January 7, 1924 – June 17, 2022
We are saddened to announce the passing of Doris Elizabeth Harman (nee Fulks). She was an exceptional woman for the era in which she came of age. Intelligent and hard working, she balanced career and child rearing in a time when women were only beginning to move beyond the homemaker role. She is survived by her brother Raymond William Fulks, three children, Keneln Raymond Harman, Elizabeth Alma McLeod (Francis) and Loreen Doris Page (John), as well as grandchildren Adam Lance McLeod (Lisa), Sarah Elizabeth Shell (Ryan) and Michelle Loreen Page, as well as great-grand children Aidan Lam Mcleod, Skye Elizabeth Shell, Sage Elizabeth Shell, Blake George Lam McLeod and Ryan Dean Shell.
Doris was born in the depths of winter at the Lady Minto Hospital, a small cottage hospital, in the interior of BC at Ashcroft on the 7th of January 1924. Her father, Raymond Geoffrey Fulks, was then working on the Canadian National Railway, and had been in the Spences Bridge area for some time. He was a veteran of the British Army in the First World War, and had emigrated to Canada from England along with her mother Elizabeth Hannah, better known as Betty, in 1920. Doris was the second of 5 children, and the only one born in BC.
During the years of the Great Depression, Doris and family lived on a farm 60 miles northwest of Edmonton from 1930 to 1941. Upon returning to Edmonton, Doris completed her secondary school education at Victoria High, before joining the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRCNS) and serving as a Sick Bay Attendant (SBA) in Cornwallis Nova Scotia until the end of the Second World War.
Following discharge from the Navy Doris entered the Pharmacy Program at the University of Alberta, graduating with a diploma in Pharmacy at the age of 23 in 1947. She relocated to BC in the early 1950s, and while working in the pharmacy at Vancouver General Hospital met her future husband, Keneln George Harman, a fellow pharmacist and graduate of the University of Manitoba. They were
married May 26, 1952 at All Saints Anglican Cathedral in Edmonton.
Son Keneln Raymond was born in 1953 and daughter Elizabeth Alma in 1955. After several years living in West Vancouver the young family moved to a house at 57th Avenue and Main Street in Vancouver, across the street from Ken’s business, Harman’s Pharmacy. Daughter Loreen was born in 1959. Looking for a new profession, the business was closed in 1965 and the entire family relocated to Ontario where husband Ken entered the Hospital Administration Program at the University of Toronto. After being a stay-at-home mother for 12 years, Doris returned to work as a pharmacist to support the family alone for the next two years, and she continued to work in the profession full or part time until her retirement in the late 1980s.
Ken, Doris and family returned to British Columbia in 1973 when Ken took the position of Associate Administrator at Surrey Memorial Hospital until his retirement in 1985. As her children reached maturity, completed their post graduate education, got married and had children, Ken & Doris had a long and happy retirement together. After 64 years of marriage, husband Ken passed away suddenly in 2016. Doris’ last five years were spent happily at the Swedish Assisted Living Facility in Burnaby.
Doris was an amazing woman who lived an incredible 98 ½ year life. She was a “feisty gal” who accomplish much in her life. Tough, but gracious and kind. Her children will love her forever, and as long as we live our mommy she will be.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.firstmemorialportcoquitlam.com for the Harman family.
COMPARTA UN OBITUARIO
v.1.9.6