Grady, "Carol" Rosina Annie (Durrant) - Born, Portsmouth, England 1920, passed from our lives in Fredericton, NB on July 15th in her 92nd year. Survived by husband, Peter; sister, Dorothy (England); sons, Peter, Chris "Tony"; daughters, Jane, Louise (England); grandchildren, Genevieve, Kathleen, Jacob, Isaac, Morgan, as well as spouses/partners of the above and many friends around the world. Our mother had the life of the child of a typical British Naval sailor (NCO) who served in WWI and throughout the Empire in times of peace at the turn of the century. As the middle child with an older sister Dorothy and a younger brother Douglas (d), she led an active colourful childhood in which she and her sister were involved in many extracurricular activities including dance. In her day, children were streamed either to Grammar School to go on to university or they left school at 14 to pursue a trade. Our mother left school at 14 to become a professional dancer, touring England giving performances with a troupe in a time when live entertainment was everything. Mum continued that life with more important roles and more sophisticated stage acts and became known as a "raving beauty" with Hollywood looks, often compared to Greta Garbo. WWII came along and she recalled her girlfriends yacht being commandeered to evacuate Dunkirk. Mum joined the WRNS and split her time between the stage and working at Bletchley Park assisting in deciphering German war codes, for which she was honoured by Prime Minister Brown in 2009. She was in London during the Blitz and had her theatre bombed. With her expensive gowns and tailor made clothes destroyed, she was able to put out a fire and salvage some pictures. Carol met our father Peter, a young RCN officer in London in WWII and they were married in a "tiny" ancient church. Mum came over to Canada by ocean liner as a war bride. The adjustment for Mum was tough with a new country, climate, attitudes and ways of doing things, but she dug in with vigour and became the "typical" Canadian homemaker/navy wife. Our father continued in the RCN seeing active duty in Korea and the Cold War, while our mother during those times raised 2 sons and a daughter effectively on her own. I remember crossing a street with Mum in a blue/white poke dot dress, hand in hand with my siblings in the 50's and some construction workers whistled at our Mother! Our youngest sister came along as a late surprise to Mum when I was in high school. Mum saved the smartest one for last and said she got some good hospital R&R out of the birth. Our mother was an accomplished dancer and I remember her tap dancing her way down a set of stairs in a Canadian naval production on what to my tiny person seemed to be a huge stage with lights, colourful costumes and music. I also remember her doing a "soft shoe" blues routine in 2009 in our kitchen with more rhythm than Fred Astaire and 3 weeks before her death Mum entertained her retirement residence with a live band and some "cool steps". In her later years Mum became an accomplished artist with several art shows and some serious sales of her oil paintings - she said it was great therapy. She voraciously gardened with 2 green thumbs. No job was too big for Mum. She gave new meaning to "joie de vive". Mum's personal motto seemed to have been "never give up" and she lived a life of kindness to all, thoughtfulness towards everyone, with a huge sense of humour, had enormous personal strength and always wanted to do the right thing. They claimed Princess Dianna was the "English Rose", well they did not know our mother, the real "English Rose". Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Coulter's Funeral Home, 48 Riverside Drive, Tatamagouche (657-3288). A private family service will be held at St. Andrew's Anglican Church, Wallace. She will be interned at the MacKenzie Cemetery on the ocean and a walk from her beloved family compound in Malagash, NS. Donations in lieu of flowers please to War Child Canada, Save the Children Canada, SOS Children's Villages Canada or Boys & Girls Clubs Canada. Private condolences may be sent to the family by visiting mmcfunerals.com