Obituary of Monica Teresa Ryan

Passed peacefully away at the age of 91 at Gillis Lodge in Belfast, P.E.I., Mona Ryan leaves behind her large loving and admiring extended family as well as a legion of friends in both Prince Edward Island and her homeland of Newfoundland and Labrador.

 

Predeceased by her husband of 40 years, Pat Ryan, as well as her parents Thomas and Selina Edstrom, her brothers Jim and Phillip and sisters Mary Comeau and Elizabeth (in childhood), her son-in-law Kevin Simmons and her grandson Jacob Simmons. Also predeceased by brothers-in-law Ron Ryan (Mary and Shirley, both deceased), Leo Ryan and Bill Woods, and by sister-in-law Ruth. 

 

She leaves to mourn her children Brenda Simmons in Point Prim, Karen Linfield (John) in Torbay, NL, Carolyn Ryan (David Clark) in Vernon Bridge, Patrick Ryan (Melissa) in Mermaid, Annette Ryan (Sean Rogers) in Ottawa, and Kevin Ryan (Marcella) in South Pinette; her grandchildren: Janna Simmons; Jason, Adam and Alex Ryan; Ned and Keelin Rogers; and Seamus and Emmylou Ryan; step grandchildren Matt, Jena and Madeline; five step-great-grandchildren in Australia and Quebec; sisters-in-law Leona Edstrom, Helena Woods, Sr. Mary Ryan and Mary Ryan; and brother-in-law Paul Comeau. Many, many cousins and nieces and nephews will also miss her kindness.

 

Mona was born and raised in Renews on Newfoundland's Southern Shore, close to both her Edstrom and McCarthy cousins. She learned her skills as a telegraph operator at the side of her mother, who ran the community's post office and telegraph service. That work led to her moving to St. John's as a young woman and later travelling the island to provide summer relief to other operators with the Canadian Marconi Company. Fate led her to stay with McCarthy relatives in Gander, where she opened the door one day to find the man who would become our father. Pat Ryan had come to present a letter of introduction from his priest in Torbay to his new parish priest, Mona's uncle. He never tired of describing the moment he first saw Mona, "the maid at the door."

 

After a long courtship marked by long distances and letters, they married at the Basilica in St. John's in September 1961 and settled into life in Torbay, where their six children would go on to attend school.  Mona was from the first a partner in Pat's vegetable farm, keeping the books and wrangling the kids as they began to help out. In 1982, they took a leap of faith and moved the family to Prince Edward Island, where carrots could grow without hitting a rock two inches down. Mona made many friends almost immediately, joining the Catholic Women's League and Women's Institute as well as helping out with the younger children's school activities. She was so involved in her community that at one point Pat exclaimed: "Lord, Mona, you even know the dogs' names?"

 

She lived to see her children take paths of all kinds, building from their parents’ love of education, and go on to meet their life partners, find challenging jobs, and in some cases retire. In the words of Dermot O'Reilly's "West Country Lady," one of her favourite songs, "She met all these changes with pride and some sorrow." That sorrow was deepest when her husband Pat died in 2001, and when she lost her grandson Jake and her son-in-law Kevin in the summer of 2020.

 

Mona was a devout Catholic, a superb provider of huge meals for her family, a fierce Scrabble and crib player, a lover of Irish music, and an all-round super human being. We will miss her forever.

 

The family thanks the management and staff of Gillis Lodge in Belfast, where she spent the last two years of her life, the many people who visited her there, and Father Gerard Chaisson and Father Andrew MacDonald.

 

Visitation will be at Hillsboro Funeral Home in Stratford on Thursday, April 2, 2026 from 4 to 7 p.m. Further visitation and the funeral Mass will take place the week of April 6, 2026 in Torbay, NL. If desired, memorial donations may be made to the charity of your choice.