ELIZABETH IRENE WRAY

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ELIZABETH IRENE WRAY After a long struggle with cancer, Elizabeth finally found peace on Sunday, August 3, 2008. Born in 1947 in Morris, Manitoba, she was not content to colour inside the lines that were traditionally drawn around people in a small town. Instead, she moved to the city in the 1960s, obtained her Bachelor of Arts Degree, and traveled around the world. She was a voracious reader, an undiscovered writer, and championed the cause of a compassionate world long before it became fashionable to do so. After the relationship she referred to as the love of her life' ended, she moved back to her hometown. A single mother with little income, she faced an isolation and stigma that proved almost too much for her spirit and her intellect to bear. Despite the many challenges in her life, Elizabeth wasn't afraid to speak up when she saw inequity or unkindness, and had a courageous spirit. The quality of her life was immeasurably enhanced by her enduring friends Alvina Koshy, Jim Derksen, and Mary Milander. Thanks to these friends who were willing to re-enter her troubled world, she experienced the companionship and humanity she had been longing for in her final years. Elizabeth is survived by her daughter Caitlin Wray (Mark Jantz), her grandsons Alex and Simon, her sister Muriel Snarr (Allan) and brother Fred Wray, and numerous nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be held by invitation in the autumn. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to help purchase a bench in her memory at Assiniboine Park. For information, call 287-8281. There may be a great fire in your soul, yet no one ever comes to warm himself at it, and the passers-by see only a wisp of smoke . - Vincent Van Gogh

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Aug 09, 2008