Mary Brizan

Mary Victoria (Hanson) Brizan

February 25,1926 to February 4, 2024

It is with heavy hearts that the family of Mary Brizan would like to announce her recent passing. She was beloved by all who knew her, and she will be deeply missed.

Mary was predeceased by her parents Herman and Anna Hanson, her brother Bobby Hanson, and her granddaughter Brandi Brizan

Mary is survived by her brother Hank (Elaine Barkey) Hanson, her sons Darryl (Ann-Marie) Brizan and Tony (Melanie) Brizan, Grand Children Sarah (Sjoerd) Meyer, Emma (Hunter) Wey, Diana (Chris) Shook, Stephen (Karen) Brizan, Richard (Keelan) Blasing-Brizan, and great grandchildren Kaehler, Ethan and, Annika Meyer, Torsten and Clara Wey, and Owen and Henrik Shook.

Mary was born in a logging camp in the Cowichan Valley near Duncan BC in 1926. The family moved to Sooke BC in the early 1930’s during the great depression and showed great resilience by starting a chicken farm (Parkland Poultry) to help supplement their income during the tough economic conditions at the time.

Mary loved growing up in the small town of Sooke BC and had many fond memories of playing with her many friends. They skated at “Pinky’s pond” in the winter, played endless games of snap the whip, hide’n’seek, etc, and she especially loved lazy summer days swimming in the Sooke River, both at the tidal flats near the bridge and also at the potholes. They ran or rode their bikes everywhere and she always considered her childhood an idyllic way to grow up. This early childhood also started her lifelong love of animals, and she had many beloved pets, dogs, cats, and even a baby deer.

Mary was a child prodigy who taught herself to read and write starting with cereal boxes at the kitchen table when she was only four years old. A couple of years later, she started her formal education when she entered grade 1 at Sooke Elementary School. The next year, she was joined by her brother Hank., who clearly remembers her holding his hand the entire way while they walked the 3 km to school and reassuring him that he would be fine and like it a lot. Mary certainly loved school and excelled in all of the subjects that were taught. She ended up skipping several grades and graduated high school at the age of 15.

She was often asked to teach the younger grades and her parents thought that becoming a teacher would be a fine thing for her to pursue. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, she was too young for teachers' college (which was the way to become a teacher back then) so she enrolled at Craig Derrick College to start studying for her bachelor’s degree. She boarded in Victoria during the week and travelled back and forth to Sooke on the weekends by stagecoach. She transferred to UBC when she was 17 and earned a Bachelor of Science by the time she was 19. It was during her final year at UBC when her youngest brother (Bobby aged 15 at the time) died in a tragic accident when the entire Sooke high school basketball team drove off a bridge near Shirley BC while traveling from a game in Jordan River. There is a memorial to him and his teammates at the Hatley Park Cemetery and Mary visited regularly afterwards. Always brilliant in every subject, Mary had particularly excelled in the sciences while studying at UBC and upon graduation, was offered a job at the Chalk River Nuclear plant in Ontario. However, her parents thought that it was too dangerous and “smelly” a job for a woman and didn’t want her to be so far away after just having lost their youngest child, so Mary accepted a job teaching high school in Burnaby, BC

Always a natural teacher, this job was difficult for her at first because she was only 1 year older than her students and most of the boys were more interested in flirting with the very attractive new teacher than learning from her. She had plenty of experience fending off unwanted personal interest though. The past few years had been the final years of WWII and growing up in Sooke and the fact that her father played accordion in a local dance band, meant that she attended a lot of dances at the military base in Esquimalt and Sooke. Women were in short supply, so she danced every dance and made many friendships with departing soldiers. Several wanted her to marry them, but she kept them all firmly in the “just friends” category and became pen pals with many. (In later years, she often mentioned how sad it was that so many did not come back and hoped that her letters brought some cheer into their lives).

She excelled in teaching and found it both fun and rewarding. She also loved being young and single in Vancouver. She went out dancing frequently and she learned to ski. Mary had the athleticism and the enthusiasm to hike the Grouse Grind (long before it was the cool fitness challenge it is today) with a pack and all her ski gear to spend her weekends skiing at Grouse Mountain, they would stay overnight in cabins on the hill. There was a short rope tow, longer ski runs would involve packing her ski’s and hiking up the mountain.

It was during this time that she met a young Croatian immigrant (John Brizan) while out dancing one evening. They became fast friends and dance partners and eventually, he worked up the courage to ask her to marry him. They were married on July 8th, 1956.

Also, a gifted learner and “jack of all trades”, John wanted to study for his license as a heavy-duty mechanic but had been hampered by the fact that English was not his first language. Mary helped him to achieve his goal and shortly afterwards John accepted a job at a logging camp as a heavy-duty mechanic in Port Renfrew so she resigned her position in Burnaby and accepted a job as school principal in a small (grade 1 to 12) school in Port Renfrew. She taught every subject there and was a real favourite of all of her students. Her two sons, Darryl (1958) and Tony (1961) were born during this time. The young family really enjoyed their time in the small community of Port Renfrew and enjoyed fishing, playing on the beach, and all the advantages and freedoms that the small town had to offer.

During the mid-sixties, Mary’s parents wanted to sell the chicken farm and Mary wanted to “retire” and to be able to spend more time at home with her sons, so they decided to buy the chicken farm from Anna and Herman and they moved back to Sooke while John continued to commute and worked at various logging camps.

