After bravely enduring Alzheimer’s for several years, Margaret Hatlen passed away on May 21, 2019. Our family wish to thank the staff at Oak Bay Lodge for her extraordinary and thoughtful care over the past three years.
Our Mom, Elizabeth Catherine Hatlen (Margaret) was born in Nelson, BC, in 1926 and grew up in Rossland, BC, with her loving parents, Josephine and Emile Leduc. She moved to Victoria in her early twenties, where she met Jens Casper Hatlen. They married in 1949 and began their more than 50-year journey together. Margaret and Jens raised five children as they moved to various pulpmill towns in BC – Ocean Falls, Castlegar, Prince Rupert and Prince George, returning to Victoria in 1968. Mom made relocating to different cities every few years with five children seem like an easy adventure, and she excelled at settling the family into new homes, making new friends and building new communities. She treasured the friends she made along the way.
In the early seventies Mom began work with the provincial government and a few years later moved to the position she loved: recording debates of the legislative assembly and its committees. She was proud to be part of this non-partisan team for two decades, developing a keen interest in politics that never left her. She made many life-long friends during her career.
Mom was pre-deceased by her four brothers, her loving husband Jens, her grandson, Matthew, her daughter-in-law, Debbie and her son-in-law, Bryan. She was the best of mothers to Peter (Susan), Jo-Anne, Mark (Lili), Paul (Theresa), and Patti (David). She was the most amazing and proud grandmother to her 12 grandchildren: Troy, Tara, Jason (Shoko), Jessica (Chris), Matthew, Krysta (Jared), Meghan (Brendan), Mark-Jens, Charlene, Kassandra, Jennifer (Kevin) and Emma; and she was so excited to become a great-grandmother to Taylor and Jordan, Tiida and Miia, and most recently Levi. To know our Mom was to love her, and her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren benefitted from her love – and from her active involvement and always excited interest in their lives. The memories and stories captured in the hearts of her children and their children are testaments to how special she was. Mom’s life was filled with raising her family with our Dad, going on road trips, often with children or grandchildren invited along, and spending time on the boat that her and Dad enjoyed so much. Sewing, knitting and reading were at the top of her “leisure” activities, and her faith brought her comfort and serenity.
We will forever treasure Mom’s spontaneous feistiness, her wit, and her ability to rise above any situation and seek the positive.
We are grateful, as Mom was, to all who were part of her life.
A Funeral Mass and Celebration of Life will be held at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, 2060 Haultain Street, Victoria, BC, on Wednesday, June 12, 2019, at 12:10 pm.
Condolences may be offered to the family below.
McCall Gardens
www.mccallgardens.com
Nos plus sincères sympathies à la famille et aux amis de Elizabeth Catherine Margaret Hatlen April 3 1926 May 21 2019..
mccall gardens funeral and cremation service
Décès pour la Ville: Victoria, Province: Colombie britanique