May 3, 1925-August 4, 2019
As Brenda Clark would say, she “fell off the perch” on the evening of August 4th. She was in her daughter’s arms at the time.
Brenda seemed to have had a premonition in her last couple of years that she may not live a lot longer. Heart failure set in, as well as back pain. She could no longer do the things she loved to do…all the activities at the West Vancouver Senior Centre. She was a choir member and an avid Rambler!
Brenda loved music! She said she always had music in her head. She loved to read. She would get through three or four books in two weeks. She loved the American news. “Happy Hour” and the news went hand in hand…a vodka martini in one hand, and the remote in the other. Brenda also loved animals. She rode horses as a young woman and always had a beloved Golden Retriever by her side. She even once rescued a baby bat that had fallen out of a tree.
Brenda was born in London England in 1925. She had three older siblings. She always said her childhood was idyllic.
WW2 began and Brenda was sent to Midhurst to attend school in the country. London was being bombed. Little did she know that her future husband was piloting one of those German Luftwaffe planes… most likely dropping bombs on English soil! Brenda joined the WRENS at 19. She loved being with the young women, stockpiling bombs on English bombers. She often talked about that time, and her loved ones believe this period was one of the best of Brenda’s life.
Brenda studied physiotherapy and got her degree. Physiotherapists were in great demand at the time because of the polio epidemic. She and three other girls decided to move to Canada. Medicine Hat, Alberta was their first stop, but the mountains were too far away. So one year later they moved to Vancouver, British Columbia where she worked at George Pearson Hospital with polio victims and then later Lions Gate Hospital.
Brenda met her husband on Hollyburn Mountain in 1952. He was a ski instructor and a handsome one at that. His English wasn’t perfect because he had just moved to Canada from Germany. He showed up unannounced at the girls’ doorstep on Nanton Avenue after only a couple ski lessons. They were married in 1955 and had children of whom they were tremendously proud.
Thank you so much to Brenda for thinking of the animals by leaving a gift to the BC SPCA in her will.