Kathleen Lynn Mason (nee Wilson) died peacefully at 11:20PM, February 17, 2021 in Vancouver, B.C at the age of 75. She was attended by close family, by ‘sisters of mercy’, and by ‘angels without wings’.

She is survived by and will be missed and remembered by her common-law husband Elmar Theissen, her son Michael, her brother Murray, her daughter-in-law Leanne Bishop, her ex-husband David, her adopted family of Mark, Lina, Danika, and Markus Dyer, and by a host of friends (such as Mer, Fern, and Flora) and companions whose lives she shared and enriched.

Born in Grande Prairie, she moved to Calgary and after graduation went first to Montreal to pursue Latin, French, Linguistics, and old English, and then to Toronto to continue her studies and work as a part-time book-keeper at a bespoke tailor shop, and to marry an antiquarian book seller.

Subsequently, she moved to Vancouver, where she fell in love with Elmar, worked as an antique store manager, pursued a career as a social housing developer, co-ordinator, and administrator, worked on writing ‘Sword Dance’, a novel for children, and then switched careers, obtaining an ESL diploma whereupon she taught in and journeyed extensively through China for two years, co-authored ‘Dragon in the Well’, a travel book, and became an adept Tai Chi dancer.

The vagaries of fortune and circumstance allowed her to lead a rich and varied life, travelling to Mexico, Spain and Portugal, Turkey, Bali, Malaysia, Costa Rica, Japan, Germany, and the Hawaiian Islands, in the process learning native cuisines and becoming a very able cook. Her love of languages led her to embracing the reading and speaking of Mandarin, and learning to write in brush script.

Intensely alive, curious, emphatic, and sympathetic to the plights of others, she was admired and loved by her friends and acquaintances, but her lucky star turned into a bad sign - a slow invasion of insidious ailments and physical inconveniences during her last decade turned the rich colours of her being into ominous shades of grey.

Regardless, ‘her spirit was the journey and her body was the bus and she was the driver from dawn to dusk’, so she travelled and lit up the road and cared for the lives of others ‘to make the world a better place’, until she disappeared into the inexplicable night. In lieu of a public ceremony, consider a donation to the Downtown East Side Women’s Shelter, or the Surrey Women’s shelter, or the Knowledge Network.

During her life, she often dreamed of fire as a source of renewal, and her ashes shall be tossed and strewn by the wind to return to earth and water.

May the memory of her life serve you well and ‘let grief be a falling leaf at the dawning of the day.