Random Access

Silken Laumann (left) and Kathy Harvey with Kathy’s painting called Dwelling Places.

Kathy Harvey always could light up a room.
She did it again yesterday when her family and her many, many friends gathered at St. Stephen’s-on-the-Hill United Church to celebrate her remarkable life.
They were there from Trillium Health Centre, where she lived most of the last three decades of her life and from the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society, where she served as both key fundraiser and as ideal role model. They were there from the broader health community and they were from the community circle of care that she helped create and maintain.
Harvey, best known to the public as the mouth-painter who made the distinctive Christmas cards that the MS used to raise funds annually, died at age 66 Friday.
“She truly was a remarkable woman,” said Nancy Milne, executive director of Mississauga’s MS Society and an instant friend of Kathy’s since they first met more than 17 years ago. Virtually everyone she met was soon a great friend because of her open and giving personality.
“She had the ability not to give in to her disease,” says Milne. “You could always see the ability within her disability. Everybody had a unique relationship with her. She accomplished so much given her situation. She was so seriously disabled but you never saw that, you never really even saw the wheelchair. You could always see the person. You could always see Kathy.”
Reverend Deanna Wilson called it, “her sparkle, her light heart, her capacity to love and be loved. She used those gifts for the MS Society, the other hospital patients, for everyone who came through her door.”
But don’t be deceived. There was a steely determination to the Dartmouth native who grew up in Winnipeg, where she became a nurse. She was a natural-born leader in a wheelchair who got things done. She immeasurably improved the life of terminal patients who live out their lives at Trillium by forming a committee to represent their interests and then serving outside the hospital on the Halton-Peel District Health Council and the Community Care Access Centre of Peel.
Her friend Jane Underwood told the memorial that Kathy had a born flair for problem-solving and a wide network of friends whom she could call on when reinforcements were needed to solve a problem.
“She was determined not to die until she got to know her grandchildren,” said Underwood in reference to Harvey’s ability to far exceed the best-before date that the doctors had given her.
One of the many people who came to remember Kathy yesterday was Ron (he chose not to give his surname) who drove her around to various appointments in his accessible vehicle for 22 years. They instantly liked each other when they met.
“She was an angel,” he said.
Ron was there when Kathy accepted her 2002 Ontario Medal for Good Citizenship and she and Lieutenant-Governor James Bartleman got into a animated discussion in the middle of the awards ceremony. “They talked and talked and talked. She just had this personality and she knew everybody.”
Kathy was also supportive of his personal goals. So much so that when he took her to a meeting with the vice-president of Ford Motor Company, the man came out to the van at the end to say, “no matter what you want to do, Ron, I’m behind you.”
Ron’s future wasn’t on the meeting agenda, of course, until Kathy got into the act. Now that’s a friend in deed.
Ron worked on Christmas this year for the first time and picked Kathy up to spend her last holiday with her family. She adored music and Ron opened the new James Taylor Christmas album he had received. They had themselves a very loud concert on their trip.
The memorial yesterday reflected Harvey’s deep love of music. She helped plan the service and had a tough time pruning her list of “Golden Oldie” hymns from the original 18 to three.
Her old friend and high school classmate from Winnipeg, composer and performer Victor Davies, who wrote the music for the opening and closing ceremonies at the 1999 Pan-American Games, played three of her favourite tunes beautifully on piano.
A medley of Billy Strayhorn’s Satin Doll, an excerpt from Davies’ score to a film called For The Moment and an uncompleted melody that Kathy loved, which is simply known as Kathy’s Song.
Kathy’s Song turned out to be full of gaiety – light and lovely — just like the lady.