Betty Louise Roberts

Betty Louise Roberts passed away at Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria BC on March 10th, 2026. Betty was born in West Vancouver on December 9th, 1931, to Charles and Marjorie Merrick and was 94 when she passed.

She is survived by brother Paul Merrick and sister Francis Sharman, children Tad Roberts, Tamara Roberts, and Kim Roberts, and pre-deceased by brothers Peter and David Merrick, and daughter Jennifer Roberts-Brunelle. She is additionally survived by 6 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren. Betty married Lee Harry Roberts in 1954 and they had four children, they were divorced and Betty never re-married.

Caring for family and eventually extended family was a primary focus of Betty’s life, starting when her mother died in 1943 and she became caregiver for three younger siblings. Despite a lifetime of struggle with personal mental and physical health issues, caring for others and contributing to the wider community remain the major life lessons passed to all who knew her.

First volunteering at a kindergarten while a young mother in North Vancouver, then obtaining a degree from UBC while working in the Carihi Secondary School library in Campbell River, creating and operating a library for the fledgling North Island College in Campbell River and Comox, and ultimately filling a position in the Law Library at UVIC, a love of books and sharing them with young people always shaped Betty’s working life.

Opening our Campbell River home, already a busy place with four children of her own, to numerous foster children needing a safe place, just seemed the right thing to do in a town where temporary shelter for First Nations kids was unknown. Later in Victoria hosting foreign university students was a way of learning about other cultures while sharing her knowledge of western literature and art.

Teaching and learning were lifelong passions; Betty attended the Vancouver Island Art School and took up life as a serious multi-media artist. Creating dozens of large art pieces exhibited in gallery shows in Vancouver and Victoria, with numerous works sold, is a lasting and diverse legacy. These unique pieces depicting family history, indigenous Mexican culture, and personal struggle remind us of Betty’s concern for the wider world.

Living almost 40 years in the Craigflower Housing Co-op, Betty was always an active participant in directing and maintaining the cooperative. Years of work on the Board of Directors, Grounds Committee, and her own personal garden served that community with more examples of giving to the greater good.

The cremation was in Victoria and a small memorial will be held at the Roberts/Merrick Family Reunion this summer. Quadra Island, Aug. 11-12/2026.

“I just want to see what comes next” she said to me not long ago. Always curious, with strong opinions readily shared, a resilient spirit, she is missed.