Lorna Peaker (4 September 1934 – 31 January 2022)

A librarian, Brown Owl, wife, mother of three, grandmother, volunteer, loyal friend and neighbour, hostess, raconteur, and creative homemaker, Lorna Peaker (nee Teasdale) will be deeply missed for her love of people, generosity, kindness, and wonderful storytelling.

Born and raised a much-loved only child in Didsbury Manchester, Lorna's childhood was dominated by WWII. She often told stories about nights spent in the air raid shelter at the end of the garden, with its resident hedgehog. Aged six, she was given an award for her bravery, when walking home with her classmates, she kept calm during an air raid, sensibly taking her friends down into an air raid shelter in the park and keeping them entertained until the all clear. Aged nine, Lorna ran a 'Blue Door Theatre Company', staging skits with neighbouring children to raise money for Clementine Churchill's Russia Fund. Her thank you letter from Mrs Churchill was a prized possession.

As a teenager, Lorna taught Sunday School at the Methodist Church and ran a brownie pack. After leaving school, she studied librarianship while working at libraries at the University of Manchester and ICI (AstraZeneca).

One of Lorna's favourite stories was about meeting her Canadian husband, Kenneth Peaker, who was completing his doctorate in geotechnical engineering at the University of Manchester. Ken's best friend Don Shields and his wife Carol lived across the road from Lorna. Assuming the role of matchmakers, the couple drove Ken and Lorna to little Morton Hall in Cheshire for a picnic, placing one of their babies on each of their knees. Ken and his 'English rose' were engaged six weeks later.

In 1965, Ken took Lorna to Canada, telling her that they would be living in a tepee. She was relieved when they moved to a house in Downsview, but soon found that life was Ken was a constant adventure. In 1967 they lived in Singapore for a year, and Ken's engineering career took them to Oman, Saudi Arabia, and, in retirement, to Peru. Together they travelled the world, from the Galapagos Islands to remote keys in the Turks and Caicos, and entertained a constant stream of visitors from England, Saudi Arabia, and Australia.

Ken was the love of Lorna's life. Theirs was a marriage with plenty of teasing, underpinned by love. Ken knew Lorna's worth. She was a devoted, supportive wife, hosting engineering dinner parties and company picnics, and running a warm, orderly, and welcoming home. When Ken announced he had bought a 150 acre dilapidated farm outside of Toronto, Lorna rose to the challenge and spent years of weekends with Ken and their three children, painting, gardening, hammering, herding escaped cows, and transforming it into the beautiful country retreat that many friends will remember visiting.

In 1968, Lorna brought her aging parents to Canada, looking after them in her Etobicoke home whilst raising her three children. She was a loving mother, creating a nurturing stimulating environment, responding to her children's interests with books, clubs, art, craft, sport, and photography supplies, and endlessly ferrying them to lessons and clubs. Lorna often took on extra children – whether they be teenage exchange students from abroad, or neighbourhood kids who leant on her as a second mum. She expressed her love through her wonderful cooking: her homemade soup and pizzas, her bean recipe, rock cakes, and oatmeal butter bars.

But her interests extended far beyond the domestic sphere. While raising her family, Lorna completed a degree in anthropology at the University of Toronto. She collected masks, artefacts, and porcelain, loved classical music, and was an avid reader. Later in life, she took up watercolour painting, and her friends and family looked forward to her annual calendar. She was always looking for ways to give back to the world, whether she was taking food to elderly neighbours, volunteering in her grandchildren's school library, helping out with Meals on Wheels, or teaching English to new Canadians. For years, she canvassed for the Cancer Society, the Salvation Army and the Arthritis Society.

Lorna loved people, took a genuine interest in their lives. The sheer number and quality of her friendships both old and new was astonishing. Despite living in Canada for almost sixty years, she still maintained her English friendships, and a part of her never left England.

After the passing of Ken in 2010, Lorna was sustained by her boundless love for her seven grandchildren. They will all remember their trips to the theatre, cafes, and bookshops, their games of cards, Scrabble and Dogopoly, and her singsong 'Woohoo!' greeting. Lorna adored spending time with them and felt huge pride in their achievements.

Lorna is survived by her three children: Mark and his wife Laura, Scott and his wife Ines, and Carol and her husband Stephen; and her beloved grandchildren: Christian, Omar, Julia, Claire, and Ross Peaker, and Noah and Oren Yudkin.

A celebration of Lorna's life will take place in the spring

In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Children's Book Bank, or the Malala Fund.