Jean Rowell

Jean Pamela (nee Graham) Rowell

Jean passed away peacefully on June the 6th, 2022, 5 days short of her 98th birthday. Jean is survived by her three sons, Geoffrey, Brian (Janine) and Christopher (Barbara); and ten grandchildren, Erica, Christine, Colin, Todd, Lauren, Courtney, Graeme and Craig, Alexandra and Charlotte, and thirteen great-grandchildren, Miki, Gabi, Toran, Whitney, Reid, Noah, River, Skye, Ethan, Callie, Edward, Allison, and Poppy, who will miss their Nana.

Jean was predeceased by her brothers Norman and Peter, and her sister Rene.

Jean was born in Addiscombe, Croydon, England on June 11th, 1924, to Thomas William Graham and Irene (Ellis) Graham. After serving in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force with 10 Group as a Radar Officer from 1942 to 1945, Jean married Captain Peter Stanley Rowell of the Royal Marines on January 12th, 1946, in Croydon, England.

Jean and Peter and their (then) two sons emigrated to Canada in the fall of 1951, eventually settling in Etobicoke, Ontario.

Jean was a consummate volunteer. She spent many years canvassing for the Cancer Society, then as Team Leader in Etobicoke. She also spent twenty-three years volunteering in the Emergency Room at Toronto Western Hospital. Jean actively served as a Board member of her condominium for twenty years, as well as chairing many important committees.

Jean loved to travel, in the beginning on organized bus tours around Europe and the Middle East, then by cruise ship. Having toured throughout Europe and the Caribbean, she turned her wanderings to Turkey, the Baltic and Northern Russia (a favourite of hers). She especially enjoyed accompanying two of her younger sons to England, visiting familiar places from her past. Jean was an avid theatre goer, favouring Stratford and the Shaw in Niagara-on-the-Lake and enjoyed many, many, many musicals. In her later years Jean enjoyed watching curling, tennis, and the Olympics: a true sports fan