Mary Evelyn Trace

It is with profound sadness that I, Sheila Kearns, announce the passing of my much loved sister, Mary Evelyn TRACE (nee KEARNS), in Calgary, Alberta on Sunday, January 14th, 2024 at the age of 78 years.

Mary was born in Calgary on December 10, 1945 to her parents, R.Q.S.M. Percy George KEARNS and Evelyn Fanny Cameron KEARNS (nee HANCOCK), after Percy returned from England and his posting in World War II. She was their second child and first daughter.

Mary was predeceased by both her parents, both sets of grandparents, all her aunts and uncles and two years ago, in January of 2022 by her only brother, Reginald G. C. Kearns who was born April 17, 1941 and whose obituary can only be found on this website.

Mary is survived by her husband, Francis J. Trace (Calgary), her younger, and only, sister Sheila F. Kearns (Steve Berini) of Calgary; her very special cousin Pauline Ashley and Pauline’s daughters, Carol Moore (Dave), Donna Coupland, and Lynn Delaney (Mike) (all of Calgary); her very special cousin Daniel Simons (London, England); niece Sherry Jurykovsky (nee Trace) (Ron) of Calgary; niece Janet Trace (Phil Zelenka) of Cochrane; and numerous second cousins.

She is also survived by a circle of wonderful and very special friends including: Sally Lang (Sidney, BC); Pat Wilson (England); Rebecca and Eric Bouwsema (Cochrane); Pat & Gord Kamitomo (Calgary); Judy Axelson (Calgary), Lisa Lawson (Calgary); Sharon McDonald (Crawford Bay, BC) and Ursula Corsten (Geilenkirchen, Germany), as well as many others.

Mary grew up in the West Hillhurst district of Calgary, in the house her parents purchased after the war. It was a house of the era, with a vegetable garden and a clothes line in the back. She played with her neighbourhood friends in the front yard, and walked to school. It was a good and happy childhood surrounded by people who loved her.

Mary attended Queen Elizabeth from Grade 1 right through to graduating Grade 12 from Queen Elizabeth High School. After graduation she turned her attention to her chosen career of nursing and was, at the age of 18, accepted as a nursing student at St. Giles King’s College Hospital in London, England where she commenced her training on October 18, 1964. The nursing training she received was extensive and covered many medical avenues over a 4 year period and on January 23, 1968 Mary received her nursing diploma.

Mary loved her time living in England, and even managed to find herself a second set of parents named Charles & Alice Munden. It happened that Mary’s mother, Evelyn, met a young English woman about Mary’s age on the return train trip from Montreal to Calgary after seeing Mary off by ship bound for England. The girl’s name was Carol Munden and she was coming from London to live in Calgary. Carol knew nobody and Evelyn, as was her common practise, invited Carol to come and live with the Kearns family until she got settled in her own place. To reciprocate Carol contacted her parents, Charles & Alice Munden, who lived in London, told them Mary was living there, and they “adopted’ Mary into their family. That relationship lasted until the passing of Charles & Alice many years later. She also made many friends in London in those early years of nursing and enjoyed many adventures with them.

As a young teenager of 14 Mary, following in her brother Reg’s footsteps, joined the Calgary Rifle & Pistol Club where she took basic firearms training. She really enjoyed the sport, but it was interrupted when she left for England. On her return to Calgary, Mary rejoined the Club and that’s where she met her husband, Francis. They were married in August of 1974 and it was Charles Munden who walked Mary down the aisle as her own father, Percy, had already passed away.

Over the years Mary became an accomplished marksman which led to a lifetime interest in competitive rifle shooting. For many years she and Francis travelled around competing in rifle competitions all over Canada including Alberta matches, competitions in Cranbrook and Fort Steele, BC, Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, the National Rifle Championships in Ontario, and three times at the National Silhouette Competition in Whitehorse, Yukon and more.

Locations in Montana such as Great Falls, Shelby and Carter were also familiar places where Mary and Francis travelled to compete. She loved and excelled at her chosen sport and to her credit she won her fair share of trophies and medals wherever she competed, which stood proudly on her shelf at home.

Mary worked in nursing for a few years when she returned home to Calgary from the UK. Her first nursing position was at what was then the “new” Foothills Hospital. She also worked at the hospital in Stettler and at the Bethany Care Centre in Calgary. However, Mary did not like the differences in nursing between England and the way things were done in Canada, so she eventually gave it up and pursued another career interest and talent – bookkeeping. She enjoyed working several years at the law firm of Pittman Newcombe where she developed lifelong friends, and Mary was as good at bookkeeping as she was at nursing.

It’s been said that real passion is something special. To become passionate about something as a child and then be able to carry it with you all the rest of your days, is an amazing thing. Well, one thing for sure - Mary was a passionate person. Everyone who knew Mary knew she had four major passions in life, all of which she pursued with vigor, longevity and utter enjoyment – Shooting, Sewing, Genealogy and Photography.

