November 19, 1927 – May 28, 2024

Audrey Rang was born in Dordrecht in the Netherlands to a family of bakers.

After surviving the Nazi occupation of Holland, she married her great love, the late Willem “Pim” Rang, in 1947.

Audrey and Pim immigrated to Canada in 1953 along with her parents and her brothers Henk, Tony, and Bill Bruinink and her sister Elba DeVoest.

Audrey was a trailblazer – a working mom in the long-term care sector at a time when there weren’t many women in the workforce. She took care of the elderly like she did everything -- with kindness, wit and boundless energy. Audrey and William raised five children – Rita (Bart), Debbie (Hans), Wendy (John), Elba (Malcolm) and Lloyd (Marcella) – in places like Mount Brydges, Strathroy, Whitby, Oshawa, Kingston and Dunnville.

Everywhere she went, Audrey made lifelong friends, organized activities and social events, and brought a sense of mischief and fun. Audrey never stopped learning and growing and exploring her world.

Following the death of her husband in 2004, she travelled, read, took care of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and served as an inspiration to her family and friends.

She lived independently well into her 90s and kept in touch with everyone using her iPad.

Towards the end of her life, Audrey thought a lot about her purpose in the world.

As a committed Christian, she believed she had been given so many good years to help show the love of God to others and to tell her story to the many people she met and befriended – including the amazing staff at Hillsdale. And she did.

She was an ever-present part of her growing family’s lives – praying for each person by name each night, and visiting, offering advice and understanding and love. When her children were small, she taught them how to be independent. When they became independent, she showed them – by example – how to love and live well. Sometimes, she’d phone out of the blue because she “just had a feeling” one of her children needed her, and she would always be right.

Audrey passed away peacefully in Oshawa, Canada at the age of 96.

She wanted more than anything to be reunited with her husband and to meet the God she loved, and her family believes that now, she is truly at home and at rest.

She will always be Mom/Moeder to her five children, Oma to her 15 grandchildren, and Omi to her 22 great-grandchildren.

She leaves a marvellous legacy, a lasting impact on the lives she touched, and a tremendous Audrey-shaped hole in the lives of those who will miss her tremendously.

There will be a small funeral for immediate family, followed by a public celebration of life to be announced later.