Obituary for Patricia Kirk
Patricia Maye (Cummings) Kirk died peacefully on December 5, 2022, at age 94. A true lady right to the end.
She was lovingly cared for by her nieces Patricia Campbell and Mary Anne Cummings and her nephew Bill Cumming following the example that she had set caring for her own aunt Edna Mae Stewart.
She was born on May 30, 1928, in Ottawa to Mary (Spence) Cummings and Russell Cummings and grew up in Britannia.
Patricia was the protected baby sister of Russell Spence Cummings, Lloyd Cummings, and Gordon Cummings. All her brothers predeceased her.
After high school she took evening classes at the new Carleton University and then joined the Department of External Affairs in Ottawa. She worked in New York City for three months on the delegation to the United Nations, when Lester B. Pearson chaired the delegation. Her first posting was to Chicago to the Canadian Consulate Gen. in 1950.
She was working in the NATO division of External Affairs in Montreal when she was asked to go to Paris.
She often worked with Lester B. Pearson when he attended Paris to chair NATO meetings.
Towards the end of her term in Paris she was moved on short notice to Israel for a year.
She left external affairs in 1959 and joined the National Film Board in Ottawa and then in Montréal. She met her husband Dudley Kirk while she was in Montréal.
They travelled extensively. They left Montréal almost immediately and lived in South Africa and then Madagascar. They then moved to Australia where Patricia worked in the Esso Oil Company office. Then it was two years in Singapore and four years in Penang, Malaysia.
In 1976, Patricia returned to Canada and lived with her brother Spence and his family. She returned to Ottawa in 1977 and rejoined the National Film Board. She was with the NFB until she retired. She spent 32 years working for the Government of Canada.
In 1984, Patricia joined the Quota Club International of Ottawa. Quota International empowers women, children and the deaf, hard-of-hearing and speech impaired. Patricia worked as the club secretary, then as Treasurer and registrar and treasurer at the international conference in Ottawa. The Quota club was a central part of her life from 1984 until she left Ottawa in 2016 to move to Collingwood to be close to her nieces.
In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Quota International, Ottawa branch.
She was lovingly cared for by her nieces Patricia Campbell and Mary Anne Cummings and her nephew Bill Cumming following the example that she had set caring for her own aunt Edna Mae Stewart.
She was born on May 30, 1928, in Ottawa to Mary (Spence) Cummings and Russell Cummings and grew up in Britannia.
Patricia was the protected baby sister of Russell Spence Cummings, Lloyd Cummings, and Gordon Cummings. All her brothers predeceased her.
After high school she took evening classes at the new Carleton University and then joined the Department of External Affairs in Ottawa. She worked in New York City for three months on the delegation to the United Nations, when Lester B. Pearson chaired the delegation. Her first posting was to Chicago to the Canadian Consulate Gen. in 1950.
She was working in the NATO division of External Affairs in Montreal when she was asked to go to Paris.
She often worked with Lester B. Pearson when he attended Paris to chair NATO meetings.
Towards the end of her term in Paris she was moved on short notice to Israel for a year.
She left external affairs in 1959 and joined the National Film Board in Ottawa and then in Montréal. She met her husband Dudley Kirk while she was in Montréal.
They travelled extensively. They left Montréal almost immediately and lived in South Africa and then Madagascar. They then moved to Australia where Patricia worked in the Esso Oil Company office. Then it was two years in Singapore and four years in Penang, Malaysia.
In 1976, Patricia returned to Canada and lived with her brother Spence and his family. She returned to Ottawa in 1977 and rejoined the National Film Board. She was with the NFB until she retired. She spent 32 years working for the Government of Canada.
In 1984, Patricia joined the Quota Club International of Ottawa. Quota International empowers women, children and the deaf, hard-of-hearing and speech impaired. Patricia worked as the club secretary, then as Treasurer and registrar and treasurer at the international conference in Ottawa. The Quota club was a central part of her life from 1984 until she left Ottawa in 2016 to move to Collingwood to be close to her nieces.
In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Quota International, Ottawa branch.