Mary’s mother was a tailor and dressmaker and at a young age Mary was enthralled by everything her mother could do. She’d watch as Evelyn hand-sewed the gold braiding onto the sleeves of local Naval Officers who dropped their uniforms off to the only woman in town who knew how to do it. Or she watched intently as her mom would turn yards and yards of heavy woolen plaid material, draped over the dining room table, into precisely folded and stitched kilts for the Calgary Highlander Pipe Band. She loved it all and learned much from her mother, then later taught herself quilting, crocheting and much more. She mainly loved quilting and spent many hours at her sewing machine over the years, turning bits of fabric into the beautiful treasures family and friends still own.

Somewhere around 1978 or 1979 Mary developed a keen interest in genealogy and it would become a huge part of her life and take her on many trips of discovery to parts of Canada, the USA and the United Kingdom, more often as not with cousin Pauline Ashley. She wanted to know everything she could about her Scottish, Irish and English roots and became proficient to the point where, over the years, others sought her out for help in the field. Through her extensive search which took her to libraries, graveyards, archives, internet searches and everything involved in this type of research, Mary discovered relatives that otherwise would never have been known to the family. To this day our favourite and most cherished “discovery” is Cousin Daniel who lives in London, with whom she was in constant contact.

Mary was also an excellent photographer and left behind a large and beautiful collection of photographs. She loved nature, especially flowers and wildlife – bears, birds, wolves, elk, chipmunks, wildflowers, glaciers, rivers and trees – all forms of nature have been captured to be enjoyed in her photographs. For 25 years Mary and Francis made an annual trek in their motorhome to Hyder, Alaska and would stay for a month to photograph bears and enjoy the company of others who travelled miles and miles for the same purpose. Her family back in Calgary never had anniversary gatherings for them because they were always in Alaska in August.

Mary & Francis originally focused on capturing images of the bears at the Fish Creek Observation Site at Hyder where the bears came to fish during the salmon runs. But as the years progressed you would apparently often see Mary up and out real early, on her own, going down to the dock or pond or somewhere along the road capturing flowers, mushrooms or landscapes of all sorts with her camera.

Mary and Francis made and maintained many friends in Hyder over the years, friends who hearing of her passing wrote and said … “WE WILL TRULY MISS HER!” And she missed them. As the years passed, health and life made it impossible to continue going up to Hyder, and Mary would often say how much she missed it and all her friends.

This is a selection of quotes written in the sympathy cards received by the family, and I believe they describe who Mary was, very well, and you will note a theme.

“Mary was a kind soul; Mary was a kind person and a great friend to so many; What a wonderful friend she was; We just simply loved her because she was so sweet and kind to us and she was always so welcoming; Mary was never hesitant to be helpful - she always spoke well of us to other people; We had many long conversations and that was just so wonderful”.

And from Isobel Pittman at Pittman Newcombe, with whom Mary worked closely for many years: “It was just plain happiness working together with Mary. She was like our late Queen - loyal, industrious, dedicated and great to work with”.

Mary loved her family and her friends deeply and was always so kind, concerned and so very caring.

When our brother Reg passed, Mary wrote this:

He was always close to his sisters. From childhood Reg was always there when we needed him. We laughed a lot at his crazy, often odd, humour, and he had such a great laugh and smile. Our lives are definitely emptier now that our big brother has left us, but, what wonderful memories we have of that incredible sense of humor and his kind, loving, caring nature, and what stories we can tell.

With my sister Mary’s passing, I write:

We three - Reg and Mary and I were always close. From childhood we were there for each other when we needed to be. We laughed a lot and shared many adventures. We cried together when tragedies came our way, and picked each other up when needed. And we loved each other. My life is definitely emptier now they are both gone, BUT, I was so lucky in life to have them both and I am truly blessed. What wonderful memories I have of sibling kindness, love, caring and sharing. And what stories I can tell !

One more thing about Mary – she LOVED Christmas. She absolutely loved everything about it and always looked forward to making and sharing handmade crafts with family and friends. She loved to go driving around to see the lights. So, at her favourite time of year, if you happen to think of her remember Mary for the joy of Christmas she loved so much, and kind soul she was.

The family would like to thank the amazing doctors, nurses and medical staff members in Unit 39 of the Peter Lougheed Hospital, They went above and beyond in the care she received and what they did for her is greatly appreciated. And also, Thank You to the wonderful staff at Revera Evergreen. Everyone was so kind and she appreciated everyone so very much.

Mary’s wishes were to be cremated and that she be buried in the Town of Elnora, Alberta.

Rest in Peace, Dearest Mary. You will be forever in our thoughts and our hearts with many wonderful, happy memories being cherished.

In Lieu of Flowers please make a donation to a charity or organization that is your passion, whatever it may be, to pass along the kindness and caring Mary felt for others, animals and the world around us. And if you have remembrances of Mary you would like to share, please post them on this website for all to enjoy.