Tribute

We are very sad to announce the passing of our mother, Nan Franske, but are relieved she doesn’t have to suffer anymore. Nan is survived by her four children Sandra Fahey (Brian), Janice Flett (Steve), Kirk Franske (Alison Taplay) and Paul Franske (Wanda Erikson), as well as her seven grandchildren Emily, Chelsea, Ryan, Christian, Jennifer, Jason and Zach, and five great-grandchildren. Nan was born Hazel Margaret Ramsay in Vancouver, BC, in 1926. She became known as Nan because, as a very little girl, she climbed on everything, so her father took to calling her Nanny Goat, which was shortened to Nan. Her early years were happy, playing with friends and her younger sister. Then the depression hit and like so many people, they lost everything and had to move from their comfortable home, “to a shack out on Sperling Avenue.” The family bounced back but with scars and bruises from the experience. Mom emerged as a strong, reliable and determined young lady. A very capable athlete, Nan won the Templeton Junior High School Athlete of the year award in her senior year. When she was in her mid-teens, she, her sister and a friend started skiing at Mt. Seymour. When they began working, the girls pooled their resources and had a little ski cabin built, doing much of the work themselves. It was up the mountain that Mom met Norm, the love of her life. She had somehow badly stabbed herself in the thigh with her ski pole and had to be carried down the hill in a stretcher. Norm was one of the carriers. Nan and Norm were married in 1947 and moved to Stuart Island, just above Desolation Sound, to help run the store and post office. Two years later, they moved to a small hand-logging settlement 10 miles from the head of Bute Inlet. In 1951 they moved to Ramsay Road on Douglas Bay, Powell River, with their two very little girls and had their small floathouse towed down from Bute by a tugboat and hauled up the bank by a bulldozer. Norm got a job in the mill and they completed their family with the addition of their two sons. They worked very hard to make a lovely life for themselves and their children. They raised chickens, grew a big garden and Norm hunted and fished. Nan was a wonderful and competent homemaker. She sewed clothing, baked bread, made jam, canned fruit and vegetables and made very healthy meals. She loved to be able to say at the beginning of a meal, “Look at this food. Everything here we either grew or your father caught.” Embracing coastal life, many happy days were spent on the beach, camping, boating and fishing. It was a good life. In keeping with her belief that “busy hands are happy hands” Nan joined the Fine Arts Club and took up weaving and pottery. She loved going to the club and eventually got her own pottery wheel. As adults, her children were always delighted to receive one of her creations. In 1982, Nan and Norm moved north of town to a less developed area where they both loved the privacy and beauty of their new surroundings. Nan and Norm spent 24 very happy years there and after Norm passed in 2006, Nan soldiered on, continuing to live there until she was 91. She loved that ever since she married Norm they had always lived by the ocean. In 2017, Nan moved into Willingdon Creek Village. Nan’s family wishes to extend a heart-felt thank you to the staff at Willingdon Creek, the emergency room nurses and doctors and Dr. Chris Morwood and N.P. Erin Berukoff for the wonderful care and kindness shown to Nan during her time in their care. “Nanny” was greatly loved and will be dearly missed. She taught us to count our blessings, have a strong work ethic and make the best of any situation. She was definitely one of our blessings. There will be no service at this time but a private family farewell will be held in the summer.