Her sons recall a really wonderful childhood growing up on the farm in Sooke. Their dad made them a little motorized go cart which they were allowed to drive on the property, and he also built them a small merry-go-round which all of the local children enjoyed. They fished in the local creek, played endless childhood games with the other children (just like their mother had before them) and enjoyed camping and fishing and swimming at the potholes. Every year, their mother took them to All Sooke Days to cheer on Mary’s childhood friends (the Wickheim brothers) as they became world champion log burlers.

Unfortunately, her marriage fell apart, and she and John sold Parkland Poultry to the Van Veen Family in the late 1960’s and Mary moved to Colwood BC with her sons Tony and Darryl where they stayed with her parents Herman and Anna Hanson in their new home at the end of Wickheim road overlooking the Esquimalt Lagoon.

Mary then attended UVIC in the early 1970’s earning a Master of Arts degree with a specialty in counselling. After her graduation in 1973, she accepted a job with Canada Manpower and relocated to Prince George with her 2 boys and her dog Blondie. Always up for and adventure, they set off in her light blue Datsun Station Wagon, towing her 13 ft travel trailer behind with a 10ft car top boat they had christened the TDM (Tony Darryl Mary) Flyer strapped to the roof.

Mary loved the outdoors and took her sons on many fishing and camping adventures to the many small lakes like Nulki and Carp near Prince George where her boys would rake in the rainbow trout with willow leafs and worms. During the winters she taught them both to ski and continued her passion for skiing at the local Tabor Mountain Ski Hill. She enrolled her boys in both of Canada’s national sports (hockey and lacrosse) and was a proud spectator, always cheering them on from the stands. They went on many road trips together for tournaments from Fort St John to Vancouver.

This love of sports extended to her grandchildren, and she was a recognizable figure at all of their sports games and meets. She particularly loved watching lacrosse and eventually became known as Madam Lacrosse to the local team. A passion for which she continued into her 90’s. She spent many hours volunteering for the PG Senior Lacrosse Association creating programs with photos of the players.

Mary temporarily moved down to Vancouver in the early 80’s to help care for her elderly parents. She was eventually offered an “early retirement” deal when Manpower decided to downsize, which she took, and then immediately went right back to work with the Elizabeth Fry Society, helping to teach new immigrants both English and employment skills. Always a lifelong learner, Mary went back to school during this time and earned a certificate as an ESL teacher and took many courses to learn more about her new passion, COMPUTERS! She kept up with the new technology proficiently using iPads, iPhones, laptops, and desktop’s well into her 90’s. She was truly amazing in her ability to learn, retain, and apply everything she studied.

In the late 80’s (after her parents had passed away) she quit her job and returned to her Prince George home on Byng Avenue to be nearer her sons and her grandchildren. She immediately started working for the College of New Caledonia as an ESL instructor. Mary always looked young for her age and when the College discovered that she was older than 65 she was asked to retire. She found immediate re-employment with the Elizabeth Fry Society teaching whatever was needed to help young women complete their GED’s so that they could continue on in school or other academic training. Again, beloved by all of her students, she loved being able to make a difference in people’s lives. She was eventually talked into taking a position as an employment councilor with the IMMS (Immigrant and Multicultural Services Society) where she helped many new immigrants find gainful employment. Many would often see her on the street or look her up to thank her, being very grateful for the excellent help she had provided them finding new careers in Canada.

She finally really retired for good in the early 2000’s at the age of 76 and threw herself into volunteering. She taught bridge and computer classes at various Senior’s center in PG. She was an active Rotarian and volunteered with Meals on Wheels and participated on the executive of several local societies.

Eventually she sold her Byng Avenue home and moved in with her son Tony & his family. She lived in a separate suite of her own in the basement of her son’s home with her little Pomeranian dog named Cisco. Mary would often stop for burgers at A&W and share them with her dog while sitting at a park bench at Fort George Park or sitting in her car in a park with a view. She then moved to Alward place and continued to live independently and volunteer as much as she could well into her 90’s.

In the summer of 2020 at the ripe old age of 94 Mary moved to Beacon Hill Villa which is a full care facility in Victoria. This kept her close to her son Darryl and wife Ann-Marie and most of their family who had also moved to the Victoria area.

Mary enjoyed her time at Beacon Hill Villa making new friends with residents and staff, and as was usual, she was dearly loved by all of the staff and other residents. She was always up for any activity and when asked if she would like to participate, she would reply with her trademark “Absatively Posalutely”. She especially enjoyed doing cross word puzzles and remained a master at them until the end. Her name was often found on the Villas bulletin board for crossword champion, spelling bee champion, and bowling champion. (In her younger days, Mary once bowled a perfect game at 5 pin bowling with a score of 450. 13 strikes in a row!)

She always had kind words to say about everyone she knew and never put people down and is one of the most positive people we have ever known. She was unfailingly cheerful and helpful and never complained about anything. Mary succumbed to pneumonia but said shortly before her death that she had no regrets about her life. She said she had a wonderful long life with no regrets.

In the immortal words of Lawrence Welk, she was Wonerful, Wonerful, Won-ner-ful!

In lieu of flowers, a contribution to a charity of your choice would be preferred.