NEALE, Louise Born Louise Hilda Mielke in Morse, Saskatchewan on Mar. 19, 1917. She passed away on Sept. 14, 2014, at the ripe old age of 97. She was born the middle child of a large family of 14. Her parents were immigrants and farmed until the depression hit and they could not pay the taxes on their land. They were forced to move and headed west, eventually ending up on Lulu Island, which is now Richmond. Louise was an adventurous soul and when applying for a delivery job, she declared she had her driver's license. After she got the job she quickly asked one of her brothers to teach how to drive. Later, when rooming with a family where the husband was an RCMP Sargent, she pulled U-turns in front of the RCMP office. But eventually she met Bill Neale and settled into a tamer routine. They settled across the Lake from Kelowna, which required that she depart her beloved job at Woodwards in Vancouver. Lakeview Heights was a Veteran's Land Act project and they purchased 12 acres of airable land and 23 acres of Boucherie Mountain and built their own house. The price farmers got for their fruit was so low that it didn't make sense for them to continue, so in 1965 they sold the acreage. Life became more comfortable while they remained in their house and Louise had the time to devote to growing roses. Double Delight was her favourite. In 1995 they moved into the Springfield Manor condos in Kelowna. Bill passed away in 2005 and soon after, her daughter and grandson took her, at age 88, to Costa Rica. Her fitness (she used a stepper every day) and spunk marvelled all who met her there. Eventually she ended up in Hardy View Lodge in Grand Forks, where, despite dementia, managed to amuse everyone around her. The staff at the Lodge were incredibly good to her and she spent her last years blissfully happy. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Everett Baker of Grand Forks Funeral Home, Grand Forks, BC. Louise is survived by two siblings (Mary and Peter), daughter Muriel (Gary) in Grand Forks, son Reg (Susan) in Toronto and grandchildren Liana (London, UK), Kent (Azerbaijan), Rory (Toronto), Elizabeth (Montreal) and Katherine (Victoria).
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