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Sheila Cran passed away very peacefully, surrounded by her loving family in the home she lived in for most of her nearly 91 years. Born into a pioneering family, Sheila Ibbotson was raised on Sunnyvale Farm, established in 1907 by her mother, Queenie and her father Fred who was also a community activist and a city councillor.

During WW2 Sheila trained as a nurse at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops. In 1947 she and James Robert (Bob) Cran were married in Victoria. They moved to Ocean Falls, B.C. where Bob was an inspector in a paper mill and where their two sons were born. In 1950 they returned to Salmon Arm and in 1952 Sheila gave birth to twin daughters. They raised their children with the loving care of Sheila’s mother Queenie on the Ibbotson homestead. In 1968, after thirteen years as an operating room nurse at Shuswap Lake General Hospital, Sheila moved to Vancouver to study public health nursing at UBC. She returned to Salmon Arm in 1969 and continued her nursing career as a Public Health Nurse, travelling in a Volkswagen Beetle to Revelstoke, Mica Creek, Trout Lake and Vernon, ending her service in the Salmon Arm Clinic where she retired in 1984.

Over her many years in the community Sheila was actively involved with the Anglican Church as a lay minister and with the Cursillo Movement. For a period of time in the 1960s she was a leader in the Rangers, a senior division of the Girl Guides.

Sheila was pre-deceased by her beloved parents, George Frederick Ibbotson (1947) and Ida Dorothy (Queenie) Ibbotson (1974), and by her sister Joyce Brown and her brother-in-law Evan Brown.

She leaves behind her children and their spouses, Michael, Chris (Denise), Allison (David) and Gillian (Linz), her grandchildren and their spouses, Sunny (Jeff), Jason, Sebastian, Anthony (Naomi), Gabrielle (Alex), Michael, Christopher (Cynthia), Stefan (Kavyo), Joshua (Jennifer), Nadja (John) and Wyatt, and her great-grandchildren, Simon, Annika, Justin, Tegan, Jack, Jude, Declan and Ruby.

She also leaves behind friends and loved ones, many of whom called her “Mom” or “Nanny” and those from the animal and bird kingdoms who also adored her. Held in great affection by so many people for her tremendous heart and generosity, she was someone who, by example, taught that caring is something you do – it is not just a sentiment.

The family would like to extend their deep appreciation to those very friends and loved ones who also loved her.

We would like to thank the nurses and aides of Community Care Health Services for their love and extraordinarily tender caring in her final weeks.

To those who desire to give flowers, the family would ask that you instead give to a charity of your choice.

Thank you to Bowers Funeral Home. Service at St. John’s Anglican Church, Sat., June 26 at 11 a.m.

Most of all we would like to thank Mom/Nanny/Sheila – All of us are your family and we love you.



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