Irma Perreault passed away at the McKenzie Towne Long Term Care Centre at the age of 87 years. She will be dearly missed by her 3 daughters, Lynn Perreault, Manon Mitchell (Kurt Kowalchuk) and their children Jennifer Stewart (Colin Stewart) and their son Callum Stewart, Kirsten Mitchell, Simon Kowalchuk, Nigel Kowalchuk, Teresa Perreault and her children Matthew Haddad, Chelsea Haddad and Julia Haddad. She was predeceased by her husband, Marcel in 2005 and her son-in-law, Danny Haddad in 2013. She loved music and teaching but most of all led a life of service, helping others and taking care of family. She taught English in a French high school in Laval, Quebec and had a piano studio where she introduced the love of music to many kids for over 20 years. Irma was born in Elek, Hungary and immigrated to Canada at the age of 4. She lived in Laval, QC until 1997 when she and her husband Marcel moved to Calgary to be with their 3 daughters Lynn, Manon and Teresa. She was an active senior with the Riverbend Seniors, Ogden Seniors, the Kitchen Band, the Kerby Centre recorder group. Her wonderful loving spirit touched many lives including those who were very close to her. Thanks to Hoy Ungly, Michelle Doyle, Willa, April, Brenda, Caroline, Anabel and all the outstanding companions provided by “Granddaughters Caregiving Agency”. Thanks as well to the staff of McKenzie Town Retirement and Long Term Care centres. A Funeral Mass will be held at St. Albert the Great Catholic Church, 10 Prestwick Drive SE, Calgary, AB on Monday, December 29th, 2014 at 11:00 am. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Irma’s memory to the Alzheimer Society, #201, 222 – 58 Avenue SW, Calgary, AB, T2H 2S3.
For my sister Tania and me, Madame Perreault is a cherished part of our memories of childhood and adolescence. We were privileged to have her as our piano teacher. Every Monday evening from 1988 to 1993, Irma would arrive at our house at five o'clock to give us our lessons, devoting much more time than the allotted hour to each of us. We took turns bringing her tea in between our lessons, and she became a dear friend to both of us and to our parents, Mary and Aldo. Even as little girls, we knew that she expected us to be prepared, to have practiced, and to know that studying music involved not only passion but rigour. We were given challenging pieces, and lots of homework, which Irma wrote out for us in Hilroy copybooks in her beautiful penmanship. All those notebooks are still in our piano bench at home. We will cherish them, as well as the letters she wrote us from Calgary during the many years we corresponded long after we were her pupils. We will remember her elegance, her love of music, her high standards, her reminders to sit straight at the piano (we both have excellent posture as a result), and the lovely year-end recitals she hosted, where we played on her beautiful grand piano. This evening we played the pieces she taught us in her honour, with her handwritten annotations still on the sheet music.