17 July 2000
Funeral services for the late Iola Mary MacEachern, 87, Ballantyne’s Cove, Antigonish County, were held Jul 20 in the Holy Rosary Church, Ballantyne’s Cove with Rev. Gilles LeBlanc officiating. Mrs. MacEachern died July 17, 2000 in St. Martha’s Regional Hospital. Readers at the Mass were Lenore Grant, Elaine MacEachern, and Geraldine Hayes. Margaret MacDonald provided the music. Honorary pallbearers were Collie Chisholm, Fred MacDonald, Paul MacEachern, Paul Robinson, Allan Brown and Blaise MacDonald. Active pallbearers were Stephen Sweeney, Gordon Chase, Alex P. MacEachern, Jack MacEachern, Michael MacEachern and Dana Sweeney. Born in Yarmouth, she was the eldest daughter of the late Daniel H. Sweeney, Cape Forchu and Lydia A. (Surette) Sweeney, Pinkney’s Point, Yarmouth County. She moved to Kentville with her parents in her early years where she graduated from King’s Academy. She was a graduate from the Halifax Infirmary School of Nursing, a career she pursued with a passion. She helped form the first well baby clinic in Kentville, worked at the Blanchard Fraser Memorial Hospital, the Nova Scotia Sanitorium and served as a charge nurse for the Kings County VON for a number of years. She was a world traveler and a member of the CWL of Canada, serving as past president in the provincial council and the St. Joseph’s CWL in Yarmouth. She was a member of the Wally Bryan Air Stream Trailer club and past president of the Kentville duplicate bridge club. She was also past president of the Kings County home and school association. She is survived by two sons, Alvin, Vancouver; Ian, Cape George; grandson, Trevor John (Lindy Long): two great grandchildren, Tyler and Hailey MacEachern, Kentville; brother, Hugh Sweeney, Kentville; four sisters Georgina Robinson, Kentville; Frances MacDonald, Halifax; Geraldine Hayes, Tecumseh, Ont; Sr. Fleurette Marie Sweeney, Vancouver. She was predeceased by her husband Cyril R.; two brothers, Rev. Ernest V. Sweeney, Douglas Sweeney; two sisters, Violet Archanbault and Marcelle Sweeney.