Shirley Mae Dickinson

Shirley, beloved wife and partner of Brian, after 44 years of fun and happiness, passed away on January 25, 2015. She was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on January 29, 1929 to parents, Roland and Violet Havard. This was just prior to the onset of the Depression and when she was seven her parents moved west to Vancouver then on to Fort Langley. They settled in her beloved Langley Prairie several years later. Shirley had two brothers, Ronald and Gerald.

Shirley left Langley High School at 16 to attend art school in Vancouver for two years. She became engaged and married her first husband Clare at 19 and over the years had five great children. In 1966, she started working at the new Woodward’s Guildford store where she would meet her second husband, Brian.

At the end of 1970, Brian returned to England to work at a College training Merchant Navy Officers and in February 1971, Shirley joined him there, commencing 44 years of fun, laughter and togetherness. Whilst in England, she spent many hours on the River Thames in various small boats. She has been under every bridge on the river, from Dartford to Teddington Weir.

Returning to Canada in 1980, Brian and Shirley moved to Chilliwack where she found work at Furniture World as a design consultant. She retired in 1994 and thus began a very active retirement. Travelling quite widely in the beloved “Beetle” camper van, then more sedately on ocean cruises of which there were a dozen combined with several trips back to England.

Shirley will be sorely missed and much loved by husband, Brian; her brother, Ronald (Jean), of Ithaca, NY; her children, Sharon (Danny), Janet (Kenneth), Jeannie (Grant), Bruce (Beth) and Brian. Also missing Shirley are her grandchildren, Chad, Candice, Colleen, Jarence, Kaylyn, Jessica, Steven, Amanda and Kristopher and her seven great grandchildren; her cousin, Michael (Jean) of Gravesend, England and two nieces and a nephew in Victoria, BC.

Our gratitude as a family goes to the members of the BC Ambulance Service who tried their hardest, the members of Chilliwack Fire Department who assisted, Constable D. Padgett of the RCMP, Robert of RCMP Victims Services and Kamal Khan of the BC Coroner’s Service for their kindness and consideration.