Obituary of Sylvia Jean Cameron

Sylvia Jean Cameron, otherwise known as Mom, Syl, Sly, Soph, Sophie, Sofia, Shirley, or Vanessa, depending on who was speaking to her, died April 17, 2024 following a brief but eventful encounter with cancer. She was the second of four children born to John and Edith Fraser (Johnstone) of Greenwood, Pictou County – the humble little buffer between Coalburn and Thorburn. Unlike her siblings – Kathryn, Donnie, and Annie – who were all given legacy names in honour of various family members, Sylvia's names were pulled out of a hat her father passed around a mine shaft in Thorburn. Still, she was loved by her family, and loved reminiscing about those times. She was educated, as best one can be, at the Greenwood elementary school, and later East Pictou Rural High School, where she was – by all accounts – terrible at Home Ec, best exemplified by the dress she made with sewn-closed armholes. Nonetheless, she later took up knitting, and she loved to cook – anything from her specialties of lasagna and spaghetti sauce, to bizarre casseroles and desserts she saw on Facebook and in magazines. Unlike her Aunt Annie, however, she retired early from biscuit making following a complaint about the size. Likewise, she retired from cake baking in the early 1980s when a cake she made for company was hand cut by her toddler son who thought he was being helpful. Ironically, while she loved to cook, she was never all that fond of eating. Professionally, Sylvia would be best known for her time working at Sears in the Highland Square Mall, New Glasgow. There she met many people she considered friends, and she would be remembered for her sharp, boundary-less wit, frequent trips to her “office” for a cigarette, and her unique ability to spend the first half of a quiet shift creating work for the second half. Although she enjoyed working in retail, she once revealed under hypnosis that she aspired to work in other areas of the service industry. Her friends and neighbours from “the Shore” in Ponds would know Sylvia as a dog person, first arriving to the RV park with her much loved Jack Russell terrier Kolby, and later the goofy but lovable Rosie. Before her dog days, Sylvia was more of a cat person. Her last cat – a little black cat named Shadow – helped her greet trick-or-treaters every Halloween, serving as the “familiar” to Sylvia's witch. Sylvia was also known for more unusual pets, including a monkey named Gilligan (a creature her mother was not particularly fond of), a turtle, and later a pair of African water frogs who made a long and bumpy journey from Sarnia, Ontario to Abercrombie, NS (with stops in rural Quebec, and Charlottetown, PEI). Sylvia enjoyed road trips with her siblings, arguing with her siblings during road trips, and getting away from arguments by vacationing in Cuba – sometimes getting away from arguments by vacationing in Cuba multiple times a year. In 2022 Sylvia became a widow when her partner of over thirty years, William (Bill) Forbes Young died following his slow, drawn out struggle with COPD. She bounded back from this loss with the love and support of her family, and friends such as Carol Macleod (Cameron, neé Allen), Barb MacCallum, Peggy Dewar, Heather “Laverne” Ginter, Mary Duff, and many others. And while Sylvia exited Clan Cameron by decree in the 1980s, she remained “Aunt Sylvia” to them all the same. Sylvia is survived by her son Aaron Cameron, siblings Kathryn (Ian) Campbell, Donnie (Laurie) Fraser, and Annie (Tim) Garrison, ex-husband Harvey Cameron, and a host of nieces, nephews, and friends. Sylvia was preceded by Bill Young, friends Barb MacCallum and “Big Ed” Fraser, nephews Anderson Scott and Clinton Jordan, aunt Annie & uncle John Henderson, her parents John Fraser and Edith Fraser, Sears Canada, and Dale Earnhardt. The family will receive visitors 2-4PM & 6-8PM Tuesday at the H.W. Angus Funeral Home, from where the funeral service will be held at 2PM Wednesday with John Reeves officiating. Burial will be at the Abercrombie Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please consider making donations to the Pictou County SPCA, Pictou County Food Bank, Viola's Place, The Tearmann House Association, or a local charity of your choice.