AILEEN MARIE KENT

AILEEN MARIE KENT (FEARS) Passed away peacefully, while enjoying the war m sunshine of a spring mor ning, May 14, in Calgar y, in her ninety-first year. RN, Lt N/S, WWII veteran, mother, dedicated volunteer, Aileen touched the hearts and souls of all those close to her, particularly her vibrant circle of school chums, nursing colleagues and fellow community aid workers. Aileen was bor n New Year 's Day 1914 in Edmonton to Benjamin and Evangeline Fears. Linked to Alberta's pioneers (her mater nal grandfather was the first sheriff of Medicine Hat), she was part of the generation that continued to build the province, through world wars and the Great Depression, to its cur rent prosperity. Aileen and her five brothers and sisters lost their mother to tuberculosis when Aileen was nine, and she was eventually placed in a convent boarding school. She ear ned her RN at the Holy Cross Hospital, Calgar y, graduating in 1938 with a keen aptitude for assisting in the OR. In 1939, a colleague's boyfriend talked her into helping a pal with a bad cold, a young reporter with the Calgar y Herald named Arthur Parker Kent. The bond that for med between them would last their lifetimes. As a lieutenant of the Edmonton Regiment, Parker had already been dispatched to the beaches of souther n England when, in Januar y 1942, as the Battle of the Atlantic intensified, Aileen boarded a troopship in Halifax as a lieutenant and nursing sister. She sailed in one of the Cor vette-escorted convoys that braved the U-boat-infested ocean. In England she was posted to the Canadian Ar my's 750-bed hospital at the estate of Lord Camrose near Basingstoke. There, Aileen assisted surgeons including Sir Harold Gillies, one of the pioneers of plastic surger y, treating victims of Luf twaffe air raids and ser vicemen bur ned and scar red in battle. On a retur n visit in 1998, Aileen walked the path from the hospital site to the old pub, talking of the distinguished surgeons she had worked with, the fliers, sailors and soldiers she had treated, and the nurses with whom she had strolled that path so many evenings long ago. Aileen and Parker mar ried in London in December, 1942. The wedding reception at the Waldor f was inter r upted by an air raid, and they spent their wedding night in the company of a hundred other people in the hotel basement. Their first bor n, James Peter, ar rived in 1943. At war 's end, Aileen and Parker followed his postings as a Southam reporter and editor, finally settling in Calgar y in 1956. When her five children had all reached their teens, Aileen retur ned to part-time nursing at the Foothills hospital, and concentrated on her volunteer work. She was a member of the CWL, Holy Name Parish; the Holy Cross Hospital Alumni; the Militar y Nurses of Canada; the Nursing Sisters Association of Canada; the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 264; and the Women's Canadian Club. Af ter her beloved Parker died in 1982, Aileen found delight in travelling to visit family and old friends. She is sur vived by her brother Jack, aged 93; children Peter, Susan, Adele, Nor ma and Arthur ; Peter 's wife Cilla and their daughter Trilby; Susan's husband Rik; and by her most comforting and amusing companion, Charlie, a Tibetan spaniel of undeter mined age. Fr iends may pay their respects at Leyden's Funeral Home at 308-18th Avenue S.W. in Calgar y on Monday, May 17, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Funeral ser vices will be held at Sacred Heart Church, 1307-14th Street S.W. at 10 a.m. Tuesday, May 18, with a brief reception to follow. Graveside ser vice to follow at Queen's Park Cemeter y. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Operation Eyesight, 4 Parkdale Crescent N.W., Calgar y T2N 9Z9. Her loveliness increases; she will never Pass into nothingness; but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and a sleep Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet Breathing. ­ variation on John Keats, Endymion