Sep 14, 1931 - Dec 7, 2017
On Dec. 7, the world lost a beautiful treasure and one of the biggest hearts of our heritage here in the Cariboo.
Norma Kathleen Mitchell passed away after a long fight with illness; one through which she maintained her ever-glowing smile and wild love for so many friends and family.
Norma was born on Sept. 14, 1931 in Vancouver, BC. In her teen years, she and her mother and father Leota and Guard Smith and older sister Juanita moved to Horsefly, BC where they lived for a few years. It's there that Norma found her love of country and wildlife, and a fulfillment with hard-work and the rewards of strength and independence. There was nothing she couldn't do.
In her late teens Norma and her family moved to Quesnel where she met the love of her life, Donald Archibald Mitchell. Their marriage began with a passion for the rewards of full, long days on their farm, working all 648 acres of it and growing their family in the house they built together.
Norma gave birth to their three children, Gregg, Randy and Shelley Mitchell. She made sure their lives were full of love and wonder, as she did as a Nana to her grandchildren in the years that followed. The strength she embodied and the comfort she gave was an effortless kind of beautiful.
Her green eyes always laughed with even the slightest smile, and her skin, golden from sun and wind and life, was always dusted by the fibers of her farm.
Her strong, capable hands worked alongside Don's and her children's for several years. If they weren't turning the steering wheel of a tractor, they were grooming her perfect flower beds or carving and building wood-work. Whether you were touched gently by those hands or if they pulled you in for one of her strong, whole-hearted hugs, one thing is for sure - once you were touched by Norma, your life was suddenly richer.
Norma truly lived a life of adventure and undeniable heartache. She was predeceased by her husband and her two sons. The picture of endurance and vigour in life, she gifted all her children and anyone who knew her with invaluable lessons. One of which we can all agree will be the one that is her legacy, Life can surely be a difficult thing, but for heaven's sake, you see the beauty in everything you can, stop complaining, keep your head up (but not too high that it gets lost in the clouds) and you keep going.
She is survived by her daughter Shelley Ingram ("Dot") and son-in-law Murray Ingram.
Her grandchildren: Laurie, Sarah, Katy, Chelsea, Zachary, Dustin, Tyrel, Bianca, Nikki, Stacey and Mitchell, and 22 great-grandchildren (all her "dolly-faces").
Her celebration of life will be on Apr. 14 of 2018, where she will be laid to rest with Don on the anniversary of their wedding.
The grave-side service will be held at 1:00 pm at Quesnel Cemetery, and a celebration of life will follow at 2:00 pm at Bouchie Lake Hall.