Kathleen Sutton

My lovely, darling Kathy; My Funny Valentine; I do miss you so much.

Friend, lover, companion, soulmate and wife for over 60 years, we were made for each other.

How can I possibly exist without you near me?

Your smile. Your laugh. Your touch. Your voice. Your lovely eyes. The warmth of your lips when we kiss. How can it be that they are no more?

The emptiness is unbearable. Not just for me, but for Jeremy and for Gabrielle, our two wonderful children, and daughter-in-law Kim and our grandchildren Hannah and Emma, and great grandchildren Brendon and Aidan. And for your brother Rex in Newark and your sisters June, Christine and Josie in Nottingham, England – where you were born in 1936 on leap-year’s day February 29th. And for their families.

You are missed by so many whose lives you have touched by your friendship, compassion and love. Husbands and wives from SFU; friends and neighbours in Lynn Valley, Strachan Point and Duchess Avenue; the Brit Group friends from The Bay where you worked; the “Friends Of Kathy” i.e., FOKers, in the ladies’ book club where you drank wine, and put the authors in their place and the world to right late into the evening; your enthusiastic fellow photographers in the WV Seniors’ Photo Club, surely the most convivial group to be found anywhere; and the numerous friendships you established over the years in the more than seventy countries you were fortunate to have travelled to in search of photographs to make, places to explore, and birds to watch.

They all miss your wit, your humour, your zest for life and your perennially sunny disposition. You were just fun to be around, and we know how much you loved to dance and be free.

How much were you loved?

Elizabeth Barrett Browning expressed it best in Sonnet 43.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of being and ideal grace.

I love thee to the level of every day’s

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

I love thee freely, as men strive for right.

I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

A Celebration of Life will be held at the Holiday Inn, North Vancouver on Kathy's 21st Birthday, February 29th, 2020 from 1pm to 4pm. Please consider donations in memory of Kathy to the Lions Gate Hospital Foundation or a charity of your choice.