Live StreamThank you to all of you who were able to attend Ilse's service in person and via the live stream on Tuesday July 21. The live stream was recorded and can be viewed here:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=582011625820722DonationsIn Lieu of Flowers we are setting up a special honour in Ilse’s name at her school GNS, which will reflect the values she embodied. If you would like to contribute, donations can be made in her name securely online here:
https://mygns.myschoolapp.com/page/support-gns/make-your-donation?siteId=1426&ssl=1 (please make sure to select the 'Designation' menu, select the 'Other' option in the drop down menu and put Ilse's name in the comment field to ensure the donation goes to this award)
TributesPlease feel free to leave a tribute to Ilse at the bottom of this page, or you can also contribute a story or add to the picture gallery via the tabs above.
Here are some online memorials/tibutes:
About IlseIlse graduated from Glenlyon Norfolk School where in her senior year she served as the environmental prefect. Ilse had a love of music which started when she was very young with the violin and later the guitar. At school she was active in theatre, show choir, debate, public speaking, and athletics while continuing to play the guitar, sing and write music. Ilse played soccer for both her school team and for the Bays United team. She also rowed for her high-school team, the Victoria City Rowing Club and the Kingston City Rowing Club.
Since her graduation from GNS, she has been traveling, attending Queen's University and studying on exchange at Uppsala University in Sweden. She brought her love of music with her and took great pleasure in bringing friends together to jam in the basement of their student house in Kingston Ontario, or in their student flat in the Flogsta neighbourhood of Uppsala Sweden. In her most recent term in the fall at Queens University she joined the Queens University Rowing Team as an Assistant Coach.
Due to Covid, she came home early and has spent the last few months helping her mom with her little urban flower farm, bicycling with her dad, laughing with her sister Chloé, writing and recording vocals and guitar in our music room, and running with our dog Lilly. Recently, she also spent time social distancing with friends at the beach or in a lake swimming, and playing charades over zoom with friends from Sweden.
However you knew her, you would have experienced her openness, her kindness, her humour, and her resilience. She was a determined person. A strong person. She died suddenly on Cox Bay (Tofino, B.C.) in the rain (her favourite weather) with her family and knowledgeable strangers who brought her body back to enough life that a few days later she could give her organs and tissues which will be life-saving and life-changing for seven people and their families. On Tuesday, she will again be surrounded by friends and family, she will be buried in a natural field green burial, she will face the lake she loved so much. If you stand where she will be, you can hear the traffic and imagine her rushing to the lake for rowing practice, heading out to the ferry, or to get strawberries to bring home. Or in the opposite direction, going back to GNS and home. This green burial is completely in line with her environmental values.
We are tremendously grateful for the angels who appeared on the beach at Tofino to help her, in the Tofino Hospital, and in the Victoria ICU. All along this last part of her journey the kindness and respect that she gave freely in life to those whom she knew and those who were strangers was given to her in the time she needed it most. Our family has experienced so much love and kindness from around the world. It was fitting that she studied global development studies at Queens University because she really was a citizen of the world. She learned about the cultures of other families from all of the students who lived in our home, from international students she met at Queens and became friends with and those she became friends with in Sweden from around the world. The world is big and small at the same time. There are elements that connect us no matter where you are: music. laughter. kindness, compassion, generosity and love. Ilse experienced those things and shared those things. It is those things that will never end.
The world is a beautiful place full of amazing people. Ilse would want you to enjoy it, respect it and treat it with care. She lived a very full 21 years. One of Ilse’s gifts was that she didn’t wait until tomorrow to live, but lived each day to its fullest aligned with her values. It is the way of life that leads to having no regrets. Our family is grateful for your support and we wish you peace.