Daughter of Enid and Eric Finn; Sister to Peter (deceased) and Michael (Marlie); sister-in-law to Gary and Richard.
Wendy succumbed to her dementia but had constant care from the staff at Bastion Place for which we thank them.
Other family members are her husband Ted, together they would have celebrated their 54th anniversary on December 26, 2010, and all their children Anita (Alex Bergen), Lake (aka Lynn), Zoe (Dale Doebert) and Ted jnr. (Cheryl). They have produced nine grandchildren and one great grandchild.
Wendy was born in North Vancouver and then started her peripatetic waltz around BC always in sight of water. The communities include Britannia Beach, Kamloops, Monte Creek, Ocean Falls, Campbell River, Crofton, Prince Rupert, Enderby and finally Sorrento.
This connection to water seems to arise in many of her activities. As a teenager, she boated across the Atlantic to sing in a children’s choir in England, Scotland and Wales under the direction of Mr. Findlater of Vancouver. Wartime rationing was still in effect, but the choir was treated with scarce delicacies to show the people’s delight with their voices. Her musical skills shone for many years in the Shuswap Singers. Her mother had been an excellent teacher.
Later, as a sunbather at English Bay beach, the water effect softened her senses and she accepted an offer of marriage from the lifeguard and gave up her student nurse plans. The couple had a year and a half of honeymoon on Cousins inlet courtesy of the paper mill, which included a boat and driftwood beaches to explore.
Soon they purchased a waterfront lot neat Sorrento and continued sail boating, kayaking and canoeing. However with children and a house, Wendy moved on to creating her gardens by hiring a bulldozer and using picks, shovels, cement mixer and her VW bug as a rock hauler. It was not long for the plots to be planted and the cold frames, greenhouse and seedling room bursting. One of her friends suggested that she was obsessed with fecundity. So be it, but all surplus produce was canned or stored in the root cellar. Wendy was an extraordinary homemaker to her husband and children. Her family would wake up to her fresh baking and a song at the bottom of the stairs, as she encouraged everyone out of bed. Gourmet meals abounded and her sewing machines hummed with her creativity.
She persuaded her children to give her all the grandchildren at once for their summer visit to the lake, without parents! Two weeks of energized kids and she never had to “ride her witches broomstick." When the household settled later in life, she moved from the shore and surface to underwater with scuba diver ticket. Now we could explore reefs, caves and sea lion grottoes. She still would pick up shells and earned a registration in the Conchologist fraternity. She encouraged us to go white water rafting in Costa Rica, just before we completed a sailing circumnavigation of Vancouver Island.
A water nymph has come ashore, but she is still making ripples.
