Pip (Margaret Anne) Moore
Apr. 28, 1938 – Oct. 13, 2014
Our beautiful, brave, loving wife, sister and mother Pip died early Thanksgiving morning, after dealing with multiple myeloma for almost ten years. Pip was born and raised in Winnipeg, daughter of Les and Margaret Bastick and younger sister of Shelagh. She met her saxophonist-geologist John, the love of her life, while still in high school; she graduated from the University of Manitoba in Home Economics in 1958 and they were married the same year. She supported him in Boston during his graduate studies, after which they moved to Ottawa, where he became a professor at Carleton University until retiring in 1989. During that time, Pip raised their three children, continued her piano studies, earned a certificate in English as a Second Language, worked part-time with several NGOs and took enthusiastic part in overseas adventures: first in Europe and, for four years, in Ethiopia, where she engaged in leprosy rehabilitation and later in famine relief, working with the Lutheran World Service. In 1990 they went to eastern Indonesia with Simon Fraser University on an education project for almost eight years; there she honed her ESL skills and nurtured a fondness for Bali, where they visited many times and to which they returned often after coming home to Salt Spring Island. After her years in exotic places Pip sought a community life and found it here, in piano, choir, concerts, book club, bridge, crafts and volunteering for nine years at ArtSpring through its early stages of growth. Everywhere she found friends, who responded to her loyal, sunny, modest and generous nature and loved her in return. She was bright and perceptive, with a sense of humour and a trademark sparkle in her eye. She was proud of her children Margie, Bruce and Tanya and three grandkids Mitchell, Spencer and Max, who inherited her love of travel and experiencing new places and cultures.
From the time she was diagnosed, Pip never lost her determination to live; through a multitude of debilitating treatments she kept her smile and her positive outlook. Our thanks go out to all those who supported her: our superb family doctors David Woodley and Magda Leon, their staff and all the caring people at Lady Minto Hospital; Drs. Adrian Yee and Elaine Wai and the cancer teams at Royal Jubilee in Victoria and the Krall Centre in Vancouver General, who did their best with their science to stay ahead of the progress of her disease; Drs. Clarkson and Stone, the orthopaedic surgeons who kept her on her feet in her last year; the Salt Spring Home Care people; the Salt Spring Hospice volunteers who helped keep vigil in her last days; and all the good friends who supported her and us with their visits, prayers, gifts and love. Pip may have left us bodily, but her undying spirit lives in all our hearts.
There will be a musical celebration in honour of Pip at All Saints Anglican Church, Ganges on Sunday, October 26, at 4:00 pm, with a reception afterward. All who knew her are welcome. If you wish to make a gift in remembrance of her, please contribute to the Lady Minto Hospital Foundation, ArtSpring or the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
With love: John, Margie and Bruce; Tanya Shahen; and Shelagh Tulloch