Maureen is my Dad’s cousin. Their moms were sisters. That makes Maureen some kind of cousin to me but that kind of nonsense didn’t stick in my family. “How can a cousin be in a different generation?”

Maureen is easy to remember. She’s got a big voice that always seems to have a few extra exclamation marks. She’s always funny and generous, especially with kids. I enjoyed this back when I was a kid and I enjoyed it back when my kids were kids.

My earliest memory of Aunt Maureen is from when I was around 6 years old, give or take a couple of years. She and her sister, Pat, were visiting from Canada. I don’t actually remember seeing her. I only remember the commotion when my parents realized that Maureen and Pat were at our front door. “It’s Pat and Maureen!”, exclaimed my mother. When Ellen, my sister, and I looked nonplussed, she explained “They’re from Canada!”. To my mind at the time, Canada was slightly closer than Mars.

My next memory of Maureen was when we emigrated to Canada. Ellen and I were 9 and 10, respectively. We were taken from Toronto International Airport to Maureen and John’s place. John was Maureen’s husband. There, Ellen and I settled in with Dad, Isabelle, Maureen, John, Pat, and Pat’s husband Bill. Ellen and I were introduced to Coca-Cola. We were used to getting pop by the thimble-full. Maureen and John kept filling our glasses with pop and Ellen and I kept guzzling it on the premise that we may never see this again. Witnesses are still marvelling at this memory.

Maureen and John lived a block away from us when we got to Canada, and I passed their apartment on the way to/from school. I was as likely to stop there as home for the first year until I started at a different school.

Our family dymanic is volitile to say the least. Maureen and John were always there for me, and for my wife and for my kids.

After John died,Maureen was still generous and still had her extra exclamation marks but I started to see an occasional sadder and more serious side to her. For all that I know, she may have just started to think of me as a grownup – I was 34 by then.

We visit Toronto every 12-18 months. We’ve always stopped by Maureen’s when we’re in town. Now, we won’t be able to.

Addendum: Maureen Harrison died on July 17, 2009.