Elsie Christine Lougheed

OBITUARY ELSIE CHRISTINE (SORENSEN) LOUGHEED After many years of living with Alzheimer's, Elsie Christine (Sorensen) Lougheed died peacefully at her daughter's home on Saturday, January 29, 2011. Elsie was born on February 23, 1921 in Dundas, Minnesota, to Danish immigrant Eiler Sorensen and Christine Mosbaek. Elsie is survived by two sisters, Helen (George) Meeker and Marian (John) Horton, and predeceased by her brother, Robert (Dixie). She grew up in the U.S. Midwest where her family owned a dairy business. Music became her lifelong passion. She received a degree in Music from the University of Iowa in 1943. There she met and married Marvin Lougheed, a Radiation Physics student, of Bagot, Manitoba (divorced, deceased). In 1943, the young couple moved to Montreal, where he studied medicine, she worked, and together they started a family. She was a dedicated and busy mother of six, but somehow managed to find time for her music and other varied interests, such as yoga and amateur acting (Lakeshore Players). She had many musical friends and was a member of several musical groups and choirs, including the Montreal Bach Choir, Tudor Singers, and the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul choir. She lived in Montreal for 50 years, spent numerous winters with her Mosbaek cousins in Arizona, and eventually moved to Ottawa in 2008. Elsie was compassionate, warm, welcoming, and generous. She is deeply missed by her six children: Mel (Sandy), Ellen, Donna, Kendall (Jill Austin), Jill (Sydney Reynolds), and Sean (Kathleen Lennon), and her ten grandchildren: Corey and Michael Loughee; Jesse Coleman and Malia Lougheed; Matthew and Martin Loughee;, Jeffrey, Else and Gatien Leon; Fiona Lougheed; and seven great-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to any of Elsie's favourite charities: CAMMAC (Canadian Amateur Musicians); Amnesty International; Friends of Canadian Broadcasting; Chez Doris (Montreal Women's Shelter); and Coalition for Gun Control. Hulse, Playfair& McGarry, 314 McLeod Ave, Ottawa. Thursday, February 3, 2011. Visitation 1 p.m., Service 3 p.m., reception to follow. Please contact jm.lougheed for further information.