Obituary for Violeta Cocjin Moore (Miramon)
Winnipeg visual artist Violeta Moore, 86, died quietly at her home on Friday, November 5th from the effects of dementia and a recent hip fracture.
Nursing skills opened the way for Vi to leave the Philippines and settle briefly in the United States and then in Canada. Artistic skills launched her into a second career as a visual artist. Travel counsellor training gave her a third career matching her curiosity to see the world.
Vi grew up in the town of Duenas in the Philippine province of Iloilo. She was the youngest daughter and second-last child of Matea Cocjin and Eduardo Miramon. As the apple of her grandfather’s eye, she was showered with love. She learned early on that she was free to choose distant goals and pursue them confidently. She loved to say she could do anything she wanted under the heat of the sun.
Vi earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Central Philippine University in Iloilo City, practised and taught nursing for a couple of years in Manila then moved to Newark, NJ and then Detroit, Michigan for post-graduate training. She wept as her plane took off from Manila, feeling that she would never again see the land of her birth. She never returned.
As expiry of her student visa in the U.S. approached, Vi learned that Victoria Hospital in London, Ont. was hiring nurses and immigration to Canada was possible. She practised in London and at the Perley-Robertson Hospital in Ottawa. She met the love of her life, the newspaperman Terence Moore, at a Thanksgiving party in Ottawa in 1969.
After they married and moved to Montreal, Vi earned the diploma in visual art from the School of Art and Design at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The school encouraged her with numerous prizes and awards along the way. She set up a studio in the basement of their first house, a duplex, where she was also the landlady managing the rental suite upstairs. She took delight in her role as aunt to Zelda, Nel, Candy, Bing, Melvin, Mia, Alex, Megan, Oliver, Remy, Rommel, Randy, Pearl, Ernesto, Bobby, Melanie, Eddie and Eric and their children.
When Terence’s newspaper career brought them to Winnipeg, his native city, she set up a studio on the second floor of their River Heights home. She studied lithography and raku sculpture, and also branched out into paper collage. She worked alongside other Winnipeg artists at the Clifton Street co-op and in the Portage and Main Press building at McDermot and Adelaide. She proudly signed all her work with the name Miramon. She exhibited her work annually in group shows and was encouraged by the sales that resulted.
She studied travel counselling, volunteered at the Age and Opportunity Bureau’s travel agency as part of her training and was soon hired to manage the agency. When the agency was closed, she turned her full attention to painting and sculpture.
Vi sang in the alto section of the choir at Holy Trinity Anglican Church and in the Winnipeg Seniors’ Choir. By the time the couple joined the congregation of St John’s Cathedral, dementia had begun to weaken her powers of memory and her attention span. She continued to take great delight in singing.
The COVID-19 pandemic and its lockdowns caused no inconvenience to the couple because they were happy to be left alone together in their last shared residence, a condo in the Ashdown Warehouse on Bannatyne Avenue. After a fall at home fractured her hip, the Health Sciences Centre got her back on her feet and sent her back home where she and Terence enjoyed a last few weeks together before her time ran out.
Nursing skills opened the way for Vi to leave the Philippines and settle briefly in the United States and then in Canada. Artistic skills launched her into a second career as a visual artist. Travel counsellor training gave her a third career matching her curiosity to see the world.
Vi grew up in the town of Duenas in the Philippine province of Iloilo. She was the youngest daughter and second-last child of Matea Cocjin and Eduardo Miramon. As the apple of her grandfather’s eye, she was showered with love. She learned early on that she was free to choose distant goals and pursue them confidently. She loved to say she could do anything she wanted under the heat of the sun.
Vi earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Central Philippine University in Iloilo City, practised and taught nursing for a couple of years in Manila then moved to Newark, NJ and then Detroit, Michigan for post-graduate training. She wept as her plane took off from Manila, feeling that she would never again see the land of her birth. She never returned.
As expiry of her student visa in the U.S. approached, Vi learned that Victoria Hospital in London, Ont. was hiring nurses and immigration to Canada was possible. She practised in London and at the Perley-Robertson Hospital in Ottawa. She met the love of her life, the newspaperman Terence Moore, at a Thanksgiving party in Ottawa in 1969.
After they married and moved to Montreal, Vi earned the diploma in visual art from the School of Art and Design at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The school encouraged her with numerous prizes and awards along the way. She set up a studio in the basement of their first house, a duplex, where she was also the landlady managing the rental suite upstairs. She took delight in her role as aunt to Zelda, Nel, Candy, Bing, Melvin, Mia, Alex, Megan, Oliver, Remy, Rommel, Randy, Pearl, Ernesto, Bobby, Melanie, Eddie and Eric and their children.
When Terence’s newspaper career brought them to Winnipeg, his native city, she set up a studio on the second floor of their River Heights home. She studied lithography and raku sculpture, and also branched out into paper collage. She worked alongside other Winnipeg artists at the Clifton Street co-op and in the Portage and Main Press building at McDermot and Adelaide. She proudly signed all her work with the name Miramon. She exhibited her work annually in group shows and was encouraged by the sales that resulted.
She studied travel counselling, volunteered at the Age and Opportunity Bureau’s travel agency as part of her training and was soon hired to manage the agency. When the agency was closed, she turned her full attention to painting and sculpture.
Vi sang in the alto section of the choir at Holy Trinity Anglican Church and in the Winnipeg Seniors’ Choir. By the time the couple joined the congregation of St John’s Cathedral, dementia had begun to weaken her powers of memory and her attention span. She continued to take great delight in singing.
The COVID-19 pandemic and its lockdowns caused no inconvenience to the couple because they were happy to be left alone together in their last shared residence, a condo in the Ashdown Warehouse on Bannatyne Avenue. After a fall at home fractured her hip, the Health Sciences Centre got her back on her feet and sent her back home where she and Terence enjoyed a last few weeks together before her time ran out.