Kathleen "Kassy" Lillian (Urquhart) Cessford

It is with great sadness that our family announces the sudden passing of Kassy, our much loved and amazing mother, grandmother, great grandmother, great great grandmother, sister, aunt, and compassionate friend to many. She passed away on Monday, August 14th, 2023 at North Island Hospital, just 7 days short of her 95th birthday.

Kassy was born in the family home on the Urquhart farm and was the third of six children born into the second generation of a Comox Valley pioneer family. She was predeceased by her parents, William and Lillian Urquhart, her loving husband, Ab, of 58 years, sisters Maudy, Evelyn, and Bev. She is survived by her son Bill (Karen), and daughters Sandra (Robin) and Susan, her only brother Alex (Irene), sister Marie, and brother-in-law Ken. Grama Kassy also leaves nine grandchildren: Linda, Rick (Erin), Albert (Marcie), Jacquelyn (Mike), Michelle (Andrew), Tom, Maggie (Jordan), Rob, Madelyn, as well as nine great grandchildren: Sydney, Lea, Alex, Matthew, Andrew, Rowan, Isa, Jacob, Hadley, and Max, and one great great granddaughter, Sylvia, and many nieces, nephews and family friends. She loved and was so proud of each and every one of them.

Born into and growing up in a farming family, Kassy was a worker from a young age along with her siblings, especially having lost her mother at the age of 14. She enjoyed raising cows in 4H with her sister, Bev.

Physical fitness was foremost in Mom’s life, both personally and with the youth in the community. For the CRA (Lewis Centre), she coached teen girls in basketball and softball. She was a swimming instructor for both youths and adults, coached the CRA Swim and Diving Club, and judged at swim meets. She also instructed seniors in aquacise classes . Her classes were always full and they had a lot of fun while they kept fit. She swam 40 lengths of the pool 3 times/week and went to the Lewis Centre gym on days when she wasn’t in the pool, right up until Covid stopped her routines and these facilities closed.

For personal activities outside, in the winter months, Kassy enjoyed skiing on the local ski hills. She golfed right until last year. Sunnydale was still her favourite place to be and it is the best golf course in her mind. Kassy went to the BC Summer Games several times and won several medals and her proudest moment was taking home a gold medal.

Mom was a great cook. She loved to bake, sew, knit, garden, paint, and share her efforts with others. We all have some of her oil paintings adorn our walls in our homes and carefully knit dish cloths fill our drawers.

She was an amazing lady and she would phone every day to check up on each family member and see how they were doing. Right before she passed away, Mom had called for her daily update. Her calls and pop-by visits are already greatly missed.

We are all very blessed to have had her in our lives for all these years and we have lots of memories to continue to share and enjoy. We will lovingly remember you forever, mom, and miss you already.

The family wishes to express their deep gratitude to the staff and residents at Casa Loma for their care and friendship for the past 9 years. We would also like to thank the paramedics, Ryan and Anneka, and Dr. Bock and the ER staff at North Island Hospital.

A Celebration of Life for Kassy will be held on Sunday, September 3rd, 2023 from 2 – 4 pm. in the Grand Hall at the Native Son’s Hall in Courtenay. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Kid Sport Comox Valley (250) 871- 5966.