Alexandra Graham Zacharias

Born Alexandra Graham Mackay in Hazelton BC on January 21, 1922, Alex died peacefully in Victoria BC Friday October 6, 2017 after a short illness. In death, as in life, she was surrounded by those she loved. As a very young child Alex moved to Calgary and then to Vancouver with her widowed mother Mary and her two older sisters, Marion and Jessie. She grew up there and worked for a telephone and telegraph company before meeting John Zacharias who would be her husband for 63 years. With him she moved first to Telkwa, then Smithers, Prince George, Abbotsford, Courtenay and finally to Victoria in 1970. Predeceased by her husband in 2011, Alex is survived by her children: Mary (Paul), Robert (Lisa), Alan (Jacquie), Thomas (Corinne), and her grandchildren: Jeffrey, Kari (Christoph), Katherine, Alison, Graeme, Colin and Alexa, as well as many nieces and nephews.

Raised in an all female household, Alex grew up believing women could do and be what they wanted in life, and raised her children with those values. She loved her roles as wife, mother and grandmother, and saw them as choices she happily made. For her, “housewife” was an honourable profession and she put her heart into it. She was also active in her community as a 4H leader and in other voluntary roles. As her children grew up she went back to school, taking courses in women’s studies, psychology and political science and ventured into the paid workforce for the first time in decades. Alex was an early member of the Status of Women Action Group in Victoria and contributed to the book In Her Own Right: Selected Essays on Women’s History in BC. A strong and independent woman, she was a feminist before the term was in popular use, and kept her sharp mind right to the end. She will be greatly missed by many.

Family and friends are invited to attend a memorial service and reception to be held at 2 pm Saturday January 6, 2018 at First Memorial Chapel, 4725 Falaise Drive, Victoria BC. Special thanks to the staff at Amica Douglas House and to all her caregivers at Royal Jubilee Hospital.

If anyone wishes to make a donation in her honour, Alex supported many local and international charities including her favourite, World Vision, and their programs to educate and empower women and girls in 3rd world countries.