Margaret Mann, nee Artin, passed away peacefully in Victoria, B.C. on November 23, 2022, at age 83.

Margaret was born on January 31^st, 1939, the second of three daughters, to Armenian Genocide refugees in Hove, on the south coast of England. She attended school and college there, subsequently working as a secretary to a real-estate agent. Friday and Saturday nights Margaret and her friends went to a Brighton dance hall, where there were many sailors on leave from Portsmouth. She met and married one of them, Antoni Mann, on April 4, 1961. In 1970, Margaret, Toni, and their daughter Karen, immigrated to Canada. They first lived in Quesnel, then Salmon Arm and then Victoria.

Margaret had an outstanding career working in the Courts, becoming the first female Justice of the Peace in the North, and Court Manager in Victoria. After thirty years of service, she retired.

Margaret treasured extensive international travel visiting much of Europe, Russia, India, and North America. She also enjoyed a full and happy retirement in Victoria; her flower garden, walks along the ocean, concerts and ice cream, her volunteer work with the Rotary Club of Victoria-Harbourside, the Crime Stoppers Board and the costume museum in Government House.

Margaret was predeceased by her husband Toni in February 1992. She is survived by her daughter Karen Sarkissian and her grandson Armand Sarkissian (of London, UK), her sisters Katherine Covell (Vancouver, BC) and Ruth Ekhsigian (London UK). No service by request. Donations in Margaret’s memory can be made to Canadian Cancer Society or Alzheimer’s charities of your choice.

June crossed over to be with God on August 13, 2022. She was a beautiful, kind, and loving soul. She was predeceased by her husband George Basil Packwood, leaving behind her daughter Leanne (Bill), granddaughter Sarah (Spenser), and many friends and extended family. She was a wonderful and caring Mom and Nanny to Leanne and Sarah, respectively.

June’s family were by her side singing songs and hymns, reading poems and Little Women, and talking about old memories while she passed. June was an avid writer and published The Emerald Cloak in 2001. Some of her favorite pastimes were listening to music, caring for family, traveling, writing, gardening, eating ice cream, and overlooking the Nanaimo Estuary from her big chair in the living room.

Our hearts are broken but we will meet again. Until then, your beautiful smile and the touch of your hand will be greatly missed. You fought until the end; now you can soar with the angels and rest in God’s hands. We love you.

A special thank-you to The Heights at Mt. View, where the staff took exceptional care of June. Donations may be made to the Parkinson Society of British Columbia in her memory.

With heavy hearts, we announce the passing of our mother, Theresa Isabelle Gullekson. She will always be lovingly remembered by her three children, Brian Tyhy, Candace Svederus, Lisa Tyhy, and her grandchildren, Jesse and Dylan (Savannah) Svederus.  She was predeceased by her parents, Leo and Valeda Larocque, husbands, Emil Tyhy and Paul Gullekson and siblings Orize Langlais, Philip Larocque, and Hubert Larocque.  She is survived by siblings, Elise Boyda and Yvette Lauzon.

Mom was born on January 8, 1933, in a small French Canadian community, Pinewood, Ontario. Mom worked early in life to contribute to the family income by working along with Orize in a local fishing camp during the summer.  The money they earned was used to install electricity in their parents home.

After school, she moved to Brandon Manitoba, working in a meat packing plant. It was there she met our father, Emil Tyhy, and they were married on September 12, 1953. Mom took some time off to raise the children and when Dad’s career moved them to Red Deer, Alberta, she returned to work, first at a dry cleaners and then a custom drapery shop, where her skills as a seamstress were recognized. She quickly learned all aspects of the business and with encouragement from family and friends, opened her own custom drapery business in Red Deer.  After several years of success, she retired and once dad retired, they enjoyed travelling to Europe, Mexico, Hawaii and the USA. Sadly, in 1996 dad passed away a few years after he retired, and it took strength and resilience to get through the grief of losing her husband of 43 years.

Eventually, Mom decided to holiday in Mexico to visit the friends her and Dad had met during their winters there.  Love found her again when she met Paul Gullekson in 2003, who was visiting his brother, and was from Pender Island, BC. A wedding followed and Mom moved to Pender Island to start a new chapter of her life with Paul. Her years with Paul were filled with travels, watching the deer and walks by the ocean. Sadly, Paul passed in 2007 and Mom was on her own again. She kept active by volunteering at the Royal Canadian Legion and Nu To You. Always up for an adventure, we also enjoyed taking mom on trips to Hawaii, Thailand, Vietnam and Costa Rica. The last trip was a Toronto to Calgary road trip to bring home a new puppy, Dino, in Spring of 2022.

