Mary Coakley
August 31, 2022
August 31, 2022
August 31, 2022
Mary Kathleen Coakley (June 26, 1953 - August 31, 2022)
Mary Kathleen Coakley of New Westminster, BC passed away suddenly at age 69 after a recurrence of her breast cancer. She is desperately missed by son Sean, daughter Catherine, daughter-in-law Amy, son-in-law Saba, and beloved husband of 42 years, Chris. She is also missed by her sister Lorraine, brother-in-law Tony, and countless other friends and family.
Mary was the youngest child of Charles and Nora Lamb, born in Penticton, BC where she spent her childhood and had many fond memories of lazy summers at Okanagan Lake and long hot days harvesting fruits and veggies for the winter with her mother and sister. The family moved to Port Coquitlam in 1964, and she soon met her best friend Val. After graduation, she rented an apartment with Val and they had many epic adventures together, including driving across Canada in 1974, backpacking through Europe in 1975, and a fateful trip to Hawaii where Val met her US Marine husband, Roy. Val moved to Chicago but they continued to be best friends and shared many laughs and visits throughout the years.
In 1978, Mary was working at Canadian Forest Products where she met a skinny wannabe ski bum from Halifax named Chris who needed a date for a company function. She obliged and they were married in Hawaii two years later. Sean came in 1982, followed by Catherine in 1986.
After Catherine, Mary began working at Tree Island Steel and went back to school. She obtained her Bachelor of Business Administration and MBA while raising her young children and working full time at Tree Island. A feat her now adult children still cannot comprehend! Her hard work and dedication led her to move up the corporate ladder to the position of Corporate Marketing Manager, where she oversaw the company’s global marketing operations and was one of few female executives.
Mary was a lifelong learner and had a thirst for knowledge. She was a ferocious reader having read thousands of books in her lifetime. No one was more excited for the invention of the e-reader than her, other than perhaps Chris who could finally stop building bookshelves. After retirement, she completed the Master Gardener Program at VanDusen Botanical Garden. She used her gardening knowledge to create her own beautiful garden, volunteered at VanDusen, the Cottage Hospice, many community Farmers Markets, clinics, and answered Catherine and her son-in-law Saba’s constant gardening questions. In retirement, she also accomplished her goal of being a forever student by enrolling each term in the continuing education program at SFU where she took courses in a wide variety of topics including French, English and Russian literature, Italian Opera, and weirdly, James Joyce’s Ulysses. She was a patron of the VSO and she loved dragging Chris out to as many plays and concerts as she could convince him to attend.
She was also an amateur artist having mastered - to varying degrees of success - mosaic tile art and excelled in left handed crocheting! Many friends and family are lucky to have been gifted her creations. She was a wonderful cook and loved hosting her longtime friends, “The Oakridge Gang”, for dinner parties where she would test out new recipes and have great times. She loved to travel and was fortunate to see most of the world with Chris including her final trip, a long awaited second drive across Canada by motorhome, that she described as a trip of a lifetime.
Her children were her proudest accomplishment. She showered them with love even when they didn’t particularly earn it and they loved her dearly in return.
She is so missed by them and Chris.
A Celebration of Life is scheduled for 11:00am on October 23, 2022 at Meadow Gardens Golf Club, 19675 Meadow Gardens Way, Pitt Meadows. In lieu of flowers, donations to the BC Cancer Foundation https://bccancerfoundation.com/, or the Michael Cuccione Foundation https://www.childhoodcancerresearch.org/ are welcome to help end this awful disease.
You are invited to leave a personal message for the family.