Obituary of Irene Constance Campling

Irene was born at the start of WWI in London, England, grew up in a two-room flat, and trained as a teacher from 1933-35 at Bishop Otter College in Sussex. She married Roy Campling in 1940, teaching junior school through the Blitz while Roy was stationed in Cairo and Palestine. After her two sons were born, the family emigrated to Canada in 1954, living first in London, Ontario, then Thunder Bay.  She was a supply teacher for many years before becoming a full-time art teacher at PACI, then Hammarskjold High School. She was a leading member of the Port Arthur Art Club in the 1960s and exhibited watercolours at various exhibitions in Ontario. She was instrumental in getting the Great Hall at Lakehead University to be built, the first dedicated exhibition and performance space in Thunder Bay.  She was a long time supporter of the Thunder Bay Art Gallery and Symphony Orchestra. She got her BA in English & Languages in 1973 and taught in southern Ontario before retiring. After Roy died in 1979, she moved to Kitchener to be closer to her son Simon. She became a docent at the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, where she organised visiting exhibitions and gave talks to school parties and clubs. In her later years, she lived at Bankside Terrace and lastly at the Forest Heights LTCC.  Though she was a very socialable person, all her life she loved getting out into the wild and numinous spaces of the world. She was an educator, artist, extensive traveller, regular letter-writer and bird-watcher before losing her sight, a dedicated homemaker and beloved mother, survived by sons Simon and Neil. Donations to Ontario Nature, or CNIB would be appreciated and may be arranged through the Erb & Good Family Funeral Home, 171 King St. S., Waterloo, at www.erbgood.com or 519-745-8445.