Elizabeth Ann HART

1957 - 2023

ELIZABETH ANN HART 1957 - 2023 On May 3, Elizabeth Hart, aged 65, died unexpectedly due to the unlikely complications of surgery. The improbability of this blunt fact is not lost on her family, many friends, students, and colleagues who have long marvelled at her energy and vigour. A lover of life in the extreme – the adoring matriarch of her own family, perpetual fluffer of the pillows of friendship, delighter in the beauty of the natural world – she lived more in her lifetime than many of us could hope to in several. To sit with her on a chairlift at Whistler, or in front of the fire at Point Roberts, was to be in the very best of company – reveling in the radiance of the day, telling tales of work and home, bonding over stories of her beloved children, Wilson, Foster, Sally and Thomas; the latter two with their respective spouses, Jordan Ardanaz and Rianna Wise; whose newborn, Francesca, was the light of Lize's last months on this earth. Giving was what she was good at, putting generosity into daily professional practice in her role as Montessori teacher at Maple Grove Elementary – having spent 1996 to 2014 teaching at Boundary Bay Montessori House. Stories of the classroom sometimes made their way home, names withheld, and her respect for her colleagues, particularly those she was mentoring, was obvious to all who knew her. Her compassion always lead her to single out the child, or the families, who needed her most. Sometimes she would tell those stories too. When the subject of conversation was serious, Lize fully engaged, but she was never far from a sense of divine silliness, infectious spontaneity, or of communion in life's pleasures. No one could better enjoy a slice of fresh bread with homemade Apricot jam (that was the Milroy in her) or a plunge into the ice-cold ocean of Crystal Water Beach on a hot summer's day. She loved the simple things best. Blossoms against the spectacle of mountains and snowfields, an afternoon of work in the garden at Point Roberts, a nap with her most unlikely dog-friend Fred, anything with hearts on it, a freshly groomed ski run awaiting her fresh tracks, or the folds of fat on a baby's wrists – a sight that would send her into rapture. Moving through her days, Lize was exultant. She was a remarkably strong person – in her teenage athletic endeavours in track, in her perseverance as she faced life's curve balls, but also in her certainty about how to care for the people around her. If she was firm, it was because she was unfailingly practical, her thoughts centred on maximizing care. This was a woman born to be in charge. Lize's primary devotion was to her own family, and to her husband of 43 years, Andrew Hart, who she invariably referred to as her rock, her partner in all her undertakings. Like her parents, Barbara Ann Milroy and the late John Alexander Milroy, she saw family as an arena of trusted, unconditional support but also as a collective primed to serve. Her family will surely carry that warm mission forward as they honour her memory in the years ahead. Along with her husband, children, and grandchildren, she is survived by her brothers and sisters, Allison, Thomas (Sarah), Stephen and Sarah Jane Milroy; and by her nieces and nephews, Gabriela, Roberto, Victoria, Elizabeth, Jonathan, Nellie, Sutherland, Anna, Henry, Tara, Sarah, and Julia. A Celebration of Life will be held at St. Mary's Kerrisdale, 2490 West 37th Avenue, Vancouver, BC, on May 25, 2023 at 1:00 p.m.

Walkey & Company Funeral Directors (604) 738-0006