Obituary of May Soady

May Soady 1921 – 2010 May Soady was born on December 11, 1921 in Vancouver, British Columbia. She was the fifth child born to Peter and Norah Carruthers. She attended school in Vancouver and then began working as a stewardess on the Union Steamships until she met her husband, Carl Soady. May and Carl had three children together, Carleen, Anne, and Michael. Due to the nature of Carl’s work the family moved numerous times until 1965 when May and her children settled in Dawson Creek. May worked many jobs to support her children but eventually settled at the Rotary Manor as a long-term care aide. She was very instrumental in bringing the Hospital Employees Union to the Rotary Manor. She was responsible for orientating the new resident care aides, and had a reputation for being hard to keep up with even though she retired in her early 70s. May was very active and you could never catch her at home. She spent a lot of her time volunteering as a member of the Woman’s Auxiliary Royal Canadian Legion. She loved to play a good competitive game of cards, crib, scrabble, or bowling. She bowled in the Senior Games and the Gold Age Bowling League. May loved scratch and win lottery tickets and had a lucky streak but never won the big one! After retirement, she enjoyed spending time with her grandchildren, who have very fond memories of walking over to Grandma’s during their lunch breaks to enjoy a home cooked meal. May also loved to shop for her family, hunting for the best bargains. Her family was her pride and joy. May loved a good debate. She had an attitude and wasn’t afraid to use it. She loved to tell stories about working on the ships and her spunk was present even in her last days. May will be fondly remembered by her children, Carleen Soady (Ray Bourbeau), Anne (Jim) Alexander, Mike Soady and Jim (Pia) Johnson; grandchildren Tinia and Jade Cooke, Charmaine (Josh) Fleishauer, Anita (Josh) Kurjata, Ashley (Johnathan) Shipton and Julia Alexander. May passed away on September 16, 2010 at the age of 88. A memorial tea in her honor was held on September 25, 2010 at the Dawson Creek Senior Citizen’s Hall. Expressions of sympathy in memory of May, may be made by donation to the ‘Dawson Creek and District Hospital Foundation’ 11100 – 13th Street, Dawson Creek, British Columbia V1G 3W8.