2017
Wendy A. Stefansson
December 20, 1961 – November 21, 2017

Wendy Anne Stefansson passed away quietly and peaceful at her home on Nov 21st, 2017, 29 days short of her 56th birthday. She was truly a gentle soul who now lives with her fellow angels.

Wendy was diagnosed with stage-three ovarian cancer two years ago. Her first-round of chemotherapy appeared to be successful, but her cancer had metastasized a year later to her liver and stomach lining. It later spread to her lungs. Her body found the second-stage chemotherapy drugs too toxic and developed an allergic reaction to the drugs.

Her passions in life were literature, poetry and art. Her first degree was in English Literature. She was a voracious reader. She loved everything from Hemmingway to JK Rowling, from Sylvia Plath to Michael Ondaatje. Truth be told, she would not have deigned to give her engineer husband, then suitor, a second look had he not been able to quote Shakespeare including citing the play, act and play of the quote.

Born: December 20, 1961 Death: November 21, 2017

As Wendy struggled to accept and come to peace with the prognosis of her illness, her artistic and generous soul was reflected in the poetry she wrote. She penned the following particularly poignant poem earlier this year reflecting on the relationship between death, dying and our Creator:

I know what I am craving, now; and it’s emptiness. Maybe that’s what the finish line looks like in my head. No room for anything but everything. (Fewer words, longer silences.)

A hollowness within, that merges with the hollowness around me. The hollowness of the universe.

The thinning out of the self, becoming nothing more than a translucent and porous membrane. A bubble skin containing only space, where the space (hollowness) (emptiness) (non-being) is the point.
I am a smallness within the expansiveness that is God,
standing alone in a massive stone cathedral, all Gregorian echoes and Vermeer light. I am losing myself in the work of non-being. Distilled. Essential. Pure. The nothing that is Everything.
And, she was a visual artist from birth. She loved to sketch, to paint and to

photograph. Combining her talents for the written word and eye for art, she served as editor for the magazine ‘Art of the Peace’ ( www.artofthepeace.ca) for two years (2006 – 2008) in addition to contributing feature articles to the magazine highlighting her remarkable fellow artists in the Peace Country.
While literature, poetry and art were her avocations, her vocation was teaching. Her second degree was in Education. She poured her soul into early childhood education; she taught pre-school in Banff; and, kindergarten, grade one, and grade two in Edmonton and Peace River. She believed children learned best through directed play. She was determined to make everyday a day of delight and curiosity for her pupils. She wanted them to look forward to coming to school every day.
Although well travelled, having visited four continents and numerous countries, she was at her core very quintessentially Canadian.
Born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada’s birthplace; she grew up in Kitchener, Ontario; spent her late teens in Abbotsford, Vancouver, and Banff; her university years and early teaching career were in Edmonton; the last 22 years were spent here in Peace River. She gathered close friends in each of her homes across this country. She made a point of trying to spend part of each summer at her grandparents’, and then her mother’s, cottage by the sea in PEI, often driving across the entire country in her little, beloved, red Toyota Tercel (sans air conditioning). One of her regrets was not learning to speak French fluently to support her belief in one Canada united from coast to coast to coast.
The loves of her life were her family. She is survived by her much and deeply loved daughter, Ariel Tarpey, and her husband, Tom Tarpey. Wendy will be deeply missed, loved and forever remembered by her devoted mother, Sandy (Keppoch, Prince Edward Island); her father, Gilbert (Cambridge, Ontario); her brother Bob (New Hamburg, Ontario);
her brother Andy (Vernon, British Columbia); and her numerous cousins, nephews, nieces and friends. She was taken from us much too early and leaves an unfillable gap in our lives.

Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Wendy A Stefansson 2017.source

Death notice for the town of: Peace River, Province: Alberta

death notice Wendy A Stefansson 2017- mortuary notice Wendy A Stefansson 2017