Elvi Karen Clark

Clark, Elvi Karen (nee: Elvi Muinonen), born May 27, 1925 in Mikkeli Finland, died on December 31, 2020 at Guildford Seniors Village, Surrey. Predeceased by her beloved husband John. She will remain forever in the hearts of her children (Chris, Cindy, and Cammie) and their families (Caitlin, Brett, Trevor, Shaun, Elissa and Clark).

Elvi arrived in Canada as a young child along with her mother, Alma, and younger brother, Kauko. They were to reunite with Henrik in New Westminster. Grandpa, as he told us, saw no future farming rocks in Finland so he journeyed to B.C. looking for work. And as was the way in those days, somehow Henrik Muinonen morphed into Henry Lake. While Elvi lost Muinonen from her name she never lost Finland from her heart. Whether it be casually sauntering into a room pretending not to know the score whenever the Finns were beating Canada or her attempts to recreate Grandma’s perfect pulla bread she was proud of her Finnish heritage.

About 15 years ago, while organizing papers as dementia forced mom into care, we came across some newspaper articles including one concerning Elvi, a five-foot two dynamo driving her high school basketball team to a win. Dynamo was still an apt description for the mature Elvi diving into a myriad of activities including singing Messiah with the Handel Society, learning to paint in oil, returning to UBC claiming bragging rights in ENG200 compared to her husband and son’s less than stellar performances in said course, bowling, golfing, cheering for the Brooklyn (later LA) Dodgers or the Jays, and Sunday night poker with friends. Her approach was always the same – take part in life, enjoy, and give it your best.

Those same papers yielded a book documenting the history of Lasqueti Island where the still young Miss Lake was the teacher. The school caught fire. Miss Lake was lauded for her calm response, organization, and quick thinking as she got the young children safely out of the school while organizing the older boys into a bucket brigade quelling the fire. Nothing much changed as she applied these skills when volunteering at the local school, setting up and running the Sapperton branch of the Cancer Society, teaching adult reading at I CARE or becoming a “tax lady” for H&R Block.

Over the years each of us, in our turn, absorbed basic lessons as they came along. Mundane activities like how to budget and save were delivered with humour and patience imparting skills that would pay off later in life. Big challenges like fostering troubled children required love and compassion tempered by patience and reason. She created a safe loving environment for needy children while we learned to accept them as siblings and realize that sometimes others needed more time and attention than we did through no fault of their own.

Elvi was well read but not one to quote philosophers, Harry Belafonte and Leo Durocher excepted, yet maybe the way we experienced her life is best expressed by one:

` “The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge. Neither love without knowledge, nor, knowledge without love can produce a good life.” (Bertrand Russell)

John, our father, was of a similar ilk; they were well matched. Truth be told Elvi adored John just as deeply as he loved her. It was easy to see they were bonded as lovers and partners for life. Still, John marvelled that Elvi chose him. He held an abiding belief that Elvi could have done anything or become anyone. We believe this as well and, on many occasions, paused to wonder if mom would make the same life choices were she born to a more recent generation. We can never know but we thank our lucky stars understanding that the better parts of ourselves came from the way our parents lived their good lives.

Our family would like to thank the staff at Guildford Seniors Village who gave Elvi a home as well as excellent care for over a decade.

At Elvi’s behest there will be no service. But she left one request. If you’re of a mind, a donation to the Canadian Cancer Society (B.C.) or purchasing a daffodil in April would make a fitting remembrance.