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In loving memory of Catherine Lucille Bacon (Cathy) Cathy Bacon of Nelson BC passed away at Mountain Lake Senior Community on December 30th, 2021. She passed while recovering from surgery after appendicitis. She was 93 years old.
June 16, 1928 – December 30, 2021
Cathy was born in Blairmore, Alberta on June 16, 1928, to Lucia Semenzin and Ettore Semenzin. Her Dad died when she was nine years old and her Mom was left to look after Cathy and her siblings. Since Cathy’s mom, Lucy, moved from Italy as a young woman, Cathy grew up knowing what it meant to be Italian. Family and friends got to enjoy her homemade lasagna, gnocchi, and spaghetti sauces. She enjoyed speaking Italian and loved talking with her sisters in Italian, and later with the cooks at the Colander Restaurant in Trail, BC in the 70’s. She loved her Italian heritage.
She was born the youngest of five siblings and was preceded in death by Ev, Sec, Terry, and Eddie. She grew up on a farm and recalled numerous times during her life when she would hear owls nesting close by. These experiences left a lasting impression on her and fostered a love of owls throughout her entire life.
Cathy moved to Fruitvale in the 60’s after she married the love of her life, Alan Bacon. Al and Cathy started and ran the Fruitvale Pharmacy for more than 30 years. Al was a pharmacist and Cathy was secretary. They were involved in their community and local Rotary Chapter. Cathy worked with Meals on Wheels, delivering meals to people who were in need. Her daughter and son, Jill and Garth, were born at the Trail Regional Hospital in 1963 and 1965. Around that time the family purchased some lakefront property in Nelson, B.C. and later built a summer home there. Every weekend in the summer Cathy would pack up the car and her family and head to the lake. She was quite talented at making life fun for her kids and her friends. The words ”Easily Elegant” are apt ones to describe Cathy. She loved the outdoors, gardening, fishing, and hiking. She could ski for hours on end, hike for miles, and simply loved being outside throughout her life, even into her mid eighties.
Cathy was a breast cancer survivor from 1982. She never had a recurrence and she attended her local breast cancer support group, offering guidance and inspiration to others. Cathy loved to knit and crochet and she carried her basket of projects wherever she went much to Al’s amusement. Many of her friends and family have something she made.
After her kids had left home Al and Cathy hosted an international exchange student from Denmark through Rotary, named Jacob Vidkjaer “Jake”. They bonded quickly and he became a part of the family. They kept in touch and traveled to Denmark to visit and attend his wedding. His wife, Marianne, and 2 girls, Laura and Klara, became part of their family. Jake and his family visited over the years and attended Cathy’s 90th Birthday Celebration. Cathy loved her grandchildren and was lucky to spend a lot of time with all of them. Cathy had a special talent of making acquaintances feel like family. She had a knack for remembering names and all of the family would look to her for her recollection.
Cathy loved sports and participated in curling, badminton, and tennis. She participated in the B.C. Senior summer games in both doubles and singles, coming home with medals every year until she was 75 years old. She enjoyed competition and the comradery that came from sports.
Cathy loved the snow and snow skiing with her husband, family, and friends. Al and Cathy never left the Kootenays to go south in the winter months and you would always find them on the slopes. She would get so excited for the snow, declaring, “I love the snow!” She would go out for walks as soon as the first snowflakes fell. They met many friends through skiing. Friends and family would love to look at their wall where they displayed all their years of Red Mountain Season Passes. She loved going on International Ski Federation of Rotarians (ISFOR) trips with Alan and they skied in Utah, Alaska, Steamboat Colorado, Sun Valley Idaho, and most mountains in B.C. and Alberta. After skiing all of those places she would say, “I love Red Mountain the best!” She skied her last season at her beloved Red Mountain at 86 years old.
Cathy loved to golf, and she and Al were members at Balfour Golf course. She spent many fun summers with her Balfour Ladies Golf Club.
Cathy was a kid at heart. She tobogganed into her early 80’s. She loved to dress up and surprise, scare, or make her neighbors laugh. Before her knees became so sore from sports she loved to go dancing, and she and Alan won several Jitterbug dance competitions in their 60’s.
Cathy was up for anything. She ice fished with Al on Beaver Creek and then in their boat in the lake, and fly fished in the mountain creeks. Cathy loved Al’s homemade wine that he made for over 30 years. They enjoyed happy hour every night and Al kept a busy winemaking production schedule to keep up.
After 90 years of age, dementia made it challenging for her to knit and she became obsessed with puzzles. It kept her away from house chores and she said it was good for her brain. Later in life, especially when she started forgetting, she would surround herself with family and friend’s photos and cards, reminiscing about all the fun life experiences she had. She kept every Valentines, Birthday and Christmas Card from family and friends, and she had boxes of cards. Some of her girlfriends would resend their cards back and forth to each other triggering memories from 60 years ago. She would say, “ I’ve had a wonderful life.”
We will miss her smile, infectious laugh, sense of humor, playfulness, and athleticism. We will remember how she loved owls, and for her love for being outdoors.
She is survived by her husband of 65 years, Alan Bacon, daughter Jill Herlihy-Wilson (Dana), son Garth Bacon (Paula), and 5 grandchildren, Josh, Maddy, Liam, Abby, and Quinn.
Cathy’s family would like to thank Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital and the Kootenay Lake Hospital for the wonderful care they provided. We would also like to thank Thompson’s funeral home.
A celebration of Cathy’s life will be held in July of 2022 at the lake house in Nelson.
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Catherine Cathy Lucille Bacon Semenzin June 16 1928
December 30 2021..
Death notice for the town of: Nelson, Province: Colombie britanique