It is with the most profound sadness that our family announces the sudden and shocking death of our beloved Allison - wife, mom, Nana, sister, niece, cousin, Godmother, role-model, and friend to so many. It is an impossible task to sum up a 76 year-long life so well-lived in a blog post, but we will do our best to hit the highlights here.

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Marie Teresa Allison Fonseca was born in Mumbai on July 19, 1949 - the eldest of Ida and Theodore Fonseca's four children.

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Encouraged by her musical parents, Allison started singing and playing the piano from a very young age. She won her first talent competition at the age of 5 - through the singing of "The Shoemaker's Shop." She was blessed with the gift of perfect pitch and it wasn't long before she started wowing party crowds with her ability to play any song by request. Often in duo with her sister, Norma, the two would often perform at socials of their Victoria Church parish and other competitions. Together, the "Allison Fonseca Singers" even recorded an album!

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Allison was a diligent student and after completing her Bachelor of Arts in English Literature at Sophia College, she enrolled in a Master's degree in the same subject at Bombay University. Shortly after graduation, she became the youngest-ever professor at Ruia College.

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While Allison always presented a very modest image, she did have the spark of adventure and imagination. Without any real plan, she decided to come to Canada to visit some cousins in 1975. This was to be the first stop on an anticipated "world tour." Following a stint in Toronto, she made her way to Edmonton...where she met (and soon married) Aurelio Fernandes. So ended the world tour...at least for then! Allison worked as a nanny for some family friends within the local Goan community and also started to teach after-school piano classes at St. Philip Elementary.

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Allison and Aurelio added to their family over the next few years through the arrival of their daughters, Anoushka and Monisha. Allison chose to focus on her new job of motherhood and over the years, became St. Anne Elementary's most reliable and dedicated parent volunteer. "Mrs. Fernandes" was a cherished role model for many of her daughters' compatriots, accompanying school choirs at their participation in Kiwanis festivals, chaperoning field trips, playing O Canada at school assemblies, and just otherwise being a caring and available grown-up for young children to talk to.

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Allison was determined to make the most of her new life in Canada and ensure that her children had access to things she couldn't have dreamed up growing up in India. With Aurelio, she led the family on memorable family vacations to Disneyland, Disneyworld, Niagra Falls, the Canadian East Coast, Australia and of course - many, many family reunion trips to India. She and Aurelio also enjoyed several adventures on their own to Europe, South America, and Africa (Project World Tour achieved!) With Aurelio, she wanted to ensure her daughters had a solid grounding in their Goan culture and Catholic faith and were active members of the Edmonton Goan Community. They proudly opened their home to many informal and "accidental" Goan parties over the years - with the feature always being an evening-ending sing-song led by Allison at the piano (with Aurelio often accompanying on guitar).

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Sometimes, people would mistake Allison's soft-spoken, proper outward appearance as a sign of weakness...at their peril. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Indeed, Allison was the true strength and strategy behind many of Aurelio's major business projects; and she instilled in her daughters a fierce sense of independence and taught them many skills to ensure they would be self-sufficient in adulthood. She also never failed to tell them how proud she was of all of their accomplishments - in their careers and with their families.

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As much as she enjoyed motherhood, though - there is no doubt that of all Allison's many titles throughout her life, "Nana" was her most favourite. With the arrival of Theo in 2012 and Sebastian and Sienna in 2013, she found tremendous joy in being part of her grandchildren's lives. From frequent trips to California to visit Theo to her utter delight in hosting Sebastian and Sienna for sleepovers, she cherished any time spent with her grandchildren. So much so, that she often broke her own rules, leaving her daughters utterly confused as to where their strict, disciplinarian mother had disappeared. :)

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Allison maintained excellent physical health all through her life. She was highly accomplished in the practice of Hatha yoga, and routinely went for walks (outside in the summer, on the treadmill at any risk of ice). Sadly, her fitness, continued love of music and crosswords, and excellence in cooking literally anything did not spare her from the onset of cognitive decline. We are grateful that while Allison's short-term memory was greatly impaired over the last year of her life, she always recognized her family and close friends. We are also indebted to the Alzheimer's Society of Alberta and Northwest Territories as well as Caregivers Alberta for their incredible caring, compassion, and helpful resources that made our navigation of this horrible disease a bit easier to understand and process.

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Allison was so happy to see Monisha for a week in June 2025 and to receive her daily facetime calls to just say hi. On August 27, Allison and Aurelio joined Anoushka and her family for a lovely evening sitting of family portraits near Lake Beaumaris, followed by a late dinner with Aurelio. Tragically, in the early hours of August 28, Allison suffered a massive cardiac arrest in her sleep. Our family is deeply grateful to the first responders who arrived on scene almost immediately; as well as the emergency room staff who continued resuscitation efforts for just over an hour. Unable to restart an independent heartbeat, it was time for Allison-Mom-Nana to reunite with her parents and so many other beloved family members and friends who had gone before her, leaving us devastated and questioning how this could have happened.

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Aurelio, Anoushka, Monisha, Ross, Theo, Sebastian, Sienna, Norma, Ivor, and Neville thank everyone for their outpouring of love and support. We are not entirely sure how we will manage the loss of our beloved Allison. But for the incontrovertible proof that we won't have to figure this out alone, we are so thankful.

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A Catholic Funeral Mass was held at 11am on Friday, September 5 at St. Matthew's Parish in Edmonton. Our sincere thanks to everyone who came together to give Allison such a beautiful send-off, especially those who assisted in the music. The full video of Allison' Funeral Mass has been uploaded here.

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In lieu of flowers, the family encourages those who feel so inclined to consider making a donation in Allison's name to any institution focused on dementia research, or any other organization which supports patients of dementia and their caregivers.

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On behalf of the family, thank you for all of the messages of condolences we have received. 

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