Victoria Anne Harrison

Victoria Anne Harrison passed away peacefully on April 7, 2025, surrounded by her loving family. Victoria was a brave, adventurous, inquisitive, knowledgeable, thoughtful, free-spirited person. In all aspects of her life, she embraced healthy living, nature, hiking and music. She believed in the benefits of forest bathing - spending a few moments as often as possible connecting with the trees, flowers, mushrooms, and forest animals. She also had a deep connection to music and its ability to transport her to a place of hope, peace and joy. She loved to dance. Victoria will be dearly missed.

Victoria was born July 14, 1941 in Englehart, Ontario. When she was three years old, her mother moved their family to Orillia, Ontario. Here, in a little house on Barrie Road, Victoria grew up with her younger sister Gwen and surrounded by cousins, learning the value of hard work and the loving force of family. Victoria’s love for music began when she stared singing for her church choir. Later her mother taught her to play the piano and violin, and in high school Victoria took up the clarinet. She joined the Orillia Kiltie Band and continued with the instrument throughout university. Victoria graduated from Guelph University with a degree in Household Sciences. In her third year of university, she met Paul Harrison and after two years of courting they were married on May 1, 1965.

Before starting a family, Paul and Victoria spent a few years travelling the world. For two years, they taught in Ghana, Africa and while there, travelled to East Africa through Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. In Tanzania they summited Mt. Kilimanjaro, at 19,000 ft! After their time in Africa, Victoria and Paul moved to Seattle, Washington where Paul started his PhD in oceanography and Victoria took on a dietetic internship and later a managerial position at Virginia Mason Hospital. After a couple of years, they adopted two boys and became pregnant with their first daughter. Paul was offered a position at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the family moved back to Canada and settled in Surrey, British Columbia. Another daughter arrived three years later.

Victoria was exceptional at raising a young family. Her time with them was filled with cooking healthy meals, checking homework, helping each child learn an instrument or two, driving them to various sports such as soccer and swim club. Somehow she still found time to establish a beautiful and extensive vegetable garden with fruit trees and beehives, work at various hospitals as a senior dietitian and keep up her fitness.

In the mid-1980’s Victoria started her own consulting business called 21st Century Nutrition. She worked with people to improve their diet and positively change underlying medical issues like diabetes and heart disease. At this same time there was a movement towards a vegetarian diet because research was showing people were healthier consuming more of a plant based diet. Victoria co-wrote a best seller in Canada called Becoming Vegetarian. Their book became the reputable source for anyone wanting to shift to a vegetarian diet.

In 2001, when Paul was nearing retirement, he was offered a director position at a new university in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Victoria and Paul accepted the job and lived there for the next 8 years. While Paul was continuing his research and work with students, Victoria continued with her nutritional work, writing articles, consulting and teaching English.

During their last year in Hong Kong, Victoria was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. At first the news was shocking, however, in time, Victoria embraced her new journey, determined to keep enjoying and doing the things she and Paul loved such as hiking, biking, traveling, and gardening.

Shortly afterwards, Paul and Victoria returned to Vancouver and settled close to UBC. Paul continued writing research papers while Victoria took up volunteering as an educator at the UBC Farm and teaching English classes. Then in 2016, Victoria lost the love of her life when Paul passed away suddenly. Through it all, Victoria remained dedicated to her pursuits; volunteering, walking with the UBC walking club and spending time with her eight grandchildren.

As time went on, Victoria’s Parkinson’s progressed, making certain loved activities challenging. In 2022, Victoria decided to move from UBC to Seton Villa where she could receive daily assistance and continue social activities. Her love of trees and plants was soon shared with everyone at Seton Villa, where she enjoyed identifying local trees on the property and researching details about the plants and flowers in the neighborhood.

Victoria knew Parkinson’s would continue to progress, making her day to day living experience more and more challenging. She also suffered a couple of bad falls. Victoria, being the brave, independent person that she was, decided to investigate MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying). She had lived a very full life, and she wanted to go out on her terms versus waiting for Parkinsons to soon take over all aspects of her life. On April 7, 2025, Victoria died peacefully underneath a beautiful, blooming magnolia tree, with her family by her side.

In the weeks leading up to April 7, Victoria was able to connect with many of her close friends and family, so in lieu of a Celebration of Life or flowers, please consider donating to Paul Harrison’s Endowment Fund: https://give.ubc.ca/memorial/paul-j-harrison/ or to the Galiano Conservancy Association: https://galianoconservancy.ca/ If you would like to share your email address: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScFPpLRAmo0ngbFz8xjpXbHQJUsIPxsrsAQ4EIrjxYFCgHREQ/viewform we will be emailing a slide show that captures Victoria’s life and information about her soon-to-be published book The Joy of Living – Remembering My Life.