Nov 02, 2022


November 11, 1927- October 28, 2022

Hilda was born at home in a log cabin on a farm in northern Frontenac County, Ontario to First World War bride Edith Stevens of Wimbledon, England and Canadian war veteran Thomas Joseph St. Pierre. She was born on Remembrance Day nine years after the cessation of the Great War. She was delivered by the local midwife Magnora Neilsen of Sharbot Lake, and in an act of efficient planning, her mother-in-law to be. Hers was a long life voyage of nearly 95 years. She was pre-deceased by her beloved husband Peter Hemming (1990) and brother Angus and many of her closest friends, relatives and neighbours.

Family was central to her life. Loving mother to seven children and their partners (Gerald and Denise Neilsen, Shirley and Ron Griese, Linda and Harvey Heyman, Louise and Chris White, Carl and Jody Neilsen, Sheila and Blair Lawson, Debby and the late Don Whan. Delighted grandmother to eleven ( Laura and Paul Neilsen, Justin and Ryan Heyman, Jason, Aaron and Carla White, Todd and Scott Neilsen, Brittani Lawson and Meagan Whan). Doting great-grandmother to six (Marley, Thalia, Layla, Nate, Sawyer and Georgia).

She raised her children at 591 Alfred Street in Kingston and was an active participant in their school activities and the lives of several grandchildren and neighbourhood children. She retained her interest in and joy of young children to the very end. Her happy spot was the family cottage at Sharbot Lake where she was able to participate in the outdoor joys of her youth including fending off mosquitoes while gathering wild berries and morel mushrooms! There she enjoyed visits from many of her nearest relatives of the extensive Neilsen and St. Pierre families, the latter family comprising 64 first cousins.

The family will receive friends at the Gordon F. Tompkins Funeral Home, Central Chapel 49 Colborne St., Kingston on Friday, November 4, 2022 from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.. Funeral Service in the chapel to follow at 12:00 Noon. Interment Oconto Cemetery 3 PM. A livestream of Hilda’s funeral will be available through a link on the funeral home website www.gftompkinscentral.ca available on the morning of the funeral.

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