LEISHMAN, Patricia Marilyn Leishman

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Pat Leishman.

Pat was born in North Bay, Ontario.  Her parents lived in Abitibi Canyon, near James Bay, where her father worked for Ontario Hydro.  Given their remote location, her mother spent a month or two preceding her birth with family in North Bay, and that is where she was born. A short while later, her parents relocated to a hydro colony in Coniston, ON, near Sudbury, and that is where Pat spent her formative years.  She graduated from North Bay Teachers’ College and began work as a primary school teacher at an Inco school in Garson.  Her parents owned a resort on Lake Nipissing, and she loved spending time there.  The family all have wonderful memories of this beautiful place.

In 1961, Pat married Gerald “Gerry” Leishman, and they began their life as newlyweds in Sudbury.  For their honeymoon, they drove out west, experiencing the infamous Big Bend in Gerry’s 1960 Volkswagen Beetle.  Three children followed: Katherine “Kate”, Paul, and Gordon.  With the arrival of Kate, Pat ceased teaching and took on the career that she loved the most, mother and homemaker.  Gerry had worked for Bell Canada since he was 18, and he eventually decided he was ready for a change.   In 1974, the family moved from Sudbury to Kelowna, BC.  Compared to the lunar landscape of Sudbury, Kelowna was a veritable paradise.  Mom kept a list of all the fruit we ate that first year, and you could say we literally ate our weight in fruit.

In 1980, Pat and Gerry achieved a long-standing dream and moved the family to an acreage in Ellison.  Several happy decades of building a rural paradise ensued.  Mom and Dad’s beautiful flower and vegetable gardens were truly a sight to behold, and many delicious meals featuring the bounty of their gardens were enjoyed over the years.

In 2015, the acreage became too much, and Pat and Gerry spent several enjoyable years in their new home in Balmoral in the Mission.  In 2021, with a growing need for assistance from family, Pat and Gerry moved out of Kelowna to be nearer to Kate and Bill and their family.

Pat is survived by her husband Gerry, and children: Kate (Bill), Paul (Tracey), and Gord (Birgit).  She is also survived by 5 grandchildren: Allison, Erin, Sophia, Emily, and Jesse.