Beatrice Louise Woodward
January 27, 1927 to April 22, 2012
Artist, Gardener, Traveller, Poet, Naturalist, Mother, Grandmother and
Great Grandmother
Louise created a place of beauty at her Salt Spring Island home, where she painted exquisite works of Impressionistic art in oils. She was a gifted painting instructor and taught many students who are now accomplished artists themselves. Louise was heard to quip that her religion was “pillows” and her house was always filled with comfort, hospitality and warmth. She fought fearlessly all her life for her independence, and her friends and family knew that time spent with Louise was always the best of times: meaningful and inspiring. As a child, Louise believed that she could fly – and she was far older than you would think before she grudgingly admitted that her dreams had earthly limits. For 40 years, including this year, she travelled to Mexico for a few winter months, usually alone, and she was the first person we knew to discover each of the beautiful places tourists now take for granted. Just a few weeks ago she was swimming in the ocean, painting local scenes, and striding through the cobblestone streets of a Mexican village. Right up until the recent diagnosis of her sudden illness, she remained a strong and vigorous person with many years of potential still in her; such is the unfairness of things.
Louise loved her garden which provided endless inspiration for her paintings. She had a wonderful green thumb and a passion for native plants. Louise was very content to be her own company, but she was a member of many groups on Salt Spring Island and contributed intelligence and creativity to them all. She is remembered by the Canadian Federation of University Women, the CFUW Book Club, the Perennial Group of the Salt Spring Garden Club, the Shakespeare Reading Group, the Writer’s Group of South Salt Spring Island, and she was a volunteer member of the Senior Peer Counsellors.
Louise held a BA from UBC (Fine Arts Major) and a Fine Arts Diploma from Langara College, as well as pursuing further mastery of painting and drawing from the Victoria College of Art and the Master Painters Workshop in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. She was an accomplished sculptor. Throughout her career, she continued to participate in workshops and seminars in Canada, California, France, and Mexico, as well as teaching painting in France, Mexico and on Salt Spring Island. Her paintings are found in private collections throughout North America as well as in France. There will be a retrospective of her work on Salt Spring at a venue and date to be announced.
Louise was the fifth and youngest child of Beatrice and Eric Wade of Surrey B.C. Her loving family includes her daughter Linda Jean Stanton, her son E.J. (Jack) Woodward, her granddaughters Sarah Louise Stanton (husband Jason Smith), Alisa Jean Stanton and Elizabeth Rose Woodward, her great granddaughter Emma Jean Stanton, her late son-in-law Patrick Stanton, her daughters-in-law Glenda Woodward and Jane McKinnon, her first husband John K. Woodward of Churchill Road on Salt Spring Island, and her long-time partner the late Jay Coulter (survived by his children Margot, Marnie and Mark Coulter). Louise’s sister Bernice Mathews lives in Calgary; Louise has many beloved nieces and nephews throughout Western Canada.
No memorial has yet been planned. Indeed, she specifically asked that no service, funeral or celebration of her life be held. But we expect that those of us who honour the memory of Louise will find a way to gather and remember her many inspiring qualities. In the meantime, thoughts, comments, remembrances, anecdotes and tributes are welcome at www.legacy.com/obituaries/timescolonist.
The family is so grateful for the caring and professional support provided by the home support nurses and home support workers, all of whom were loving, kind, and dedicated.