In Memoriam: Sandra Devlin

Sandra Devlin was a veteran journalist of 30+ years and a self-confessed genealogy addict. After a 25-year career as a daily newspaper reporter, photographer, editor, and managing editor in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and southern and northern Ontario, followed by a three-year stint as a community college journalism instructor in Prince Edward Island, Sandra decided in 1996 to become a freelance genealogy journalist. Her weekly genealogy column was published in more than 12 newspapers in the Maritime Provinces.

The following was written today by Sharon Sergeant:

I am very sad to say that Sandra Devlin has lost her battle with cancer. I am writing today to a few folks that I know she particularly admired.

While I do not have the details yet, her funeral will be held on Monday February 6, 2006 in Moncton, New Brunswick.

If you would like to send a personal message to her family and friends, please send emails to her daughter Shonda at s.secord@sympatico.ca or cards and letters to Sandra's home at 89 Milner Rd., Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada E1E 2S2.

Early in December 2005, I was privileged to review a selection of columns by Sandra, discuss a collection of her work, then write an introduction for her approval.

"Veteran journalist Sandra Devlin reveals the secret passageways and buried treasures of our shared history in this provocative collection, "Come closer, Stand back: The weaver shuttles on".

Devlin's bits and pieces are placed in a mural of time with sweeping textures of emotion and sharp observation. Her tapestry is alive with our own unrealized awareness. We are not alone. We are not everything. We see ourselves and others in a kaleidoscope of threads and patterns - entwined throughout history and across borders.

There are terse transitions from a cloak of deep thought to unfurled revelations. Devlin's own empathy and anger are brightly colored thoughts and memories. She writes of those who are neither immune to failings nor invisible contributors. Woven words of history and challenges for today are weighed against silken promises for the future.

We are the weavers and craftsmen of our own experience as well as the breadth and depth of humanity. A powerful and humbling collection."

Sandra thought it was a flattering tribute, but I am grateful that these remnants of her gift are with us forever. Her own words create the real mark in our minds and hearts.

I have summarized some of Sandra's accomplishments and her knack for "serial inspiration" at http://ancestralmanor.com/?tabid=71

Sharon Sergeant
ancestralmanor.com

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Sandra's obituary is available online at http://www.tuttlefuneralhome.com
(click on the yellow oval, then the obituaries link on the left, the the February 2006 link, the the link to Sandra's individual obit). Canadian newspapers will also carry the notice on February 3.