ELIZABETH LORRAINE SWEATMAN

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ELIZABETH LORRAINE SWEATMAN

October 22, 1955 - August 8, 2025

Elizabeth Sweatman died peacefully in hospital in Victoria B.C. on August 8, 2025.

She is survived and will be greatly missed by her daughter Mikale Fenton, Mikale’s husband Eric Weber, and their young son August.

Elizabeth (Liz or Lizzy) will be mourned by her many loving friends, and by her large family: brothers Alan, Wynn (and Teddi), Paul (and Catherine Moss), Scott (Linda Ostry), and her sister Margaret (Glenn Buhr). Her nieces and nephews remember her as empathetic, very funny and independent-minded, “the adult I could talk to.” She was a sensitive yet skeptical individual, a complicated woman of beauty and wit.

As a young woman, in the 1970s, Liz worked in Toronto for a while, then traveled, skiing the Swiss Alps, exploring the islands of Greece, and relaxing on the beaches of Israel. She was brave and a bit reckless in her younger days, a fast skier, a wonderful and very quick cook, and she could riff off every skit from Saturday Night Live.

Liz grew up in Winnipeg and earned a Master of City Planning from the University of Manitoba, focusing on community health development in rural Manitoba. City planning suited her intellect. She worked with Winnipeg’s CentreVenture, an organization that encouraged collaboration between the city and businesses, aimed at developing the downtown core; it was a suitable place for someone with her force of idealism and a canny understanding of collective efforts, and where she demonstrated qualities of patient diplomacy that sometimes surprised her siblings.

Community and healthcare were constants in her varied professional life. She was on the Board of Directors of the Misericordia Health Centre, 2009 to 2010, and was a manager of patient safety, quality and risk at Health Sciences Centre.

Liz was a dedicated caregiver to her parents, Alan and Lorraine Sweatman, and it wasn’t until they had died, in 2012 and 2014 respectively, that she allowed herself to fulfill a dream of living in B.C. She moved to Comox in 2014, where she entered what Mikale jokingly called her “Elizabethan” era, and where she was in close contact with her beloved friends Anne Gardner and Laurie Stovel.

As a family of two, Liz and Mikale shared a deep and sometimes complicated bond. In winter, Mikale fondly recalls curling up on her mum’s bed with stacks of newspapers and old New Yorkers, or wandering Winnipeg’s Exchange District together to browse antique shops and enjoy dim sum. Liz passed on her passion for politics, public art, and urbanism, and instilled in Mikale a love of skiing, sailing, laughing babies, and a great dance party.

Lizzy could be swept away by natural beauty. She loved the Lake of the Woods, loved to sit outside into the small hours, alone or in the company of family and friends, and marvel at the sky. She had a great gift for living, matched by a countervailing awareness of human frailty and her acute distaste for what she felt was false. She was enormously intelligent and would not wish to hear that from anybody.

A celebration of Elizabeth’s life will be held at a later date. Mikale and her family extend their heartfelt gratitude to the many friends and relatives - especially Eileen Weber - who offered support during the final years and weeks of Elizabeth’s life. While in hospital, Liz found great comfort in the materials and resources provided by the Greater Victoria Public Library. In lieu of flowers, those wishing to honour her are invited to donate to their local public library, in recognition of Liz and Mikale’s belief that libraries are the heart of an informed, connected, and equitable democratic society.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Aug 16, 2025