INGRID ARLENE STEVENSON

Ingrid Arlene Stevenson passed away Tuesday, April 4, 2006 at home in Fort Frances, Ont. with family after a long and courageous battle against ovarian cancer.
Ingrid was born Feb. 15, 1952 in Kenora, Ont.
She was predeceased by her parents, Roald and Joan Stevenson.
She is survived by her beloved 12-year-old son, Braeden Barrett Stevenson; and her life partner, Peter Ferris.
She also is survived by her siblings, Sandra Joan Meads (Gordon), Lynn Krolyk, Robert Stevenson (Judi), and Barton Stevenson (Linda); and numerous nieces and nephews.
On one of Ingrid’s grade school report cards, a teacher once wrote “Ingrid always feels sorry for the underdog.” Therefore, it was no surprise when Ingrid returned to school and chose the field of social work.
She was a graduate of Confederation College in Thunder Bay, where she received a diploma in Social Services in 1974.
Ingrid spent several years working in the field with adolescents, the developmentally handicapped, and, more recently, as an educational assistant in the schools with special needs students.
While living in Toronto, Ont., she worked in group home settings with juveniles and helped put many of them on a different path.
She had many passions in life. She loved to travel and upon graduation from college, spent a summer travelling through Europe with a back pack, youth hostel card, and student rail pass.
Her travels took her to Paris and The Louvre, riding gondolas in Venice, seeing Michelangelo’s David in Florence, as well as riding camels across the desert in Morocco and travelling on the Marakesh Express.
She continued to travel as much as she could, and always said that she never regretted a single trip she ever took.
Ingrid also had a passion for sports. She competed in the 1992 canoe racing championships in Dartmouth, N.S., where she and her team came home with a few medals.
She was an accomplished scuba diver with advanced, deep diver, and coral reef ecology certification. She had logged more than 150 dives in her lifetime.
She had many exciting stories and videos of her exploring shipwrecks in the Caribbean and the Great Lakes, as well as being face-to-face with white-tipped sharks and giant manta rays.
She loved the ocean and all the creatures within.
Throughout her life, she had a love of all animals and was very outspoken when she saw any abuse of a living creature.
Ingrid’s greatest passion was her son, Braeden. True to her nature of “dancing to the beat of a different drum,” she became a mother at the age of 40.
Her son, Braeden, was truly the light of her life and she delighted in showing him the world. They cross-country skied, and went camping, swimming, hiking, winter picnics, biking, skating, and snorkelling. They travelled to Disney World, Sea World, to Cuba, and many other places.
She always said that having Braeden taught her more about life and love than she ever knew was possible.
In the summer of 2001, she met her soulmate, Peter Ferris, and she and Braeden moved to Fort Frances. Together they created a home and shared their mutual love of wilderness canoeing, travel, and the outdoors.
Since her illness, Ingrid became involved with volunteering, fundraising, and writing articles for the National Ovarian Cancer Association, and made many lasting friendships within the organization.
Ingrid will be missed by her son, Braeden and soulmate, Peter Ferris; special longtime friends, Catherine Katz of Toronto, Ont. (Braeden’s Godmother), Paul Brucha of Thunder Bay, Ont. (Braeden’s Godfather), Steffie Wickstrom of Kenora, Ont., Donna Cannon of Comox, B.C., and Rosemary Fava, Laurie Cole, and Linda Richardson of Fort Frances, Ont.
A memorial service will be held Tuesday, April 25, 2006 at 2 p.m. at Brown Funeral Home & Cremation Centre in Kenora, with Rev. Cathy Giroux officiating.
In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations to a trust fund that has been set up for Ingrid’s young son, Braeden, at the Kenora District Credit Union, 101 Park St., Kenora, Ont., P9N 1Y7.
Friends are invited to visit an online memorial that has been created for Ingrid at http://ingrid-stevenson.memory-of.com
We love you, Ingrid. Until we meet again, we hold you in our memories and our hearts.