parents and brother, immediately started the enormous task of carving out and building a tourist camp on the shore of Off Lake, Rainbow Lodge and Outpost Cabins, that very first summer.
After Forest’s untimely death in 1973, Mavis continued to operate Rainbow Lodge until the tragic and devastating deaths of her son, Shaun, and partner, Joe Morneau. This was a blow almost too great for Mavis to overcome but overcome she did, and she went on to freely give her love, grace, knowledge, time, and more to those who knew her.
If you were lucky enough to meet her and talk to her for even a little while, you were a better person for doing so.
Mavis loved to travel, dance, read, knit, meet people, tell stories, and research the family tree, but mostly she loved to be with her family. She was the hub that kept the spokes of her family together and her loss is going to be felt for a very long time.
Mavis is survived by her son, Forest Jr. (Tinker) and his wife, Sharon, and children, Pamela, Brenda, Alan, Katie, and Kari; daughter, Dawn and her partner, Gabe, and her children, Jared, Mikaela, and Justin; and daughter, Sheri, and her children, Selina and Nicolas.
Also surviving her are numerous loving great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Mavis was predeceased by her parents, George and Selina; siblings, Ken and Muriel and their spouses, Appi and Percy; husband, Forest; son, Shaun; partner, Joe; and in-laws, Wiggo, Laura, Fred, and Violet.
A service of celebration and remembrance will be held Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2017 at 11 a.m. at the Northridge Funeral Home in Emo, Ont., with Rev. Eileen Bragg officiating.
The honourary pallbearers are all of Mavis’ great-grandchildren.
If desired, in memoriam donations may be made to the Emo Health Centre c/o Northridge Funeral Home, P.O. Box 89, Emo, Ont., P0W 1E0.
“We rise again in the voices of our children.”—The Rankin Family
MAVIS MAUREEN HELSETH
