Tribute

Audrey Hayward was born in England in the autumn of 1924. She survived the Blitz, and often told stories in her later years of walking in London during the bombings. She came to Canada on a whim in the early 1950s, where she met her husband, Gerald Lyster, a park warden. Audrey and her family lived in Banff and Jasper national parks and in Fort Chipewyan, Alberta. When Gerry (known as Red to his friends) retired in the late 1970s, the family moved to Vilna, Alberta, and took up farming. In the 1980s, after most of her children left home for work and university, Audrey moved with Gerry to Powell River, where she lived for the remainder of her life. Gerry predeceased her in May of 2001. Audrey loved to tell stories and to laugh. In later years she took a course at the local college on how to write her memoirs and wrote more than 20 short stories about her life. Several of her writings appeared in Powell River Living. She died peacefully at the Evergreen Extended Care Home on July 5. She is survived by her children Cody, Margaret, Jonathan and Darryn, and by her granddaughter Jennifer. Audrey did not want a funeral, although her family is planning a private gathering to reflect on her life and share their memories.