Brenda Ross

Brenda Ross (nee Sumner) was born at home on February 11, 1929 in the small town of Great Crosby, near Liverpool, England to Sidney and Margarita Sumner. This event took place during a massive storm that rattled the house, freezing the water pipes. She is grateful to her mother for refusing to let her over-imaginative father saddle her with the name of either ‘Storm’ or ‘Blizzard’!

Brenda was ten years old when the Second World War was declared. She sat listening to the radio with her sister and parents as the news broke. It didn’t bother her much until she and her sister went out to play and a very emotional neighbour ran out of the house sobbing hysterically. She and her sister looked at each other and decided this was the thing to do. So they went home and began to weep. Their father laughed and reassured them that it was nothing to be concerned about, that it would all be over in a few weeks.

Between August 1940 and August 1942, when the Liverpool area was targeted with daily German air raids, Brenda remembered, as the air-raid sirens screeched their warning each night, it was towards the underground cellar of her parents' house that the neighbours gravitated. She recalled the comforting sound of defiant laughter coming from the adults as they warmed themselves with homemade soup, donated their monthly ration of four ounces of sweeties (candy) to the children, and even wore evening clothes for special occasions, despite bombs exploding down the street. She remembered playing charades in the bomb shelters, with some of her friends turning this old parlour game into an art form. They would act out complicated scenes with the relative words so deeply hidden that everyone seldom guessed the answer. Brenda didn’t care, and looked forward to those underground theatre sessions.

Although the family was not Catholic, Brenda got her education at Seafield Convent School in a “futile attempt” by her parents to have the nuns transform her into a proper lady. After school, Brenda worked as a shorthand typist for Passmores, a small department store. It was here where she met her boss and mentor, Mr. Powney. Mr. Powney turned her world upside-down, educating Brenda on the realities of the world, from balancing a budget and negotiating a mortgage to knowing the difference between sentiment and sentimentality. Brenda always remembered the lessons that Mr. Powney taught her, providing her family with many stories over the years of his wisdom. Her daughters remember being subjected to many stories which began with “Mr. Powney said.......”

In 1956, Brenda married Eric Ross and moved to West Africa, where he was an engineer for the Bremang Gold Dredging Company in the Gold Coast, just before it became Ghana. One morning while Eric was at work, Brenda was sitting alone on the veranda of her detached bungalow when she heard chanting. She looked up and saw a ring of Africans surrounding her house, advancing toward her – barefoot and swinging cutlasses. It was later that she learned that this was the accepted method of cutting the tropical brush. The rhythmic chanting protected their bare feet by ensuring their cutlasses worked in unison!

In 1962, when new horizons beckoned, Brenda and her husband Eric immigrated to Winnipeg, Canada. In 1969, they moved again and Brenda found her niche as the Community Librarian for the Aldergrove Branch of the Fraser Valley Regional Library – a magical occupation for someone who had enjoyed a life-long love affair with the written word. She worked for the library for nineteen years before retiring in 1994.

After retirement, Brenda and Eric moved to Chilliwack and she was free to pursue her hobbies of reading and creative writing. Her stories and articles appeared in several print and on-line publications. She also received several awards for her writing, one award leading to a memorable trip to New York with her daughters.

Brenda was a loving mother to three children all born six years apart – Andy (1958-1997), Kathy (1964), and Liz (1970). Her daughters have many fond memories of their mother who, despite having to deal with some turmoil, always made her kids feel special. She was not always the traditional mother, as she was aware of the latest rock bands and other popular culture. She enjoyed socializing with her children's friends and providing them with her wisdom and stories. She was often known as “the neighbourhood mom”.

In 2006, at the age of 77, Brenda was excited to welcome her first grandchild, Eric, to the world. Despite the distance of the ferry, she was able to spend many happy times with him. One of Eric’s first words was in fact “Nana”.

Her computer was a lifesaver for her, as her health in later years often prohibited her from venturing out of the house too often. She spent many hours using her computer for her writing. She had all the latest technology and, at times, was the one to teach her daughters how to do things on the computer. She enjoyed using instant messenger to communicate with her friends and daughters, and she even had a profile on Facebook.

Sadly, Brenda passed at the age of 79 years on April 18, 2008. She was predeceased by her Father (1970), Mother (1973), her husband, Eric (1998), her son, Andy (1997) and her son-in-law, Mike (1990).

She is survived by her two daughters, Kathy and her husband Guy of Maple Ridge, and Liz and her husband Richard and their son Eric of Victoria. She is also survived by her brother David and wife Kate Sumner from England and her sister Joan Jones from England.

Brenda’s daughters are so grateful that she had the opportunity to spend her final years in such a splendid community as the Cottonwood Village. She made such wonderful friends who loved her as much as she loved them. She was active in the community, writing and producing shows for the Cottonwood Castoffs, editing the newsletter and making sure to phone everyone on their birthdays.

Brenda was a wonderful listener who knew everyone’s secrets and always kept them. She had a beautiful spirit and was loved by all who knew her. She had many friends of all ages who cared deeply for her, and she was always there for them. She will be deeply missed by all.

A memorial service for Brenda was held at eleven o'clock on the morning of April 26, 2008 in the chapel of Henderson's Funeral Home in Chilliwack, British Columbia. Reception followed at one o'clock at the Cottonwood Clubhouse in Chilliwack.

In lieu of flowers, donations to the Canadian Lung Association would be appreciated.