The dreaded Project

Writing your own Eulogy Project

Jenn Geeson was born 4 decades ago in Scarborough, Ontario. She was raised in the east end suburbs of Toronto. She attended elementary school in Oshawa, and high school in Whitby. During her childhood she was active in many different sports. In the summer it was primarily soccer that she played and eventually started coaching, and during the winter she played both hockey and ringette. Again she started coaching and refereeing the game of ringette. She spent many late Friday nights going with her step father to play hockey with him and his friends, until he was politely asked to leave his girl at home cause she was making them look bad. After graduating high school and spending a year or so working in Toronto, she moved to British Columbia. She lived mainly on Vancouver Island but also set up roots in both the Interior and the Yukon.

In 1994, Jenn gave birth to her daughter Kaylee and is the world to her. She could not have asked for a better child and even though Jenn is not here with us, Kaylee may just be a twin of her mother. At times Kaylee was the exact opposite of her mother and Jenn couldn’t figure that out, then the baby dragon would emerge and make her momma even prouder. Jenn had 2 special relationships in her life. The first with James (Bull), where after a year together they bought a house and moved to Cobble Hill. At first Jenn fought tooth and nail about having to drive the Malahat daily to get to work, but since then she has daily tried to set the land speed record on her daily commute. After 6 years they went their separate ways, but still remained great friends. Sadly Bull passed away in a bike accident in 2008. It was a hard time for both Jenn and Kaylee, to lose someone so important to them. In 2009, Jenn finally may have found her soul mate. It is just a shame that it took them 15 years to get together. She leaves behind her best friend and true soul mate Len. Although he aided her while going thru school, she sure helped him in all areas. Always keeping him organized, going to work with him and helping with tile and hardwoods or just being his pack mule for the day and carrying over 1000lbs of tile up 3 flights of stairs by hand while he worked. The two of them were inseparable and it wasn’t often that you would see one riding without the other. They were like a well oiled machine and just worked well as a team.

After having her daughter, Jenn realized that she needed to get some training to have a stable job to help raise her daughter. She decided to get her cosmetology license in 1995. She was a hairdresser for over 10 years and for 7 of them she worked in a care facility. She loved working with the seniors. Not only were they a wealth of knowledge and full of stories of days gone by but they all seemed to live vicariously thru Jenn and her antics. They were amazed that she rode a motorcycle to work and many wanted to see it. When she left the care facility, Jenn took an Administration job close to home. She was basically running 3 business and the boss until just 3 short weeks after Bull died, so did her boss in a boating accident. Even with this turn of tragic events, Jenn was able to keep things together both for herself and the businesses that she was asked to take charge of for the time being. Eventually they were closed down and Jenn needed to make another change. She decided to go back to school and take the Community Support Worker Program in the hopes of working with teens with addictions. Well, she graduated with honours from the program and even though she pushed herself harder she was amazed that she maintained the marks that she did. Not too shabby for a dumb biker chick!

Jenn had a very creative side and was always making something. During Kaylees childhood she made many of her clothes and always made her Halloween costumes. She even made matching Christmas dresses for them one year. She had a knack when it came to a sewing machine but also her creativeness was witnessed by the designs she would make in pumpkins every year. For years, she sold her creations to the local Harley dealership. Many times I heard her state that she wished she had not stopped drawing as she was a fine artist as well but life just seemed to get in the way of all the things she would liked to have done. She even went so far as to decorate Len’s bedroom in Harley motive, which all started by painting the walls burnt orange then free handing the Harley logo on the wall above the headboard. During her 20’s and early 30’s she spent a great deal of the summer playing baseball. You wouldn’t know it but Jenn was a long ball off field hitter that stunned most teams. She could send the ball deep right field without batting an eye. She enjoyed camping with the family and did quite a bit of travelling as well. She had been to England, Wales and Scotland when 9 years old, a trip to Mexico at 17 and over the rest of her lifetime the only part of Canada she had not been to was the Maritimes. She has also been to a number of the states on both the east and west coast. In her mid 30’s, she finally fulfilled one of her dreams, by getting her own motorcycle and learning to ride. After a rocky start, she took to it with a vengeance. Even though her bike was smaller, she was determined to keep up with the big dawgs and after only 6 months she was getting rid of her disposable bike and bought her first Harley. Mind you she didn’t keep it long as she wanted something bigger after she had spent so much time “stealing” Lens bike. She loved being out on the big touring bike and being able to ride it like she stole it. (Which she kinda did at times) She always loved stating the fact that when the guys on the same size bike would see her, the looks on their faces were of pure amazement and then she would twist the throttle and out do them. With her new found love of riding also came her generosity in helping and enabling other new women riders and her passion for riding for a cause. She has spent many long hours both organizing and riding for the benefit of Breast Cancer, a cause that was always close to her heart. She has pushed herself on many bike runs, proving to herself that she was capable of anything. She rode into the USA on her own thru rain, snow and sun, on a mission to find a friend and bring them home. She also accomplished what very few would even try and ride over a 1700 kms (1000 miles) in one day.

Jenn was a diamond in the rough but a class act just the same. She might seem hard and bitchy but if you took the chance to get to know her you would find that she was truly the opposite. She had a carpe diem attitude, zest for life and generosity of spirit. If you gave her lemons, somehow she would make lemonade. She wouldn’t take No for an answer, it was always go big, go home and get over it! She was always in the lead somehow and was obviously a born leader, and she worked well under pressure. She was always organized even though she would quote that “it was like herding cats” trying to keep us all in line. She would keep the routes straight (if only in her head) so that we all got to where we were going and she would do this without using a map. Even with all of this she still had a tendency to mother everyone, especially on the road. She would be the first one up and getting everyone coffee, even if she had to ride down the street to find it. I still can’t figure out how she would bring back multiple coffees on her bike. She tackled a career change in midlife, which is a hard thing to do, especially competing with the young 20 year old brains! Yet again it was a competition to her and she had to be out in the lead. There were so many driving characteristics in Jenn. She was sincere, caring, compassionate, thoughtful, loving and you could always count on her to have your back in times of trouble. Her intelligence and spirit are to be admired by all. Jenn was fun and adventurous and there was never a dull moment with her around. Jenn was the hostess with the mostest and always held the best of gatherings big or small. I can see it now, she will be the party coordinator for the big man upstairs!

Jenn was loved by many in all walks of life. She may not have been perfect and will probably not end up as God’s right hand woman, but hey she had other qualities that counted. She shared an enthusiasm for life with her friends that in turn made their lives better for knowing her. Jenn wouldn’t want you to shed a tear but to party on in celebration of her life. So now let’s raise our glasses in her memory and seize the day!