Isabella (Gallagher) Du Manoir

Du Manoir, Isabella (nee Gallagher)

Passed away peacefully at home on Thursday, June 8, 2023 in her 95th year.

The matriarch of her family, Bella will be deeply missed by her children Allen (Karen), Brian (Bonnie), Isobel (Phillippe), Patrick (Joanne), Charlene (Clarence), Danny (Donna), Iris (Ronald), Hugh (Louisa), Edward (Kim), Anita (Alan), Maggie (Bill), Dennis (Penny), Maureen (Brian), Joyce (John), her 33 grandchildren and 47 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild and their families.

Will also be missed by her surviving siblings Mary Anne Jeanneault of North Bay and Margaret Kauffeldt of Cobden (very recently Barry’s Bay), her 11 Du Manoir step-children and their families and numerous nieces and nephews.

Predeceased by her parents John Gallagher and Amanda Schison, her siblings John, Hugh, Frances, Bridgit, Tom, Robert Gallagher, James Cuddy, Mae Cliche and Amanda Todd, her husbands Alphonse John O’Brien and Emery Gerard Du Manoir, her eldest daughter Christine Karen Leclair (nee O’Brien) and her granddaughters Linda Jackson and MacKenzie Schutt.

Born in Letterkenny, Ontario, Bella returned to the Madawaska Valley in 1958 with her first husband Alphonse to the O’Brien homestead in Quadeville, where she actively lived till her passing. An avid gardener, fisher woman, hunter, knitter/sewer, cook, baker, Bella canned, preserved and froze each year’s harvest. She generously fed anyone who dropped in and took the time to visit with everyone. Bella mastered social media on her Ipad at 90 years of age and readily shared her opinions and knowledge with anyone who wanted to listen. Bella was a mother and grandmother like no other. She passed along many life skills to her family and anyone else who wished to learn from her. Admired for her strength of character and perseverance, she met life’s challenges head-on with her “can-do” attitude. She will be deeply missed.

In memoriam donations may be made to the St. Francis Valley Healthcare Foundation or to the Madawaska Valley Hospice.