Shirley Bernice Saunders Wilson

October 1, 1935 – July 5, 2011

Shirley passed away peacefully at the Langley Memorial Hospital surrounded by her family following a stroke on June 22/11. She leaves behind Jack, her husband of 53 years, and her children Dave, Ken and Debbie. Also mourning her passing is her sister Louise Yont and her husband Don, as well as her niece Marcie Jensen, her husband Dave Jensen and their daughter Laura.

Shirley was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan and moved to Trail, BC shortly thereafter. Following her graduation from the Trail Business College, she worked in Kimberley, BC until she moved to Calgary, AB in 1957.

That same year Shirley met Jack and they were married in late August of 1958. Given that Shirley was not a career woman, she settled down to become a wife and homemaker, raising her three children that were born between 1960 and 1962.Upon acceptance of a job transfer, the Wilson family moved to Burnaby, BC in 1964.

As the children got older they were enrolled in sports activities sponsored by the South Burnaby Men’s Club. This volunteer organization, made up of men and women from the area, was a source of inspiration to Shirley and she soon became heavily involved in the baseball program as a concession stand coordinator. The sports activities also brought a large amount of social connection with many other like-minded members. It was this comradeship that brought Shirley lots of joy for over 35 years. Following Jack’s retirement, the community of Langley beckoned and in 1996 they bought a condo in Walnut Grove. Since then, life has again been fulfilled by the close friendships of many residents that have called Cedar Ridge their home.

The family would like to extend much appreciation to the ER doctors and staff at the LMH whom afforded Shirley such caring treatment during the frequent life threatening incidents that have challenged her over the past 3 years. We would also like to thank all the medical staff on 2 South at the LMH for their excellent care of our precious wife and mother during the last part of her journey.

Shirley registered with the Transplant Society of BC in 1997. As a result, her eyes were donated to the Eye Bank of BC, which will improve the sight for 10 recipients. A charitable donation in Shirley’s memory can be made to the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

Following a small family gathering Shirley’s cremated remains were interred in the Fort Langley Cemetery. A Celebration of Life to honor Shirley will be held at the Henderson’s Funeral Home Tea Room on August 6, 2011 between 11:00am and 1:00pm.

A Tribute to Shirley Wilson.

Today we are gathered here to celebrate the life of my dear wife Shirley Wilson. Our lives together began in the mid 1950’s when visiting her home town of Kimberley during my breaks from schooling at Calgary Tech. Later as she chose to seek work in a larger city, she decided to move to Calgary in 1957 where I had gained employment with a consulting engineering company. We soon realized that our relationship was moving toward a committed one and we decided to marry. At Christmas time in 1957, we formally became engaged and a few months later selected August 30/58 as our wedding day. Shirley by this time had taken an office job with companies in the oil patch located in Calgary. In the summer of 1958, Shirley returned to Kimberley to prepare for the wedding, leaving me to batch in a small apartment that we had rented to start our lives together. During this separation, I had much time to think about the woman that would be with me for the rest of my life. She was kind, compassionate, very caring of others and exhibited all the traits that would cement a long term relationship. As an added bonus, my family thought the world of her and welcomed her into their lives. While somewhat premature, we spoke of having children and were thrilled that parenthood would be a major part of our future together.

We were married on a bright, warm day in the Anglican Church in Kimberley, followed by a small reception at the home of Shirley’s parents. We travelled throughout Idaho and Washington on our honeymoon before returning to the real world in our small 3rd floor apartment in Calgary.

As we settled into married life, we envisioned a plan to become financially stable before starting a family. Shirley felt that we needed to have our own home, have a bank balance of some $ 10,000 and ensure that my career would sustain an income to foster a good life for us all. However, the best laid plans often times fall into the ditch. In the early part of 1959, we became pregnant with our first child. Thinking that our first should be a boy so to protect any following siblings, we were delighted when our David was born in mid January of 1960.Now that we were on the parenting train, our efforts to become financially secure took a back seat and we moved forward into parenthood. By June of that year, we found ourselves pregnant again and in February of 1961 Shirley delivered our second son Ken. By now, we began to think that the birth of a daughter would be the key to a perfect family. Our wishes were granted with the birth of our daughter Debbie in May of 1962.

