Christine Ann Salton

After an unbelievably brief battle with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, Chris passed away in her sleep at home on May 31, 2023. She was a very active, fit 75 year old, even working out with her trainer on the day before admission to hospital. From the first suspicion of a diagnosis on April 28 to the final moments was only a month. Through it all, Chris was brave, calm and steadfast in her desires for good, professional and compassionate care. The staff on the neurology ward at Vancouver General Hospital were excellent in supporting her fight for just the right services. She was advocating for herself the way she had done professionally and for loved ones. Likewise, the home care nursing, shift care nurses, home support workers and hospice physician from the South unit of Vancouver Coastal Health were everything that could be asked for as Chris' condition worsened.

Chris was pre-deceased by her father Alex Salton in 1992, and her mother Margaret Salton in 2009. Her husband - Nod Mirhady, daughter - Eleanor Mirhady, and grandson - Carter MacDonald were with her when she passed. Chris was an only child although she had close cousins in California (Mary C) and Washington (Lorraine and Jim L, Victor C) states. She was taken into the extended Mirhady family with open arms. Sister-in-law Susan Mirhady (Louis Anctil) and cousin Esther Ohanecian spent hours every day looking after her needs in her last weeks. Other family members: Alex Mirhady (Mindee); David Mirhady (Mary Alice); Tom Mirhady (Barbara Lane); and friends including Phil Grey (Michael) and Aaron Iverson (Rekha) visited, brought food, ran errands, and provided support in a great many ways. She took comfort from the visits of spiritual counselors at VGH, from Jay Olson of St. Stephen’s United Church, from her GP - Dr. Beth Joffe and from Dagmar Bernstein. If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes just as many to ease one's way out. Offers of support came from across Canada, the US, the UK and Germany.

Chris was born in Seattle in 1947 but moved to Japan in about 1955. Chris attended elementary school at St Maur's school in Yokohama, Japan from ages 8-16. She graduated from Star of the Sea Academy in San Francisco in 1965 and went on to the University of San Francisco. In 1967 she came to Canada and started at UBC. In the years since, she accumulated a BA in English from UBC, an RN from BCIT and a MSc(N) from UBC. She mentored many young nurses, and taught at City University.

Chris met her partner and husband Nod Mirhady when they worked together training volunteers at the Crisis Centre in 1973-4. After a few years of on-the-job training (for him), she married him in 1977. This would have been 49 years of life together. Together they raised their daughter Eleanor, and eventually their grandson Carter (and several cats and dogs, and a garden). Chris was very involved in caring for both. Carter has fond memories of trips with ‘Nonna’ and ‘Grampa’ to Saltspring island, to Palm Desert and Disneyland. Chris was the great arranger of lessons and activities for Eleanor as a child, and then Carter.

Chris spent 40+ years as a nurse - as a floor nurse and then clinical nurse specialist at the BC Cancer Agency, then as a Case Manager at Evergreen Health unit and her last working years in central intake at Pacific Spirit Health Unit. She was a great advocate for the physical and emotional needs of her patients all through her career. She knew the way the system worked, or could be made to work if one was pleasant, polite, and persistent. Chris also had an active career as a volunteer, among others, working at the Vancouver Crisis Centre, and later at the Vancouver International Wine Festival, Van Dusen Garden and very recently with IODE. All her activities - professional and volunteer - were ultimately about service to others.

From an early age Chris was a world traveler - back and forth across the Pacific to Japan in her youth, traveling independently to Hong Kong in her teens, and to Europe with the model UN in high school. She went to Mao’s China with a group of Canadian nurses in the mid seventies, when few tourists went. With husband Nod she went to England, the Netherlands and Israel in the '70's and '80's. The year 2000 found them in Italy for the first extended trip, returning many times over the next 20 years, living in local communities and learning Italian. They also went several times to Australia, snorkeling or diving on both coasts, as well as in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Caribbean. For Nod’s retirement they went on Safari in the Serengeti and up Kilimanjaro. All the trips involved some combination of natural wonders (under water or up mountains), art and architecture, gardens and fine food and wine. For the last decades, cruising has been a big part of the travel adventure, to Polynesia, the Mediterranean, through the Suez Canal, around India, to Angkor Wat, and Alaska. There would have been more cruising this year, but...

Chris was a great reader, often of British mysteries, a great gardener, often of roses (any colour but orange), and an enthusiastic owner and walker of dogs (currently a chocolate lab). Chris was a great fan of music and theater with season tickets at different times to the symphony, the opera, the Arts Club and Bard on the Beach. For more than 20 years she was a supporter of the men's chorus - Chor Leoni. She found that all of these -travel, books, gardens, dogs, music and theater - were great ways to meet people and chat with friends and strangers. She had the 'will to chat' and could talk comfortably with anyone. People in the neighborhood often stopped to talk about and admire her garden, resulting in advice and plant material going both ways.

Chris' passing has left a big hole in the lives of a great many people who had themselves felt the love and support from her in their lives and endeavors.

There will be a Celebration of Life at Saint Stephen’s United Church (7025 Granville) at 1 pm on June 25. If you are coming, please bring a flower from your own garden. If you would like to donate to something in memory of Chris Salton, consider something with beauty, for a beautiful woman - Chor Leoni or Van Dusen Garden, each in their own way, represent aspects of Chris' spirit.