There are no extra pieces in the universe.
Everyone is here because he or she has a place to fill,
and every piece must fit itself into the big jigsaw puzzle.
Deepak Chopra
A piece of life’s great jigsaw puzzle is now missing. Elva Joanne Brown of Chesley, passed away suddenly, with her husband Jerry by her side, at South Bruce Grey Health Centre, Chesley, on Friday, December 4, 2015 in her 81st year.
Elva, along with her twin brother Evan, was born February 17, 1935 in Owen Sound, to Irwin and Irene (Cole) Bellamy. She was raised in Shouldice Settlement where the Bellamy family farmed and still farm today! Elva went to elementary school in the same settlement and then attended high school at OSCVI. Following graduation Elva finished her formal education with a business program in Owen Sound.
When Elva was a tender 16 years of age she attended a euchre party where she met this handsome man who would later become her husband. William Jeremiah “Jerry” Brown, 17, had been working in Shouldice Settlement repairing telephone lines across the road from the Bellamy’s when he was asked to attend the same euchre party. Two years later this inseparable couple was married, October 31, 1953. Interestingly enough, Jerry and Elva did not even put the pieces together that they were marrying on Halloween. It wasn’t until they arrived in Toronto for their honeymoon later that day and encountered strange looking characters that they realized they were actually children dressed up for trick or treating!
For the first year of their marriage Elva and Jerry lived in Shallow Lake. They then moved to the Bellamy farm and their family began to grow: Robert was born in 1954, Doug in 1956, Phyllis in 1958 and Ronald in 1964. During this time Elva and Jerry worked together on their family farm as well as in Jerry’s construction and renovations business. The family continued to live on the farm until their friends encouraged them to move south. They sold the farm in 1974 and bought a piece of undeveloped land in Chesley. Once again, Elva and Jerry worked hand in hand on their new home beginning in June and moved their family into their roughed in home before the snow began to fly that fall. It was here they resided until the present day.
Elva and Jerry were members of the Gypsy Campers for over twenty years. Together with fifty or so other couples they camped all over the province and attended numerous jamborees featuring bluegrass music. Elva also loved to quilt and sew in her day. She also enjoyed the challenge of a good jigsaw puzzles or a good book. Her love of reading was inherited from her father, and her favourite books where Harlequin romances of course.
Elva will be best remembered for her good communication skills and honesty. She was a kind, loving mother who taught her family to be loving. She loved having everyone around and most especially loved the holidays. Family, and most importantly Jerry, was the most important thing in Elva’s life. The only time she and Jerry were apart was when one or the other had a hospital stay.
Left to mend together the remaining pieces of the Brown family puzzle, Elva leaves behind her beloved husband and best friend Jerry. Children, Robert (Kathleen), Douglas (Heather), Phyllis (Roger) Provencher and Ronald (Karen). She will live on in the memories of her grandchildren, Sonja (Matthew) Brewer, Erika (Rhye) Gordon, Keith, Jeremy, Stephen, Kate, David, Aaron, Amber and Ryan as well as her great-grandchildren Josalyn, Victoria, Elyssa, Alexis, Nicholas and Evan. Elva will be sadly missed by her twin brother Evan (Muriel) Bellamy and older brother Milton (Frances) Bellamy.
Visitation will be held at Rhody Family Funeral Home, Chesley on Tuesday from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. where a funeral service celebrating Elva’s life will be held on Wednesday, December 9, 2015 at 11 a.m. Interment in Chesley Cemetery.
Memorial donations to the Chesley Hospital Foundation would be appreciated as a little way for Jerry and their family to repay their gratitude to the staff and doctors for their loving care of Elva over the years.
