BASTEAD, Mary Evelyn (née Yarnell) March 24, 1933 – August 2, 2019

After a life of hard work, irrepressible curiosity, righteous fury, joyful creativity, and devoted love, Mary came to rest in her 86 ^th year. She died peacefully in hospital with family by her side.

When she wasn't working (at the General Electric plant in Oakville for almost 30 years) – and especially after she retired - she was creative with fabric, yarn, glue, and paint. She pursued knitting, tapestry, cross-stitch, rug-hooking, and painting, and produced everything from clothing to tapestries to dolls – even nativity scenes.

She loved gardening, especially digging in the earth, hunting for Hosta varieties in far-flung nurseries, nurturing alpine plants for the rock garden,  and spreading compost from her two bins. She visited gardens wherever she traveled, and the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington were a great favorite. In fact, the natural world enthralled her. She spent many an hour watching clouds and never took a walk without bringing back an interesting leaf or rock.

Mary was an early member of the Oakville Seniors' Camera Club, where she made great friends, maintained the club's scrapbooks, and enjoyed their meetings, competitions, and field trips. She left us over 100 albums of photos and 6 outdated cameras.

She loved to travel, from day-trips with friends, to journeys across North America, to four trips to Britain. She brought back thousands of pictures, many mementos, and even wool from faraway sheep. She liked to research her trips beforehand and plan visits to obscure curiosities (the 100-foot-high yew hedge in Scotland comes to mind).

Mary was always a kid at heart – curious, spontaneous, and joyful. She loved to join kids (big and small) in play: from blowing bubbles, to playing games, to watching yet another Disney classic.

But most of all, she delighted in good friends and her family. She is missed by daughters Deborah and Cara; grandchildren Troy, Leah, and Sarah; great-grandchildren Sydney, Hunter, Abbigale, and Francis; sister Jacqualyn and husband Maurice, and many others. She follows her husband Alan, who died in 1991.

A celebration of Mary's life will take place on August 17, 2019 at Kopriva Taylor Funeral Home. Please join the family at 11:00 AM to share memories and the reception that follows.

Donations to the Alzheimer's Society of Canada or the Royal Botanical Gardens would be an honour to Mary's memory.