14 October 1930 Enderby, BC — 2 January 2021 Enderby, BC
Born beneath the Enderby Cliffs to parents Clifford and Ruby, on a small farm in the 1930s there was plenty to eat but not much else. Upon graduation, Eleanore took a business course in Vernon and then worked and lived there. In 1951 she married Bruce Bolton, and followed where his work led: 50 miles inland from Prince Rupert along the Skeena River at Kwinitsa and Pacific, neither of which exist anymore; 25 years in Kamloops; 15 years on their ranch at Six Mile Creek out of Vernon; and then an active retirement outside of Enderby along the river.
Service to others has been a constant in Eleanore’s life — starting as a teenager teaching Sunday School at St. George’s Anglican Church and finishing with the North Okanagan Livestock Association and 25 years as treasurer for the Armstrong/Enderby Historical Society. In between, and sometimes consecutively, Eleanore served in various capacities within Kamloops’ St. Paul’s Cathedral, Mt. Paul Figure Skating Club, Parent Teacher Associations, Light Horse Club, Progressive Conservative Party, 4H Beef Clubs. As founding director of Marion Hilliard House in Kamloops, Eleanore established a valued service from the 1950s until the time when pregnant unmarried women no longer needed to hide away to protect their family and themselves from stigma.
Always with extra guests is how Christmas and New Years’ Dinners are remembered by Eleanore’s children: student nurses from the Royal Inland Hospital who couldn’t get away for the holidays, elderly persons with no relatives in the area, young women from Marion Hilliard House. And throughout the year house-guests — sometimes relatives or old friends, sometimes complete strangers.
A small funeral is being held by Eleanore’s three children and their spouses: Bruce and Ivy, now in Salmon Arm; Brenda and John (Heywood) now in Kingfisher; Byron and Sheryl now in Vernon. Post-COVID there will be a Celebration of Life for the attendance of friends and relatives and Eleanore’s nine grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Eleanore and Bruce (deceased 2018) will be interred in the Enderby cemetery near Eleanore’s Enderby pioneer parents.
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Eleanore Delphine Bolton nee Lidstone January 2nd 2021..
Death notice for the town of: Armstrong, Province: Colombie britanique