DORA LUCY CRAIGIE

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DORA LUCY CRAIGIE (née ASHER) Dora Lucy Craigie passed peacefully on April 17, 2018 at the Saanich Peninsula Hospital in Saanichton, BC, with her daughters and her grandson, Kevin, at her side. Prior to her hospitalization, Mom lived in Sidney, BC. Dora was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on August 1, 1929 to Charles Leonard (Len) and Marie Asher (née Baker), the fourth of six children. On December 20, 1947 she married Douglas Scott (Doug) Craigie in Lillooet, BC and with boundless energy threw herself into setting up house in a rustic cabin without facilities near Minto Mines, BC, where Doug drove a truck. A snowfall of 24 inches in 24 hours gives you some idea of the challenges that Mom faced keeping us all warm and fed and not bouncing off the walls during the endless winter months in a remote mountain community -- hauling water, cooking on a wood stove, and raising two babies born 14 months apart. (!) In 1950 we returned to Winnipeg and electricity and bought a house in St. Vital. Mom turned her energies to volunteering at the Glenwood Community Centre (GCC), and to establishing and coaching in the first girls' softball house league at GCC, until Dad began coaching and she fell to score keeping and general 'Girl Friday' stuff. Where help was needed Mom was there. She got involved in everything. When Dad became a firefighter, it was the same -- she formed a sewing circle and taught us how to make doll clothes and stuffed animals for firefighter charities. There didn't seem to be anything that Mom couldn't do or fix, including blowing through a wall to relocate the kitchen entryway (Dad had to finish it), as well as sewing, crafts, gardening, baking, bingo, curling, and Civil Defense. She was a spotless housekeeper who could pack for a camping trip with lightning efficiency! When we were in high school she worked part-time in the Lamp Department at Eaton's and still found time to come to all our school functions and sporting events, magic purse on her arm, full of whatever might be needed. And Mom was a lover of card games to the end. She was predeceased by her husband, Doug (2009), and by her siblings, Florence Louise (Mickey) Kelner (2002), Herbert Leonard (Bert) Asher (2005), Charles Arthur (Chuck) Asher (2010), Marie Dorothy Fredborg (2014) and Alfred James (Alfie) Asher (1947). She is survived by her daughters, Linda Dueck of Brandon, MB and Maureen Kerr of Surrey, BC; her grandsons, Kevin Spooner of Winnipeg, MB; Shaun McGrath of Maple Ridge, BC and Bryan McGrath of Surrey, BC; and her great-grandsons, Kaden Spooner and Aiden McGrath. We would like to express our profound gratitude and thanks to our cousin, Lillian Griffis, who faithfully and lovingly visited Mom in hospital and passed along details of her progress (or lack thereof) following every visit. Mom thought the world of you Lillian, and so do we! Cremation has taken place and no service will be held. For those who wish to donate to a charity in Mom's memory, we thank you so very much.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on May 12, 2018