Montreal, February 15, 2019 – A crowd of friends and family gathered at Rideau Memorial Gardens to say farewell and pay tributes to a soul who dedicated her life to enlightenment.

Gently in her sleep, Laura Semple Everett, passed away on Friday, February 8, after almost a decade long battle with bv-ftd.

She was brought up in a family of three brothers and a sister, surrounded by a deep love for art and artistic expressions. Her mother Veronique is an accomplished artist painter herself; she tried to teach all her children a deep love and understanding for art and music. Laura was a mystic explorer from her early childhood and tried to translate her explorations through her paintings. Roy, the elder of her brothers reminisced that when they were going to painting classes, he was the first to paint his canvas whereas Laura took days to work with the nuances and colours to reflect her inspiration.

After finishing her university degree at Concordia, Laura quickly realized the importance of Digital Art and was one of the early pioneers in Montreal to explore this field. She learned “Softimage”, a complex 3D Unix based software developed on Silicon Graphic High Performance Computers. This software eventually was used to produce epic movies such as Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, Titanic and many more.

Laura found the Bahá’í Faith early in her life perhaps during her High School years at Westmount High! Her teacher was John Guinty, a Bahá’í from Westmount Community. Laura found the Bahá’í Teachings in harmony with her spiritual growth and express it in a 22-page document addressed to the Universal House of Justice!

As she grew in Faith, her artistic vision developed further. She painted a fairly large abstract painting of thousands of hues and shades of orange colour which she wanted to be hand-delivered to the Hand of the Cause Ruhiyyih Khánum in Haifa, Israel. This was done in an extraordinary manner causing long conversations about the Faith through answering hundreds of questions from Israeli security agents in Montreal, Frankfurt, Tel-Aviv and Haifa!

Through her life, Laura always believed that love transcends all states of being. That our most inner soul is cosmic light and love. Through this love you find courage, strength, guidance and harmony with all. That the unity of our hearts, minds and spirits is reflected in all that is, and our most important quest in life is to unite together and share our kind and gentle love.

Laura had requested her family and friends to wear “light and bright” attire during her funeral service and celebrate her journey towards the Beloved with happiness and songs. And it was done as she wished, with flowers, songs and a message from the Bahá’í World Centre, Haifa:

“….the news of the passing of Laura Semple-Everett, has been received at the Bahá’í World Centre. Rest assured of the supplications of the House of Justice in the Holy Shrines for the progress of her soul throughout the worlds of God. Prayers will also be offered for the comfort and solace of her family members and loved ones at this time of bereavement.”

Laura was indeed a gentle, sweet and loving human being! A unique soul in the Worlds of God!