Irene (Michaud)

Reid

With profound gratitude for a life well-lived and loved, the family of Irene (Michaud) Reid wishes to share that she passed away on November 9, 2026. Irene was predeceased by her husband William (Bill) Reid after fifty-five years joined at the hip. She is survived by their two children, Robert (Peggy Caldwell) and Jennifer. She leaves five loving grandchildren, Emily, Kate (Cory Myers), Allison (Salim Larochelle), Margaret (Matthew Lewis), and William; one great-grandchild, Nadim; and three step-grandchildren, Finn, Bella, and Cal.

Irene was born in Saint Quentin, NB, on March 4, 1930. Her father passed away when she was eight years old, she was the eldest of five children her mother raised alone. The strength of character she learned from her mother served her well.

After leaving parochial school she earned a secretarial diploma from Fredericton Business College and started work as a secretary and interpreter. This led her to Murdochville on the Gaspé Peninsula, where she met and fell for her husband, Bill, in 1953. Two years later they were married, and subsequently moved to Arnprior, Ontario, where Bill worked with M. Sullivan and Sons. The company later expanded eastward, and Bill and Irene relocated to Nova Scotia in 1981. They settled a few feet from the Atlantic Ocean where, Irene always said, they found Paradise.

Irene worked as an interpreter for Playtex Canada for a number of years before deciding to pursue her true love of art and the earth. She had a life-long passion for the ground beneath her feet, and while her youthful dream of becoming a geologist wasn’t possible, she found another way. She studied pottery, learning her craft from distinguished artists such as Richard Gill and Keith Campbell. Over four decades, her unique style of stoneware pottery made its way across Canada and beyond. She also taught aspiring potters in Ontario and Nova Scotia, and in her retirement, she held a teaching position at the Cape Breton School of Craft and Design.

True to her love of the earth, Irene was also an exceptional gardener in her off-time. Her extensive rose beds in Cape Breton often yielded five hundred or more blossoms in a single day. Folks from the wider community routinely slipped in to see them.

Irene was a consummate artist, wife, mother, grandmother, and friend. When she loved you, you were stuck with her. In lieu of flowers, Irene would have asked everyone to help anyone or any cause that they care about, in any way they can.

In accordance with Irene’s wishes, a Catholic burial and celebration of life for family and close friends will take place in the spring, presided over by Father Richard Kelly, OMI (Irene’s sidekick in gardening in her later years).