Northwood Halifax Campus Long Term Care Facility

Halifax

Residents 485

Infected residents 140

Deaths 11

Infected staff 57

Staff deaths 0

Jean Elizabeth Reage Dec. 17, 1924-April 20, 2020

Jean Elizabeth Reage, by all reports, was a heck of a golfer.

“Mom I’m sure Dad met you with the golf cart and you already have a game under your belt,” reads her obituary.

Reage, who was predeceased by her husband of 64 years, Allan, died on April 20 after contracting COVID-19. She’s just one of eight people who have died in an outbreak at the Northwood long-term-care home in Halifax.

Reage was, by all accounts, a woman of many passions. She was an avid cross stitcher, her obituary says — each of the four grandchildren have a personalized piece of her art. She also enjoyed a game of bridge and collecting dog ornaments.

And, she was a member of a curling club and a golf club. To those who knew her or had come across her, her talent on the links seemed to stick out. Her obituary says she golfed with her husband, who died at age 87 in 2016, even as macular degeneration stole her vision.

“She seemed to know exactly where to line up and could hit the ball straight every time, it may not go far but always went straight,” her obituary said.

In one condolence message posted online, the author wrote: “I golfed a few times with her over the years and marvelled over her dead-centre aim.

I would be willing to bet she never lost a ball.”

Reage, née Blackman, was born on Dec. 17, 1924, in Brantford, Ont., the daughter of William and Margaret Blackman. She worked as a secretary at St. Joseph’s-alexander Mckay Elementary school in Halifax; in an online posting, a former principal, who retired in 1994, wrote she was a “great support and valued staff person.”

“I only have positive thoughts when I think of working with her during those years,” he wrote.

She is survived by her brother and sister. She leaves behind several children, grandchildren and one great-grandchild.