My mother died on 17 December shortly after 11 p.m., exactly one month after her 94th birthday.

My sister Flo and I were with her. For the last hours, we were moved into a separate room so that we would not be disturbed. The ICU at Toronto General is very sensitive to the needs of both family and patient; and we much appreciated it. They had a radio, which we tuned to a classical music station (for my mother generally had music on at home); and Flo and I simply sat and talked, sometimes about our mother's life and sometimes other things, but maintaining a pretty steady chat. As our mother drifted deeper, the sounds that she heard were those of familiar voices and background music, as close as possible to having a nap at home.

She died peacefully in her sleep.