Hazel Gwendoline Rye

1926 – 2024

Mrs. Hazel Gwendoline Rye, late of Prince Albert, passed away peacefully at the Rose Garden Hospice on Friday, January 12, 2024 at the age of 97.

Hazel was born June 19, 1926 Hazel Hughes in her grandmother’s cottage called Tuckers Green near Bath, England.  As a child, she was continually moving as her father managed different farms in Wiltshire and Berkshire. As a teenager, she remembered having children billeted at their home during WW2.  She was a girl guide and camped on the Devon coast in summer 1940 with enemy aircraft flying overhead.  She obtained a full school certificate from the Royal Drawing Society while in secondary school and had a painting called Peonies exhibited at the Royal Academy of Art. She then trained as a teacher at Cheltenham Ladies College and met Ted when he was sent to her school in Stanford in the Vale as an intern. They married in 1950 after Ted was demobbed from National Service in Trieste. They bought a house near the sea in Shoeburyness, Essex, and she taught 7- to 9-year-olds introducing the idea of Show and Tell, to get the children talking. She enjoyed gardening, reading and going to the theatre and operas, and was part of St. Andrew’s parish church. She had a zest for travel. Each summer she travelled with Ted and John, around Europe in a trailer caravan, managing to make meals for five weeks with strict currency limits. The day after their retirement in 1986, they moved to Prince Albert to be near their grandchildren. Afternoon tea was a regular feature of their lives as well as lunchtime Flintstones. They learned to play golf and to curl and were a part of St. Alban’s Anglican Cathedral, living in their home until Ted died in October 2023. She was very proud of her vegetables and flowers and planted as soon as the ground could be worked, most years in March. We were eating fresh peas at the time everyone else was planting. This past year she could be seen outside with a walker carrying a fork or spade and a watering can, precariously digging, being watched closely by Ted or one of her neighbours. She lived at Green Hill Lodge from October until two days before her death. She insisted on being transferred to the Rose Garden Hospice for her last few hours, her final gift to John and Christine.

Hazel leaves to mourn: her son John (Christine); her Grandchildren Michael, Peter (Alexandra), and Max née Deborah (Grant); her great grandchildren Elizabeth and Annabel; her three nieces Sheryl (Gary) Dutton, Penny (Kevin) Willett, and Angela (Eric) Harrison; as well as extended family in the UK.  She was predeceased by her husband “Ted” George Edward.

A Celebration of Hazel’s life will be held on Wednesday, January 17, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. at St George’s Anglican Church, 1104 4th Street East, Prince Albert, SK.

In lieu of flowers please put some money towards the education of your children or grandchildren, or donate to the Rose Garden Hospice – both were very important causes to Hazel and Ted.

Family and friends may leave online condolences at https://grays.ca

Funeral arrangements are entrusted to the care of Gray’s Funeral Chapel, (306) 922-4729, Paula Hanson, Funeral Director and Mary MacWilliams.

 

• Date : 2024-01-12
• Location : Prince Albert, SK