Marie Rachel Poirier (née Parker) passed away peacefully surrounded by family, at Mississauga Trillium Hospital on March 11, 2024, at the age of 84.

Rachel is survived by her sons Randy (Dee), and Brian (Deanna), and her daughter Denise Durnford (Jeff). Her husband Henry Poirier predeceased her in 2019. Grandmother to Connor, Aidan, Leah, David, and Ethan, Rachel was the light of her family and deeply beloved by all.

Born on July 18, 1939 in Campbellton, New Brunswick to Eva and Edmund Parker, Rachel spent the majority of her adult life living in Mississauga, Ontario. The youngest of nine siblings, Rachel had a particularly close relationship to her sister and best friend Rose, who passed away in 2023. Her career was spent as an educator, and she taught in the Dufferin-Peel Catholic School Board for over twenty-five years. She is remembered by many of her former kindergarten students as their favourite teacher.

Rachel lived a full, rich life with her family, often spending summers “down home” in New Brunswick, eating lobster and walking down by the water. She loved playing cards, reading, doing the crosswords, but most of all she loved spending time with her family, and was a wholly devoted mother and grandmother. While she spent the last few years dealing with Alzheimer’s, her delight in a walk in the park and a visit to “her swans” never faltered.

Family and friends may call at the Turner & Porter “Peel” Chapel, 2180 Hurontario St., (Hwy. 10, N of the QEW) on Saturday, March 23, 2024 from 2 p.m., followed by a Celebration of Life Service in the Chapel at 3 p.m.

The family thanks considerate friends and extended family members for donations to the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada in lieu of flowers.

Online condolences may be made at www.turnerporter.ca