Lois Jeanne Vicens

October 16, 1929 – August 20, 2021

Lois spent the long summer of 2021 at St. John Hospice enjoying her reading and favourite TV shows and movies surrounded by hummingbirds, dragon flies and butter flies, and the loving care of staff at St. John Hospice. Prior to her move there at the end of June, Lois was well cared for by her VCH Home Support Case Manager Johneen McElroy, RN and that program's many caring home-visit support staff. Family and friends are equally appreciative of the impeccable medical care Lois’s received at St. Paul's Hospital and VGH, and from the BC Ambulance Service, and Dorothy Fairley, ND, Paul Dodsworth, DC, and his wife Grainne Murphy, who cared for Lois for many decades.

Wife of José Vicens from Buenos Aires, Argentina (pre-deceased). Daughter of Frank Ellis Sibley and Dorothy Margaret (Barwis) Sibley, from Lethbridge, Alberta (pre-deceased). Sister Shirley (Sibley) Farrel of Claresholm, Alberta (pre-deceased); and sister to Louise (Sibley) Envik, (pre-deceased) and aunt to Louise’s children: Gilbert Wade Envik of Greenwood, Nova Scotia, and Shannon (Envik) Hansen (and husband Byron Hansen) of Swift Current, Saskatchewan.

Lois was a 15-year veteran of Canada's Public Service, serving from 1953 to 1968. Lois began her career in 1953 as a civilian support staff member with the RCAF in its Construction and Maintenance Unit (2 CMU) in Calgary, Alberta. In 1955, she moved to Ottawa where she joined the Department of External Affairs. Her first foreign posting was as support staff to Canada’s Embassy in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1956. In early 1960, she was reassigned to Canada’s Embassy in Washington, DC. She said she was lucky enough to witness John F. Kennedy deliver his famous “Ask not what your country can do for you” Presidential inauguration speech in person in January 1961, and to meet and speak with US Secretary of State David Dean Rusk during a later occasion. In late 1961, Lois was granted a transfer request to the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi, India where she lived and served until 1963. During this period, she met India's Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and its future P.M. Indira Gandhi.

At the end of her two-year posting to India, she returned to Ottawa before being re-assigned to Canada's Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she was posted from late 1963 to 1968. It was there that Lois met and married her beloved soulmate José Vicens in 1967. Sadly, her husband died in a swimming accident in 1968. Shortly thereafter, Lois returned to Ottawa where she took her decision to leave the public service. In 1969, Lois moved to Vancouver, BC, where she continued to live and share her many spiritual gifts with an ever-growing circle of friends.

Lois leaves behind a number of longtime and more recent cherished friends. Among these are: Tony Jordan (her unofficially adopted son), Tony’s partner, Lorraine Smith of Victoria, BC; Joe Chan from New Delhi, India and Ladner, BC; Inis Pape from Buenos Aires and North Vancouver; Barbara Kennedy of Ottawa; Helen Frost and her husband Don, and daughter Sara from Thousand Oaks, California; Lawrence Lee of Vancouver, BC; Doreen Kay Henson of Gibsons, BC; Jeanette Roberts, Robert Follett and Elizabeth Kiraly of Vancouver; Kathy Purves Allen of North Vancouver; John J. Heney of Ottawa; Richard Weins of Coquitlam, and her Executor, Paul H. LeMay, of Vancouver.

The days following Lois's peaceful passing, humming birds were seen by various family members and friends.

There will be a celebration of life gathering for Lois in Vancouver at noon on Thursday, September 9, 2021. Please contact Executor for more details at PH_LeMay (at) yahoo (dot) ca.