VELMA HUBBARD
Velma Hubbard, 99 ½, of Parksville BC, passed away peacefully on April 30, 2014 in the Nanaimo Regional Hospital.
Many thanks to the palliative care unit for the
dignity and compassion shown.
She was born in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta on October 27, 1914. As a teenager she travelled with her family by covered wagon pulled by a donkey – they walked most of the way from Ft. Saskatchewan to Fort St. John where her family homesteaded.
She was married to Roy Hubbard, a travelling musician from Montana, in Fort St John in 1931 and moved to Errington in 1945 for health reasons. They bought 20 acres of trees, built a sawmill and logged it to build a house on the property. They lived there until the 70’s when they moved into Parksville on Martindale Road. Once they retired they spent many winters in Winterhaven, California. Everyone who knew her has a Mexican blanket.
She remembered getting a radio, a television, a phone, and a car, all when they were newly invented. She would reminisce about the depression, where she was when Pearl Harbour was bombed, the end of the First World War, when Kennedy was shot, the first moon landing, when Princess Di got married, when computers were invented.
Grandma was feisty (I’ve survived damn near everything), opinionated, (don’t let the door hit you in the a.. on the way out) outspoken, (if you don’t like my gate, don’t swing on it), and believed we all put our pants on the same way. She was enamoured with the Royal Family, and got up at 2 in the morning to watch the Royal Wedding live.
Getting on a plane for the first time at 79, she discovered she loved to travel and went all over North America with her grandchildren and anyone else that “was crazy enough to take her”.
She is predeceased by husband Roy; her 3 children Ruth, Fern and Garth and 3 grandchildren Dusty and Linda Rhodes and Cliff Pardiac.
She is survived by grandchildren Judy (Ron), Wayne, Barbara (Howard), David (Terri), Val, Linda and Grant, 23 great grandchildren, 34 great great grandchildren and many honorary grandchildren.
There will be no funeral at her request, but at the request of her many
grandchildren, great grandchildren, great great grandchildren and friends, there will be a memorial service on May 12 at the Errington Hall, 1 – 5.
Come see us to help celebrate her life.
Grandma did not like cut flowers, so please, in lieu of flowers or wreaths, donations can be made to her favourite charity, the Vancouver Children’s Hospital.
She will be missed…. RIP