Lucy Florence Beatrice Berton Woodward

Lucy was born into a family of writers and artists in the unlikely environs of Dawson City, where she and her older brother Pierre had an idyllic childhood playing amid the ruins of the Gold Rush and drifting down the Yukon River in their parents’ little boat, the Bluenose. Her mother, Laura Beatrice Berton, later made their life famous in her 1954 book, I Married the Klondike, while Pierre followed up with Drifting Home in 1973. Lucy wrote two children’s adventure books set in the Yukon, Johnny in the Klondike (1964), co-authored with her mother, and Kidnapped in the Yukon (1968).

The Depression led the family to Victoria and then to Vancouver, where Lucy wrote for The Ubyssey student newspaper while attending the University of British Columbia. After stints at the Vancouver News-Herald, a dress designer’s studio, the Weather Office, the UBC President’s Office and an advertising agency, she met dapper Geoffrey Woodward in 1948 through the Players Club Alumni of UBC theatre group. They married in 1950.

As she started a family – son Berton and daughter Paisley – Lucy continued to write and paint. She did publicity for arts organizations, including Holiday Theatre and the Community Arts Council, sometimes getting her kids’ pictures in the newspaper as promotional props. From 1968 to 1970, she wrote the Vancouver Sun’s gossip-free “Here and There” social column. She also did freelance reports for CBC Radio’s “Morningside” program in the 1970s with host Don Herron. She was a loving mother, a skilled seamstress and a true handywoman, able to fix almost anything. A firm Canadian nationalist, she held liberal, secular views and possessed a fierce sense of independence.

After Geoff’s retirement from B.C. Hydro, the couple moved to White Rock, B.C., in 1975. Their hilltop home was little more than a cottage, but it had a spectacular view of the Georgia Strait and its islands. Of an evening, Lucy and Geoff would sit on the long deck and enjoy the sunset with drink in hand.

In White Rock, Lucy took up seriously her first love – painting. As she attended art classes, the walls of the house filled up with her colourful studies of flowers, landscapes, seascapes and even a Cubist portrait. She worked part-time on the switchboard at Peace Arch Hospital from 1977 to 1986. She and Geoff were able to travel abroad, including to Easter Island and to Hong Kong and China.

Geoff died in 1998, and Lucy stayed on in the house, gardening, painting and making a study of family genealogy. Over the years she beat three kinds of cancer – breast, skin and lymph. In 2004, Pierre died, and Lucy at her most elegant was among his eulogizers on national television in the atrium of CBC Toronto.

She was always vigorous and strong – defeating Paisley in an arm wrestle at age 72 – but in her late 80s she needed help. Into her home came the first of several devoted live-in Filipino caregivers. Lucy began to learn the wonders of Filipino culture, and in turn educated these women on the curious intricacies of Old Anglo ways, such as leaving the silver spoon out of the salt cellar so it doesn’t tarnish, and what a napkin ring is.

She was blessed to have clarity of mind almost to the end, still reading the newspaper every day and complaining about right-wing politicians. She died peacefully, of old age, at Peace Arch Hospice, surrounded by loved ones.

Lucy is survived by Berton, his wife Phielle, their children Catalina and Phillip, and Paisley, her husband Steve Kelen, and their children Avi and Sarah. The family deeply appreciates the support given by her longtime caregiver Elba “Ping” Ledesma, along with Lorna Donzal. Thanks also to Jean Ouderkirk, Lita Butangen, Rosemarie Barcena, Cecilia Flores, and the many others who looked after Lucy in her last years. Special appreciation to family friend Julia “Mardy” Allatog. Thanks again to the staff at Peace Arch Hospice for their kind care. A gathering will be held in January. Donations to the Performing Arts Lodges Vancouver (http://palvancouver.org) would be appreciated.