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Penticton Alzheimer honouree remembered at celebration of life

Pauline Tadey’s life will be celebrated Saturday
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Michael and Pauline Tadey. Submitted photo.

Pauline Tadey’s husband Michael remembers spring as his late wife’s favourite time of year.

So, in part because of that, the family felt it was fitting to hold Pauline’s celebration of life service Saturday in the Bufflehead Cappuccino Bar at the Penticton Lakeside Resort starting at 11 a.m.

In spite of her long and courageous battle with Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency Disease, which eventually took her too soon, last October at the age of 65, she lived life to the fullest.

According to those who knew her best, Pauline worked tirelessly to help others in spite of her worsening condition. While she preferred to remain in the background, her efforts were recognized both locally and provincially by the Alzheimer Society of B.C. to which she dedicated many, many volunteer hours.

“Spring is an awfully nice time of year around here to just fall in love with because winter’s over and Pauline had so many good things happen to her at that time of year so it was always exciting for her,” said Michael, who will be attending the service with their children, Robert and Samantha and many other family members and close friends. “She was really involved in the kids’ schooling from elementary on and I’ve said to so many people you would just never know she had the disability and quite frankly people were surprised when they found out.”

Born in North Bay, Ont., Pauline spent her formative years in North Vancouver where she developed a passion for curling becoming a top flight skip before having to give up the sport due to her illness.

Pauline and Michael met in Vernon in 1979, moving to Calgary the following year where they stayed for 15 years and where their children were born, then eventually moving to Penticton.

Related: Alzheimer’s volunteer this year’s honouree

Michael also remembers his wife’s gift for organizing and the countless hours she worked whether it was helping at her sister Allyson’s children’s boutique in Calgary or her own children’s yearbooks at Princess Margaret Secondary School.

“She could just see it and make it happen, she was someone who could be counted on but she never wanted any thanks,” said Michael. “She likes to be the person in the background, the little janitor with the broom putting the bow around everything and sweeping up afterwards. She very much flies under the radar and likes to just work in the background and make it seamless.”

It was during one of Maggie’s Parent Advisory Committee meetings that she and Laurie Myres, who was head of the local Alzheimer Society chapter at the time, first met.

“That was in 2002 and Pauline said to me: ‘Do you need volunteers at the Alzheimer Society,’ and I said; ‘Oh do I ever,’ and that was the beginning,” said Myres. “For me, it started out being work related but we became very good friends over the years.

“She was such a hardworking person, so many hours went into the events she put together for the Alzheimer Society. She’s very much due the respect.”

Added Michael: “She touched a lot of people with her work at the society. I know they were a close group there and they really enjoyed her company.”

Myres described Pauline, who had not had much exposure personally to dementia, as a “calming influence,” especially for people approaching the society following a recent diagnosis.

“I think the society was a safe place for her to volunteer because she was battling this lung disorder and she didn’t want anything close to do with that,” said Myres. “It filled that niche for her.”

Pauline’s organizational skills were also highly valued by her friend and co-worker

“The events she did were great and everybody really enjoyed them but I don’t think anybody realized the amount of work that she did,” said Myres.

Those activities included the Alzheimer’s annual Investors Group Walk for Alzheimer’s, which fittingly, she was named the honouree of at the 2017 walk last May.

Although in failing health at the time, she and family attended with Michael pushing her, smiling, in a wheelchair.

Also that year she was named the society’s Award of Community Service winner for her devoted efforts.

“Emotionally I think Saturday’s celebration of life service for Pauline is something for people to get together to share their sadness at losing someone special, but also their happiness of having been able to enjoy them in our world,” said Myres. “It’s closure.”

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Surrounded by friends and pushed by her husband Michael, the late Paulie Tadey was the honouree at the 2017 Investors Group Walk for Alzheimer;s fundraiser which she helped organize for years. A celebration of her life takes place Saturday. Western News file photo
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The late Pauline Tadey (right) with Laurie Myres during a previous Investor’s Group Walk for Alzheimer’s event which she helped organize for many years and was an honouree of in 2017. A celebration of Pauline’s life is scheduled for Saturday. Submitted photo