Imago Dei

Audrey Catherine Simard-Pettit | January 13, 1997-January 28, 2026 |

Imago Dei - Image of God.  This is the dignity we all share from the moment we exist, we are given a soul intertwined with a body that reflects our beautiful uniqueness.  We are born and grow with this soul.  We love, work and move with this soul.  We can do good or bad while we carry this soul.  There will never be another you and there will never be another Audrey.  

Her beautiful soul loved fiercely, laughed freely, joked always.  She defended injustice, she boldly stood for the dignity of others.  She imagined fantastic things.  Her soul loved nature and science and creepy mysteries.  She was thrilled by animals and flowers.  She perfected recipes, made sweets and had tea parties.  She loved movies, illustrations and cute stories.  She argued when she was wrong, she argued when she was right and she said sorry.  She told me how to drive when she didn’t know how and she asked me to drive her around when she couldn’t.  We had sleepovers when she was little and she had sleepovers when she became an Aunt.  She kissed babies and babysat  and squeezed love into everyone.  She made silly faces and dances and never made you feel like you were not enough.  She knew me and those she loved so well, that she called us to bravery, inspired us to create, showed us joy, and defended us so purely because she knew our worth.  Audrey created art, she was art. 

 She also suffered greatly these last two and half years, and when her body started to wear out, she desired to be home so her soul could go home.  She trusted us to care for her (James and my Mom suffered with her the most).  We watched and cared for her as her body broke down.  Her body, that visual picture of her soul stopped aligning with the beauty of Audrey.  Every few days I would meet a new version of her physically, but her precious soul would always shine.  She would give kisses and hugs. Rest her head on my shoulder, sway and dance with me, and sing songs.  Sometimes when the clouds lifted from her mind we would talk and joke.  When her frailty was present she would still try to make me go on an adventure with her (next door to my mom’s).  In the end we shared what very few people can experience in a relationship.  I cared for her similarly from when she was born both states completely dependent.  I still had the strength as the older sister to cradle her and pick her up even to her last day.  

Her body failed her as all bodies do.  But her beautiful soul is ever present, the lives she touched and loved along the way has brought both sorrow in my grief and wonderful joy in knowing the edges and corners of her life I did not know.  I am discovering new things about her and they burn, and pierce, and are a balm to my heart.

 Thank you beautiful Soul, you were so precious to me and continue to be.  When we lay your body to rest in the ground I will be reminded that someday we will be soul to soul again, but until then, I will appreciate the carving you placed upon my heart.  Raw and true and beautiful, dear sister—the woman I love.