Skip to main content

Announcing the date for Amanda's memorial service



This Sunday, July 24, 2016, at the Civic Gardens complex in London, Ontario, we'll all get to say goodbye to Amanda. If you can't make be here in person, I will attempt to set up an Internet feed so those from away can join in.

Her obituary, which ran this past weekend in London and Halifax, and will run in Kirkland Lake as well:
Amanda Simpson (nee Yateman) died at home in London, Ontario on July 12, 2016 at the age of 37, after a long battle with ovarian cancer.
Amanda is survived by husband Scott and their son Gordon. Daughter of Barbara Derbyshire, step daughter of Wendall Clifford, sister to Amy and Ruth. She is preceded in death by father Gary Yateman.
Amanda was born on October 3, 1978 in Kirkland Lake, Ontario. She graduated from University of Toronto in 2001 with a Bachelor of Science, then from McMaster University in 2003 with a Bachelor of Social Work. She moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia where she worked for the provincial government as a child protection social worker. Amanda married Scott Simpson in 2009 and gave birth to Gordon William Simpson in 2013. The family moved to London in 2014 to be near loved ones as Amanda fought cancer.
Amanda requested cremation, which is being handled by Woodland Cemetery & Crematorium in London. Details on a celebration of her life will be announced soon. Donations to Ovarian Cancer Canada at http://www.ovariancanada.org/ would be appreciated.

For the dozens and dozens of people who've reached out online and in person to extend their condolences -- thank you. For those who wonder if there's something you can do to help -- there is, and I'll share it here and on Facebook soon. Amanda's sudden (though expected) exit from our lives left some unfinished projects, and I have an idea for something that will help Gordon and I through the years. I think you can be part of it.
Labels:

Comments

  1. karmicrefluxJuly 19, 2016 at 3:10 PM

    Thank you for sharing this information, Scott. I hadn't seen Amanda in years (and thus you and I have never met), but she was such an important person to me, and always will be. I am thinking of you, Gordon, and your family, and will see you on Sunday.

    Jessie

    ReplyDelete
  2. Security-OnlineSeptember 27, 2016 at 4:16 AM

    My condolences
    Amanda must be strong
    RIP Adam
    Richard Brown vdr virtual data room

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Today was my last day at work, and I'm okay with that

Today marks a weird spot on the calendar for me. It’s one of those landmarks that really doesn’t mean anything, other than to illustrate the weirdness of time and how we feel it. As of today, my son Gordon has been without his mother longer than he was with her. The length of time Amanda has been gone is now longer than the length of time we were a family of three. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it’s been that long, but that dangblasted calendar tells me it’s almost three years. I have not said a word about it to G, but tonight, for the first time in a long time, he pulled out the Missing Mummy book for bedtime. Today was my last day in broadcasting for a while, as far as I can tell. I spent the past five years as Program Director at Newstalk 1290 CJBK in London, Ontario. And in recent years, I was also the noon-hour show host, afternoon news anchor, a commercial voice guy, TV news promo voice guy, and more. Also in the past five years, I’ve bought a house, endured renovation
1 comment
Read more after this break ....

A request, as we reach two years

Wow, long time no write. I didn't enjoy this past winter. I was certainly in a long slump. Things were very challenging at work. Gordon was awesome, as always, but I was just in a sustained funk from last summer on. And I'm not sure I'm all the way out of it yet. I'm still largely in quiet hermit mode, but have been making progress at resuming social contact. Little dude and I have a very busy summer that will go by in a flash. This Thursday will mark two years since Amanda died. I still replay the events of that night in my head almost every day. I'd like to not. Sometimes it feels like forever ago, but sometimes I'm right there all over again. Hey, can I ask for your help with something? Two years ago, so many wonderful people told me that if there was anything they could do to help .... Well, I don't ask often. And I should've asked more. And I should ask more even now. I'm still not comfortable asking. But I'm asking for this. I put
3 comments
Read more after this break ....

Hard to believe it's been a year - but it has

One year ago today, we lost Amanda. Time plays tricks on all of us. We can think "that was so long ago" at the same time as "it feels like yesterday." I run into this all the time with Amanda's death. Yes, it feels like just yesterday, or last night, or later today, that Amanda collapsed in the kitchen and died after that long, brutal battle with ovarian cancer. But every day has ticked by at a pace like any other, and it's been a whole year of those days, with incremental and sometimes revolutionary change. As I move about our home, it's hard to fathom that she's been gone a whole year. Amanda's garden awakens, early Spring 2017. Many of the decorative items she carefully arranged throughout the house are in the exact same place as the last time she touched them. She had the vision, not me, so I've been reluctant to disturb her decisions on what looks good and works. In other places, I'm reminded that it's been at least
4 comments
Read more after this break ....