Alleson Kase

Alleson Kase

January 10, 1953 – December 11, 2023

Alleson departed on her final journey into the great mystery on December 11, 2023. Her guiding principle was to live simply so that others may simply live. In doing that, she also led a very rich life that left footprints around the world.

Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1953, Alleson was adopted into a loving home by Donnie and Hurley Case alongside older brother, Mike. Her maternal grandmother and aunt also lived with them and passed on their impeccable table manners to Alleson each night at dinner, whether she was receptive or not.

As a kid, Alleson was bright and curious, and thrived under the teaching of the nuns at her elementary and high schools. She loved to roam the neighbourhood on her bike, swim in the family’s above ground pool and play with her huge collection of Tonka trucks. She also loved working on building projects with her dad, who encouraged her use of power tools at a shockingly young age.

Reflecting on her life, Alleson said that she felt lucky and grateful. For most of it, she did what she wanted to do, when and where she wanted to, and with whom she wanted to spend time. She lived her life on her terms and, when there were stumbling blocks, tried to learn from them and adapt her course.

Her explorations and pivots led her in many directions over the years. She roamed Latin America by van and rickety boat, and motorcycled around the vast majority of Thailand. She explored many parts of Southeast Asia and Europe by train, bike, boat and foot, and spent loads of time ambling around the parks of Victoria by bike or on foot and, recently, in her great motorized power wheelchair.

Wherever she went, she tried to connect with the local culture and people, always preferring to shop at local markets or slip into an eatery that looked the least likely to cater to tourists. In her work with TAMMACHAT Natural Textiles http://www.tammachat.com trade textile business that she ran with her beloved Ellen, the two sat for hours with the women of the weaving co-ops, chatting and learning about their lives and what mattered to them.

Music was a constant in her life and she always saw the coolest acts in the smallest venues before they got big. She was deeply proud of the fact that she had only ever been to one stadium concert in her life, preferring instead to volunteer for many of Vancouver’s smaller music festivals and as set-up crew at an early Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival.

Alleson was relentlessly curious and thoughtful about a wide variety of issues. Her social justice work landed her in protest marches as well as national television appearances, where she advocated for peace, women’s equality and lesbian rights. She wrote pamphlets and poetry, speeches and impact assessment reports. She mentored young social changemakers and quietly supported causes that mattered to her around the globe.

When she wasn’t trying to save the world, you could usually find her whisking a special someone around the dancefloor in an impeccably ironed outfit. Either that or whipping up a many-course meal and presenting it with understated elegance. Or maybe you’d catch her riding her bike from Victoria out to Langford for an afternoon poker game, and stopping at the pub for a pint and a chat on the way home.

Alleson met her ALS diagnosis in 2022 with enormous grace. At the time, she said that she was torn between wanting to rush off and embrace what she had left of 'normal' life and wanting to hide under a blanket. Fortunately, embracing life largely won out in the end. She and Ellen traveled to Nova Scotia and Thailand while she was still able and the two made the best at living each of her remaining days to the fullest, often with laughter, always with ice cream and music.

As the last weeks grew more difficult, Alleson still found ways to continue softening, opening and learning from the experience. She got her affairs in order and, as part of that process, made several education-related gifts to international organizations that support women and girls. She lived her values until the end.

As a kid, Alleson had a secret club with some friends and her club name was Condor. Though she was always a swimmer and water baby in her life, she developed a connection to birds in her last weeks, admiring the hummingbirds at the feeder on their balcony, and listening to tales from friends of bald eagles and barred owls. Today, her spirit is soaring, roaming the world as she so often did, looking down with a discerning eye.

True to her beliefs, Alleson was able to have a gentle, peaceful death with medical assistance, at a time of her choosing. She is survived by her spouse Ellen, brother Mike and countless friends around the globe. Special thanks to Ros Best Clark, Dr. Stefanie Green, and all the friends who supported Alleson and Ellen and held them in the light.

Alleson was buried December 15, 2023 in a green burial in the Woodlands at Royal Oak Burial Park in Victoria, BC, Canada. A celebration of life will be announced at a future date.

If you feel called to celebrate Alleson in some way, please consider a gift to Mercy Beyond Borders to help her fund education of high school girls in South Sudan https://www.mercybeyondborders.org choosing “in memory of” then add Alleson Kase), The Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre Association https://dewc.ca the Rainbow Refugee Association https://www.rainbowrefugee.com or UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency https://www.unhcr.ca

Love notes

for Alleson Kase

bodies are such fragile things to hold spirits

~Michael Onsando

i.

i don’t like the idea of your body curling

too tightly in upon yourself

lacking power to intervene

all i can do is double-down on friendship

ii.

my friend is going away today

she sent a note

eating breathing speaking

these are the fundamentals now failing

this may well be the kindest of deaths

for she and i

with help of a friend she can tell me

one more time

she loves me

why

she is going away

when

i am so thankful

for this friendship

for her decision to loop me in

to her life and her death

my memory of her is as a teacher

intermittent blasts of kindness

into my life

today, breaking trail

Joanne Arnott