Obituary of Mary Frances Maynard

The death of Mrs. Mary Frances Maynard (nee Weston) of Fairfield, NB, occurred on Friday, May 26, 2006 at the Saint John Regional Hospital at the age of 86. Born and raised in Fairfield, NB on February 16, 1920, she was the daughter of the late Harry and Frances (Armstrong) Weston, where her family were early pioneers and where she helped raise the very numerous younger members of the Weston family. Mary worked for Sobeys Bakery and later for Cara Foods at the Saint John Airport for many years. She will be deeply lamented by the greater St. Martins community in which she was a respected elder, active in Holy Trinity Anglican Church and devoted to her large family despite a long and brave struggle with serious and too-often painful illness. Despite a terminal prognosis and periodic pneumonia, her fortitude blessed her loved ones with twenty unexpected years of her love and grace. Her large and devoted family is distraught at the loss and are consoled only by the knowledge that God has been generous in saving her so long, and that she is returned at last to her beloved husband Ralph Enman Maynard, who predeceased her twelve years. For decades Gram's house on Quinn's Hill was the heart of her large family, and all of them grew up eating her wonderful bread, rolls and doughnuts, her jams and chow, and wearing her warm home-knit socks and sweaters, hats and mittens, all in the knowledge that there was love in every meal prepared, and in every stitch, knit or sewn. She is survived by two sons, Gerald (Pat) and Eric (Nancy) both of Tynemouth Creek, NB, two daughters, Frances O'Leary (Eugene) of Halifax, NS and Sandra Reed (Bill) of Bains Corner, NB, three brothers, James Weston, Arnold Weston and Charles Weston, two sisters, Leatha McGrath and Elizabeth Chamberlain, 12 grandchildren, Daniel O'Leary, Leigh England, Lynn Marchand, Donald O'Leary, Sandy Brewster, Shelley Maynard, Tracy Taylor, Brenda Mollins, Billy Reed, Vanessa Reed, Derek Maynard and Kari Moore, 24 great grandchildren, many cousins, nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by six brothers, Lawrence, Wellesley, Joseph, Edison, Fraser and Arthur Weston and two sisters in infancy, Ida and Catherine Weston. Resting at Brenan's Select Community Funeral Home, 111 Paradise Row, Saint John (634-7424), with visiting on Sunday and Monday 2-4 and 7-9 PM. Funeral service will be held at Holy Trinity Anglican Church, St. Martins, NB, on Tuesday, May 30, 2006 at 11:00 AM. Interment in Browns Cemetery, Bains Corner, NB. Remembrances to Holy Trinity Anglican Church, the Canadian Cancer Society or the Heart and Stroke Foundation of New Brunswick would be appreciated.