We Remember
TOMLINSON, Beatrice Louise (née Haase)
November 8, 1946 — June 17, 2025
Beatrice Tomlinson, age 78, passed away peacefully in Kelowna, BC, on June 17, 2025.
Born and raised in High River, Alberta, Betty was the youngest child of Robert & Helena (née Fehr) Haase and sister to Robert, William, Eugene, Annette Oesch, and Doreen Baker. She also grew up with her “sister” Lee Penner. Betty first met Ed in high school. They married in August 1965, the beginning of a 60-year journey together that led them north to Whitehorse in the Yukon. There, alongside the kind of neighbours you call family, they built a life that offered northern beauty, bright summers, and the chance to raise their two children with plenty of fresh air and adventure. After retirement, Betty and Ed traded city life to be surrounded by wilderness and rivers to a remote home, 100 kilometres from the nearest town.
Betty was the heart of her home. She was steady, funny, and endlessly practical. Her mischievous sense of humour often came out in small, unexpected moments. Ed, who served as a firefighter in the Yukon for 32 years, often found himself the target of her icy feet; she’d warm them on him without warning, a habit that never failed to make him jump.
Her hands were always busy. Betty gardened with love and patience, growing tomatoes in her greenhouse and tending both vegetables and flowers. She had a special place in her heart for the love of cats, hummingbirds and a unique talent to produce an authentic “Loon” call that would receive timely responses. In Yukon winters, she took to cross-country skiing. In the long summer daylight, she golfed, fished, and helped prepare whatever Ed brought home from his time out on the land. In later years, the two became snowbirds, spending winters in Palm Springs, beginning in their RV and eventually settling into a Park Model trailer. They travelled to Hawaii more than once, just the two of them, leaving the children with their grandparents.
She treasured her family: her husband Ed, daughter Sharon, son Paul (Preet), and grandson Parker. Her niece Lee, raised more like a sister, held a special place in her heart. Betty always put her loved ones first, and even when her feet were cold, her warmth ran deep.
Betty is lovingly remembered by all who knew her. She leaves behind not only a close-knit family but also the quiet strength of a woman who made a life in the wild north and brought warmth wherever she went. She goes now to join her parents and her brothers and sisters in the hereafter.
A private family gathering will be held in her honour. In lieu of flowers, please consider planting something in her memory – a tomato, a wildflower, or anything that reminds you to keep growing.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Alzheimer Society of BC.
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Alzheimer Society of BC Link: alzheimer.ca/bc
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