March 12, 1944 - November 23, 2018
Elizabeth Florence Hutton passed away in Creston, BC on November 23, 2018 after a lengthy illness with Parkinson's disease.
Elizabeth was born in Grosse Point, Michigan. The eldest of six children, Elizabeth spent her early years in Toronto entertaining her parents, three sisters and two brothers with self-written/directed plays starring none other than herself. Elizabeth's flair for the dramatic served her well when the family moved to Vancouver where she finished grade school and attended University of British Columbia for 2 years before transferring to Carlton University in Ottawa to complete a Bachelor of Arts in English with Honours in the spring of 1967. Elizabeth's passion for education and culture propelled her into joining CUSO and moving to Uganda to teach school.
In 1969, Elizabeth returned to Canada and in 1970 attended University of Toronto and received her Bachelor of Education. In the spring of 1971, Elizabeth married Peter Roberts and later that year they moved to Zambia with CUSO where Elizabeth once again taught. In 1972, they returned to Canada living in Toronto, Halifax, Edmonton and eventually settling in Calgary where their daughter, Towani, was born.
After their divorce, Elizabeth met Ian Hutton while teaching and they quickly decided to join their families and in 1978 they moved their girls, Dianna from Ian's first marriage and Towani, to Creston where they completed their family by adding one final daughter, Pascale.
Creston became the community in which Elizabeth invested all her creativity, and enthusiasm: whether it was through inspiring young minds with her passion for Shakespeare or finding the perfect book for students in the library, entertaining neighbours by coordinating backyard circuses or tirelessly working behind the scenes to support the arts for children through Focus on Youth and weekend drama clubs, helping to found the Valley Community Resource Centre or hosting lively dinner parties full of heated discussions about ethics and morals or, of course, mentoring many of Creston's budding poets.
Her diagnosis with Parkinson's in 1998 brought a premature retirement, but 2003 brought tremendous excitement and new purpose for life with the arrival of her first two grandchildren, Xavion and Carson. Mahalia and Clea arrived in 2005, followed by Ryu in 2010 and Nico in 2015. Her grandchildren and their annual visits to Kootenay Lake were a great source of joy and an inspiration for countless poems.
Although Parkinson's most certainly robbed Elizabeth of many things it never took her grace or, more importantly, her beautiful smile. She was radiant until the end.
This above all to thine own self be true.
Elizabeth was predeceased by her mother Elspeth Drummond Herbert and father John Jarvis Carson
She is survived by her husband Ian Hutton; children Dianna (Sean Baylis), Towani (Rick Duchscher) and Pascale (Danny Dorosh); grandchildren Xavion and Mahalia Duchscher, Carson and Clea Baylis, and Ryu and Nico Dorosh; siblings John, Faith, Debby, Daniel, Kitty and their families.
A Service will be held Monday, December 10, 2018 at 11:00 am at Creston and District Community Complex. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Creston Valley Hospital Palliative Care Unit.