November 5, 1957 - January 26, 2022
Dear Friends and Family,
With the deepest of sadness, the son and siblings of Elizabeth announce her unexpected passing from complications of her recent illness.
Mary Elizabeth was born in Regina, the first of four, the bar setter, and a woman who would always cherish her role as big sister.
Elizabeth attended schools in Regina, Winnipeg and Toronto. Early in her working life, she cut hair at The Razor's Edge but it wasn't long before Elizabeth left the smog of Toronto behind for the clean air of Northern Ontario and then on to the Yukon in early 1980s.
Throughout her life she would take on a wide variety of jobs with MacGyver-like versatility and ease.
Elizabeth came to Dawson the first time after our Dad visited. Debate exists that it was a mushroom picking trip that first brought her to the gold rush town. Like many, Elizabeth was drawn by the northern lights to stay, work and ultimately undertake the building of her beautiful home in West Dawson where she raised her beloved son, William.
The Yukon, the town of Dawson and surrounding communities welcomed her and supported her and for this, we are so very grateful to each and every one who called our sister "friend".
Our sister was an adventurer; fearless and brave. When William was 8, Elizabeth took him on an homage through Central America for 11 months to experience the culture and meet our mothers' ancestors.
In 2017, she and Will closed up the house, relocated to Revelstoke to help look after our ailing father. She purchased a house trailer, obtained employment and threw herself into the local community enjoying new experiences and new friends. When our dad passed a year later, Elizabeth and William returned to Dawson.
Most came to know Elizabeth as the mistress of Service Canada in Dawson. Her friends knew her to be independent, intelligent, extremely resourceful and resilient.
Elizabeth was a straight shooter, uncompromising on matters of right and wrong, euchre and cribbage. She had a great sense of fun and a wonderful sense of humour.
Her titanium exterior guarded a warm, sensitive, compassionate and humanitarian core. Elizabeth was as fierce, loving and loyal a friend, sister, mother and aunt as you could ever hope to have.
Elizabeth; First Born, Daughter, Sister, Niece, Girl Guide, Balmoral Hall Head Girl, First Fan of Gordon Lightfoot, Toronto hairstylist, motorcycle racer, Cycle Canada marketing rep, Fire Ranger, mushroom picker, Mother, home builder, sweet-pea grower, Parks Canada interpreter, super-powered Service Canada agent, dog lover, dog-sled musher, guardian of Gracie and beloved friend to so many.
Our beautiful Elizabeth is predeceased by her parents Janet and Terry.
She is survived by her loving son William, sisters Barbara (Grant) of Banff, Catherine of Ontario and brother Michael of Winnipeg, her niece Gillian, nephews Quinn and Liam, Uncles John of Chicago and Peter (Liz and family) of Calgary.
"Bye for now"
.....
"Were you ever out in the Great Alone,
when the moon was awful clear,
And the icy mountains hemmed you in
with a silence you most could hear;
With only the howl of a timber wolf,
and you camped there in the cold,
A half-dead thing in a stark, dead world,
clean mad for the muck called gold;
While high overhead, green, yellow and red,
the North Lights swept in bars? —
Then you've a hunch what the music meant...
hunger and night and the stars."
- Robert W. Service