Obituary of Cynthia Stow
April 20, 1944 - July 8, 2025
It is with profound joy, in celebration of a life well-lived as a devoted and loving spouse, mother, and grandmother, that we reflect on being sincere in using the finest and most select words to convey the following message:
It is with immense sadness in grief that the Stow family, of Canada, announces the passing of our matriarch Cynthia Stow (née Mohammed), at the age of 81. She was cared for lovingly and surrounded by her family at the Ottawa Civic Hospital following a debilitating stroke.
For all those who could never pinpoint the number based on her youthful appearance - now you know.
Cynthia is survived and remembered always lovingly by her husband of fifty years, Rick Stow, her daughters, Tiffany Stow (Scott), Twyla Stow (Ethan), and her grandchildren, Winter Stow-Gore and Noble Stow-Gore (Khalila), as well her brother, Everald Mohammed (Noreen), her dearest friends, and many members of extended family and friends in Trinidad. She is pre-deceased by her parents, Ruth Dolly and Yusef (Sonny) Mohammed. She will sorrowfully be missed - and adoringly remembered.
This particular branch of Stows is the quintessential Canadian family.
Immigrating to Montréal from Trinidad as a vibrant, fun-loving and adventurous young woman in the 1960s when the Canadian government welcomed immigration, she became a Landed Immigrant. Cynthia enrolled in French courses and fell in love with Vieux-Montréal, smoked meat and Catherine St. before moving on to Mississauga and meeting and falling in love with her spouse, Rick. They met as coworkers, were engaged on Valentine's Day, and married in 1975. They were a couple breaking barriers of the era and forging societal progression as an interracial couple. Their union of transcending colour and cultures began its next era with Tiffany's birth near year's end.
From Mississauga, the family moved to British Columbia where Twyla was born just before Valentine's Day five years later. Shortly thereafter, Rick's broadcasting career took them to Thunder Bay, and next to St. John's, Newfoundland - west coast to east, the quintessential Canadian family explained - before heading back to New Liskeard, Ontario in 1983. Shortly thereafter, Cynthia received her full Canadian citizenship. There, she raised her children with strict self-discipline on a budget - sacrificing her own needs often, and making sure they had the best food, the best clothes, and the best shot at success in life that dutiful parenting and tough love could provide.
Always a strong, independent, no-nonsense woman, her irrepressible spirit and general love of socializing with people led her back to work after the children were older. She was an organized, efficient, devoted, and talented hard worker. She was "headhunted" by her friend-to-the-end, Joan Milliard, to work for Walmart Store #6344 in its early establishment. Cynthia worked many years there as a familiar face to so many members of our communities. She aced her duties in all of several areas of the store. She was clean and proper and looked immaculate each and every day that she went to work, with the gold jewelry adorning her adding a touch of class - as warm-toned as the heart beating within her. She did her best to mentor new coworkers; she was strict, rule-bound and tough on anyone who shirked their fair responsibilities. Though, that heart of gold shone through when it mattered most - and if people earned her respect with politeness and diligence, they might even get away with acting cheeky and joking good-naturedly, eliciting a deep, impish sparkle in her beautiful dark eyes, and a peal of laughter.
During her career, she welcomed her two grandchildren, Winter and Noble, just over two years apart - the lights and joy of her life. She often said she wished she could spend her days helping to raise them, rather than work - but working presented the opportunity to share proud stories of grand babies with her peers and community. She seldom returned home from work without being laden with something for the kids - formula, clothes, toys, movies on VHS - and of course, treats. She was sensible and frugal, but giving of everything she had to enrich the lives of her family. Each of her grandchildren accompanied her on a trip to Trinidad to meet family and have that wonderful experience, and she often took her grandchildren on trips for fun, adventure and to learn more about the big world around them. She could steer the proverbial ship. She made everything work for everyone else.
She could both impose upon and light up a room, and her presence was never one to ignore. She loved to sing, she loved to dance, and she loved to joke around, but you would never catch her "liming".
Cynthia and Rick moved from New Liskeard in 2012 to help care for Rick's mother in her final years. They fell in love with Goderich, Ontario, became bonded steadfast members of the community as they dealt with the aftermath of tornado, and she retired from her career with Walmart at the Goderich store. She bid farewell to her new friends with a final move to Arnprior, Ontario where Rick's career took them next. It is there where she spent her sunset years, often connecting by phone and in person with those she cherished.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (Click Here)
We are so proud of the woman she lived as, and how her legacy shaped us all, in our own ways, for the best. She will always be remembered, revered and respected.
Cynthia's arrangements have been entrusted to the Boyce Funeral Home Ltd., 138 Daniel Street N., Arnprior.
"Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un"
We who gather do so of common purpose.
In preparing my remarks I opened the day to a biographical piece on a Soviet poet, musing the two searches we as humans are exempt from are the search for love, and the search for death- as it is each of those who are the agents that find us.
I thank my daughter Twyla whose organizational expertise has kept my nostrils above water during this crucial time, and all family close and far for anticipating every need.
I celebrate the agonizing days from June 26th to Cynthia’s expiry the morning of July 8th with cherished reverence as she allowed me, and members of the immediate family to share her presence throughout the final hours. My daughter Tiffany wrote a beautiful tribute obituary that describes the
“quintessential aspects of the family” that we are of one mind sharing.
And whilst we gather, perhaps in hope of an hereafter as envisioned by prophet Mohammed thy servant, or on the brink of nihilism in final farewell, it is not on us to speculate where truth prevails.
I had two visits to Trinidad over the course of our fifty plus years marriage, and one afternoon was spent at a park with a giant statue of the Monkey God Hanuman. There was a Hindu funeral pyre to be ignited, and the loudspeaker truck was late arriving. The driver rolled into the parking lot, quickly changing from the Christian soundtrack that had been blaring en route. On an earlier visit in 1979 I had by stealth photographed the interior of a temple in Central Trinidad, missing the slogan, “Tat Twam Asi” on the altar wall until the film was developed. We are suchness in whatever form that may take, and in the eternal present we say farewell collectively, each in our own private way.
