Jean Margaret ROBINSON

1916 - 2015

ROBINSON, Jean Margaret (Marsden): 24 September 1916 - 31 December 2015 Jean was born in Ossett, Yorkshire, in the middle of the First World War. She came from a resilient Yorkshire family. Her mother, widowed very young took Jean and her older brother Derick to live in Scarborough on the North Sea. Jean had mostly happy memories of her youth there. In the thirties, Jean trained as a children's nurse and went to Egypt to work with various families there. When World War II broke out, she decided to return to England and had a harrowing trip by ship across the Mediterranean and by train across France - passing through Paris the day before the German forces occupied it! Once in England, Jean joined the RAF and spent the war as a radar operator. It was during this time she met Canadian William (Bill) Robinson and in 1945 began her next adventure - in Dome Creek, BC! But Jean was up to the challenge, indeed, Bill's next posting was at Buntzen Lake, near Vancouver. It was there that Jean lived in a cabin above the lake and experienced a real pioneer life. Soon a daughter Geri and son Peter arrived. The next move was to Trail, where the family settled and put down roots. When Jean and Bill retired from West Kootenay Power in the seventies, they moved to Naramata and enjoyed many years together in a house their son Peter helped them to build. When Bill died in 1996, Jean moved to Penticton where she lived the remainder of her life. Jean created an immaculate flower and vegetable wonder in her small garden. Jean was a keen bridge player and played regularly and passionately until well into her nineties. Jean is survived by her daughter Geri Sobool in Penticton, her son Peter at Christina Lake, her granddaughter Kim Cook and great-granddaughter Hana in Courtenay and many nieces and nephews in the Kootenays. The family thanks the kind people at the Concorde and Trinity Care Homes in Penticton for their loving care of Jean. No flowers by request. "Do not go gentle into that night, Rage, rage against the dying of the light."