Obituary of Camilla Anne MacDougall

After a life well lived, we, the family of Camilla (Lavoie) MacDougall, announce her passing at the Dr Everett Chalmers Hospital in Fredericton, NB on June 9, 2023. 

Camilla was born in Dalhousie, NB on February 10, 1942 to Edouard and Mary (O’Neil) Lavoie.  She was the oldest of six siblings who remained close for her entire life.  She enjoyed telling stories of growing up in Dalhousie, spending summers in Nouvelle and La Butt, Quebec, and antics with her siblings as she was very proud of her ancestral background. She received her RN from Hotel Dieu Hospital in Bathurst and decades later, to the delight of her family, she earned a B.Sc. in Nursing from the University of New Brunswick.  She worked in public health and various hospital departments over her long career, took a break to raise her family, and retired, at 67, from Emergency at the Oromocto Public Hospital.  She was described by a former co-worker as a no-nonsense nurse with a huge heart.  In her later years, she enjoyed spending summers at the family cottage in Washabuck, Cape Breton and being part of her walking and coffee groups.

We can’t even begin to list all the volunteer activities that Camilla was involved with, all without fanfare.  She was registrar for New Brunswick Track and Field when her daughters were completing and stepped down well over 25 years later with an honorary life-long membership.  She was an original committee member of the Oromocto and Area Sports Wall of Fame, and was busy planning this years’ ceremony.  For almost 50 years she has been part of St Vincent de Paul Church and the CWL where she developed life-long friends, taught grade 5 Sunday school and later coordinated the program.  She was always ready to contribute buns, sweets, or sandwiches as needed.  We always joked when we smelled homemade buns cooking that something was going on at the church, but the truth was she was always whipping up a batch of muffins, cookies, or biscuits for us as well.  Usually, with fruit that she herself had picked. 

She leaves behind her husband of 57 years James Lawrence MacDougall and her three daughters, Diane (Mark) of Boston, Sandra (Darrell) of Whitehorse, and Joanne (David) of League City, TX; grandchildren, Mackenzie and Shane Orban, Coryn Fielding, and Ryan and Natalie Nunez; siblings, Mary Claire MacLeod (Wayne), Anne Mahoney (Leo), Andre Lavoie (Karen), Louis Lavoie, and Paul Lavoie (Fran), and many nieces and nephews, some who were lucky enough to get her home cooked Sunday meals while they studied at UNB.

A visitation will be held at the Oromocto Funeral Home on Thursday June 15^th, 2023, from 6-8 pm.  A funeral mass will be celebrated at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church Friday June 16^th, 2023 at noon with Father Charles Udeh as celebrant.  A reception will follow in the church hall.