Elizabeth Anne Armour (Molson)
know as Liz / 1932 – 2021
Lizzie passed away peacefully early on the morning of Saturday, January 16th at the Lady Minto Hospital on her beloved Salt Spring Island. She had been suffering from dementia for many years and had spent the last three in the ECU there. We would like to offer our profound thanks to all the staff of the Lady Minto Hospital, and particularly ECU staff, for all their hard work and kindness caring for Liz. Thanks also to Dr. Ian Gummeson for his wise and considerate care.
Liz was born in Victoria, daughter of Hobart and Margaret Molson. She was predeceased by her siblings Andy, David and younger sister Margaret Oliphant. She married John Armour in 1955. They began a family in Victoria, but moved to Vancouver in 1959.
Vancouver was her home while the kids grew up. Liz was very involved with their schooling but once that was underway she turned her attention to the nascent arts and cultural life of Vancouver. Always a generous host and an active volunteer, she particularly loved the theatre. She served on the board of the Playhouse and Arts Club. She loved live performance of almost any kind, and supported it by attending – often more than once.
She, John, and 3 young kids took up sailing aboard the Baron Rouge in 1966, exploring widely from Puget to Desolation Sounds around the Salish Sea. In the early ‘70s they thought it would be nice to find a small place with a dock for the boat in the Gulf Islands, and ended up with ‘The Maples’ here on Salt Spring Island in 1973. It was a large farm operation instead of a small place, and the boat was sold soon after. At first she was a weekend visitor from Vancouver but in 1978 she moved over permanently. She renovated the farmhouse and rebuilt the garden, adding huge vegetable patches everywhere! Every kind of livestock could be encountered at one time or another. Salt Spring was home.
Active in the community cultural life, she helped with ArtSpring and the Library.
Liz was a kind and gregarious person who made friends with anyone she encountered. She was always generous and ready to give a hand up to someone who needed one. She is survived by her son Mark, daughter Jane Black (Jim), and son Bruce (Bunny); granddaughters Brianna, Jocelyn, Kirsten, Ruby and Molly; cousins around the world and friends too numerous to count. We will all miss her ever-present smile and warm kitchen fire.
All that said, she loved to travel too. Planned or spur-of-the-moment she went all over North America and Europe. She went to visit or help family, learn about other cultures, and experience beauty in any form.
For pandemic reasons we will have to remember Liz individually in our own way, and put a really good send off back for a while. If you would like to memorialize Liz, please donate to the Lady Minto Hospital Foundation. It will help other people have the great care that she did.