In the last few years of life, mom struggled with some health issues but found the strength to beat cancer in 2019. She met life’s obstacles with courage and a will to live.  There was never a time when Mom’s opinion was in doubt. She was a women whom earned the respect of many people because of her love for those close to her and generosity to others. Sadly we lost her on August 24, 2022.

 

 

Carl Hohol passed away at the Royal Jubilee Hospital on May 17^th, 2022, with his wife and three children at his side.

He was predeceased by his father Dave, mother Mary, and infant brother Bryan.

He is survived by his wife Roberta, son David (Mae) of Calgary, Alberta, son Carl Jr. (May) of Victoria, British Columbia, daughter Natasha (Todd) of Winnipeg, Manitoba and only grandchild Daliah (daughter of son David).

Carl was raised on the Hohol family farm 6 km north of the Town of Two Hills, Alberta. After leaving his hometown in search of his fortune, he lived a vibrant, entrepreneurial lifestyle that he pursued with intelligence. Throughout Carl’s life, he maintained a positive social attitude in the various communities in which he resided, including Two Hills, Vegreville and Lavoy, Alberta, where his children were raised, before relocating to the Victoria, British Columbia area and subsequently returning to Edmonton, relocating to Clearwater, Port Alice, and ultimately settling once again in Victoria, B.C.

Carl’s education after formal schooling was generally through experience, operating a secondhand store, publishing a newspaper, conducting a beautiful destination facility on the Clearwater River, overseeing a property management firm and finally, performing strata council duties on behalf of a strata council. He was politically motivated and, on one occasion, conducted a very active and well-publicized campaign as the Rhinoceros Party candidate for a northern Alberta constituency that received an unusual amount of voter support. He was always well respected in all his activities, whether work-related, social, or political.

In lieu of flowers, please make direct donations to the BC SPCA Victoria Community Animal Centre: https://spca.bc.ca/donations/victoria/

 

 

Villanelle – Father and Son

 

Father and son, embracing hands for the first time I can remember

Seeing you weep was new; it made me feel so strangely moved,

your trace was soft with love; your hand touched like leather.

 

Feeling the pain of death wield us stronger together?

Seeing you sob profoundly, oddly made me think you approved,

father and son embracing hands for the first time I can remember.

 

As we looked in and saw death, it crashed down like a feather,

you need not look at me, as our crossing was far-removed,

your trace was soft with love; your hand touched like leather.

 

Father and son walking proudly, hand in hand together,

I gazed at you clasping my innocent fingers, my tiny heart behooved,

father and son embracing hands, the first time I can remember.

 

Deadman in the open casket carried a bond with my father, gone forever

this death, as my father sobbed, was for us as ours to also conclude,

your trace was soft with love; your hand touched like leather.

 

We walked silently; you let go of my tiny hand. Lost was our death-bound tether,

perhaps I am a fool to think you ever cared, years of silence reproved,

father and son embracing hands, for the first time I can remember,

your trace was soft with love; your hand touched like leather.

 

Author: Carl M. Hohol Jr.

 

 

 

 

 

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our Dad, Brian Wayne Gibson on May 17th, 2022 at the age of 69. Our Dad was a fighter to the very end when he took his final breath surrounded by his loving children.

Brian has left our presence to be reunited with his father Merv, mother Margaret, brother Bruce and sister Christina. Cherishing his memory are his children; Dallas (Rhonda), Darcy (Colby), Tara (Greg), Chelsea (Trevor), Megan (Lee) and his nine grandchildren who he loved beyond measure; Kalib (Sukey), Laiken, Jaxon, Callie, Madi, Kaycee, Wyatt, Isla and Hanna, whom they affectionately referred to as ‘Pop Pop’. He also leaves behind many extended family members and dear friends.

Known to many as “Gibby”, he began his career as an Oak Bay Firefighter in 1976 where he was of service to his community until his retirement in 2005. Dad was an avid outdoorsman who was a natural born fisherman spending much of his life on the water, becoming a master of his craft as a top angler in several derbies throughout the years. He also had a passion for hunting, spending weeks on end in the bush in central and northern BC where he took a more laid back approach. When he wasn’t hiding in his tree stand, he was dreaming about the perfect buck while resting his eyes on the side of a dirt road.

During his final days, Dad’s humour and stubbornness kept the doctors and nursing staff on their toes. Our family would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Dr. Jeremy Christensen, the nursing staff and support team at RJH for their amazing care and perseverance in our Dad’s extremely complicated and evolving condition. Even with the state of our healthcare system in crisis, you provided him with the care and professionalism that was above and beyond what we could expect in this difficult situation, and no words can express our thanks to you and your unwavering commitment to our father’s care and comfort in his final days.

A celebration of life will be planned for this summer. In lieu of flowers, a donation can be made to the Sooke Salmon Enhancement Society in Gibby’s honor.

Tight lines Dad…