Renee Power, 94, was a mother of 18 and volunteer at St. Francis de Sales for more than 50 years

The B.C. Catholic



A woman who gave her all to her local church and to her family has died at age 94.

Renee Power, a mother of 18 children, was a volunteer at St. Francis de Sales Parish until she was 93 years old. She’s being remembered for her “boundless energy.”

“She just kept on going,” said Brian Power, her 16th child.

“Mom loved and gave of herself as much as humanly possible over an almost 95-year period.”

Renee Leontine Fillmore, born Oct. 18, 1921, grew up in Rock Creek, B.C., then a community with no plumbing or electricity. She lived on a farm and attended school in a one-room schoolhouse until the end of Grade 10.

At 16 she moved to the big city of New Westminster to finish Grades 11 and 12 at St. Ann’s Academy. She went to college to become a bookkeeper and picked up her first job at the now-closed St. Mary’s Hospital in New Westminster.

While working at the hospital, she went out for ice cream with sawmill worker Patrick Fitzgerald Power. They married in 1943 and had 17 children over 19 years. They also adopted a son.

Their youngest was born with health complications and died in hospital. The couple not only raised 17 children, but also took in their elderly grandmother.

“We had 21 people living in our big house at one time,” said Brian. His mother would always welcome company with a special place at the table and second helpings. “Whenever you wanted to have a friend over, she said: ‘Sure, we’ll just put more water in the soup!”

Going to Sunday Mass was not optional in the Power household. Brian remembers going to the church early to secure two pews so the family could sit together. Renee also devoutly participated in Mass daily until she was too frail to make the trip, in her 90s.

Just after the Power couple had their 11th child, they decided Patrick should leave the sawmill and start his own business. They launched Pat Power Lumber in 1954.

“As if Mom wasn’t busy enough with raising all of us, Mom was the company’s bookkeeper and financial adviser,” Brian recounted. “I remember falling asleep to the sound of her adding machine in the background.”

Renee was also an active member of the Catholic Women’s League at her parish. After the death of the grandmother who lived with them, the CWL put on a funeral reception that made a big impression on Renee.

“Just because of that one act of kindness, she started catering funerals,” Brian said.

Renee took over the operation, making sure sandwiches, baked goods, vegetables, coffee, tea, chairs, and tables were all prepared for funerals at her parish. It’s estimated she ran a total of about 300 of these receptions.

“It was a great comfort,” said Marie Adams, who was on the receiving end of one of these events after her husband died. “I didn’t have to worry about a thing. The whole lunch was prepared. It was beautifully set up.” Leftovers were packed up and sent home with the grieving family.

Even after her husband retired, Renee kept working. She took her bookkeeping skills to St. Francis de Sales, which is known as the last parish in the archdiocese to have its finances done by hand.

She volunteered there for 27 years, only leaving sometime in her 80s. “There was a general sense that she was someone everyone looked up to,” said Father Gary Franken, the pastor at the time.

“At any event, she wouldn’t have been the focal point,” but ever the powerhouse behind the scenes, he said. “She was very matter-of-fact and very efficient in all that she did.”

After bookkeeping, Renee continued baking for church events or cooking pots of soup for the homeless. Brian said she gave up her driver’s licence at age 92 and stopped volunteering at age 93.

“Mom will be remembered as an amazing mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, someone with boundless energy who gave so much of herself,” Brian said.

“She loved to work and worked to love.”

Renee died Aug. 29 at Royal Columbian Hospital. She was predeceased by her husband Patrick and two of her children. Her funeral Mass was Sept. 10 in St. Francis de Sales Church.