By now Shirley was heavily engrossed in raising our children and in mid 1963 she took on the added responsibility of managing our newly purchased home in northwest Calgary. This idealistic life continued until the spring of 1964, when I accepted a job transfer to Vancouver with the engineering company. Shirley did not take kindly to being uprooted having just created a close friendship with a number of neighbors and was becoming comfortable in our new home. Nevertheless, she supported the choice to improve our lives and we relocated to Burnaby.

As we settled into our new community, it became apparent that Burnaby provided all the amenities needed for a growing family. In 1967, we gave up our rental apartment and purchased a new home on Patterson Avenue. This location was close to schools, shopping and medical facilities and afforded us the benefits of home ownership. Shirley thrived in her new home as she continued to be a stay at home mom.

As our children grew and attended the local schools, we became acquainted with the South Burnaby Men’s Club. This volunteer organization, founded in 1952 ,provided sports programs for soccer, baseball and field hockey for youngsters in the South Burnaby area. With our children now enrolled in school it became apparent that some form of organized extra curricular activities would benefit them. Dave and Ken were enrolled in soccer and baseball but after a season or two of both they each chose to concentrate on baseball. Our Debbie chose volleyball as her sport throughout much of her high schools days and later became involved with the YMCA Softball program. Needless to say, with all the kids activities, being with each at games became most difficult. Parents were invited to participate in the SBMC programs as all were volunteer based. Shirley chose to join the baseball concession team and provided help at the McLean Park and Bonsor Concessions. When needed, our daughter Debbie was often found serving hot dogs as well. Shirley remained active here until our kids left the sports programs in 1977.

In addition to the sports programs with the SBMC there was a social element that drew the like minded volunteers into friendship roles that have existed to this day. Shirley took great joy to be part of this group and enjoyed attending the various social events throughout the years.

Another facet of Shirley’s personality was her true expression of caring for others. This became most evident as she extended herself towards her aging parents by offering them comfort and guidance during the latter years of their lives. Another example of her caring attitude was her support and friendship that she truly enjoyed with her good friend Elna Arnfinson whose life was enhanced by Shirley’s presence over many years.

As our children left home to seek their own way, Shirley and Jack began to explore travel as a pleasant pastime. Many trips through the States including stops at Reno & Vegas were on the itinerary for a number of years. In addition, family reunions in Manitoba were fairly frequent throughout the eighties.

By the early nineties, Shirley and Jack were beginning to talk about retirement and checking out the financial needs to do so. The housing market was on the upswing for sellers so we decided that now was the time to move into the next phase of our life together. In early 1996, we listed our Burnaby home for sale and began to seek out communities that offered those amenities that we felt were important. In April , Shirley and Jack made the choice to purchase a strata condo called Cedar Ridge in the Walnut Grove area of Langley.

Like our former life in Burnaby, we quickly found friendships with the other residents of this new development. Serving on the Strata Council became the vehicle to connect with all the other owners from which many special relationships flourished. Shirley found much reward in the connection with the ladies in the building and particularly enjoyed the weekly coffee get togethers later in her life.

During the many years at Cedar Ridge, Shirley and Jack found that ocean cruising was the preferred way to vacation. Since 1997, Shirley was able to cruise to many places including Mexico, Caribbean, Mediterranean, Panama Canal, Alaska, and Canada/New England. Had time permitted, a cruise to the Baltics was to be the next destination. She also enjoyed motor trips to Calgary to visit with her sister and other family members and friends.

Shirley’s health began to deteriorate in the fall of 2008 with a stroke in mid October. Over the next 2 years she suffered 3 more similar strokes that collectively left her mentally impaired with a severe short term memory loss. She continued to attempt a normal life but was hampered by this condition and found it most distressing. Around 11:00 P.M. on June 22/11 she suffered a massive stroke from which she never recovered. At 1: 45 A.M. on July 5/11 Shirley passed away at the Langley Memorial Hospital.

She leaves behind a loving legacy for her children , Dave ,Ken & Debbie who have been the most important successes in her life.

Shirley was interred at the historic Fort Langley Cemetery on Thursday, July 21/11 at 11:00 A.M. with her family attending.

July 21/11.

Arrangements under the direction of Henderson's Langley Funeral Home, Langley, BC.