June 4, 1926 — October 15, 2026

Ann was born in Norwood, Ontario. Second of five sisters and a tomboy, she preferred sports and adventure to domestic pursuits and sometimes rode the garbage wagon through town “for fun”. She swam in the reservoir, and skied before lifts were invented, yet Ann pitied her father because he had no sons. During grade school, she was one of two chosen to sing Dvorak’s Going Home in a choir at Toronto’s Massey Hall. Contributing to the war effort, she was a ‘Farmerette’ in the Niagara region for two seasons.

Ann had an uncanny sixth sense. She dreamed about a fire in the garage and warned her parents; the next day, a fire broke out in the garage. Bob Stinson, her one and only sweetheart, caught her eye by defending a boy being bullied, and years later, walked her home after an ice skating party. They were together for 71 years, marrying in 1949 when he graduated from veterinary college. A famously inept cook, Ann had no idea how to boil an egg, and her first attempt at a pie was so awful they buried it in the backyard. They had four children in rapid succession. “We didn’t know what caused them,” Ann liked to joke. “When we found out…” She snipped the air with finger-scissors.

The family settled in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan where Bob worked as a large animal veterinarian. “I never had a job,” Ann said, but she raised the children, grew a large garden, canned and preserved food, revitalized and ran the local library and led a choir at the United Church. She also volunteered, in particular with the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation, and became an accomplished oil painter and photographer. For many summers, Ann and Bob drove the kids across the country in their 1958 Bel Air, eating sandwiches that Ann made on the hood of the car. In her last two decades, Ann knit close to a hundred baby blankets and donated them to hospitals.

Quick with puns and good-humoured slaps, Ann rarely missed an opportunity for a joke. She had a temper, too; her favourite curse was, up you, Charlie Brown. When the family moved to Calgary, Ann joined a curling club and later played for a team that missed going to the Silver Broom by one end. She curled into her late 80s.

Ann and Bob retired to White Rock, B.C. and enjoyed sailing, golf and hiking in the high mountains. They travelled to Australia, England, Cuba, Vietnam, Egypt, China, Russia, Baltic states and Panama. Ann especially loved Kauai, Hawaii, where for many years she and Bob took an annual golf holiday.

Ann’s stoic and determined outlook served her well in old age. “Do what you can when you can,” she often said, and she practiced what she preached, attending exercise classes into her hundredth year of life and earning a reputation as ‘a pistol’ at her senior’s home.

Predeceased by Bob in 2020, Ann is survived by her children Douglas (Maritza), Margaret, Rodney and Bill (Katie); her grandchildren Adrienne, Eric, Sol (Katie), Rueben (Faith), Kelsey, Sinead, Marcus, Dylan and Aubrey (Paige), and her great-grandchildren Keyan, Lenex, Skyla and Ariel.

The family would like to thank the excellent staff at Kamloops Seniors Village, especially Amy Thesen, Bonnie Johnson, Bridget, Kristy and Cassie who are professional, compassionate, effective and treated Ann like family. Sincere thanks to Dr. Grant Del Begio, Dr. Patrick McCafferey and Dr. Andrew Wynne.

• Date : 2026-10-15
• Location : Kamloops