Leslie Margaret Wagner

Leslie Margaret Pereira (McHugh) Wagner, predeceased by her parents Ann & Kenneth, left us serenely, slipping away on February 19, 2020 after a courageous & fierce five-year battle with cancer. The always strong and stoic Leslie chose her time to take her leave. She did so, lovingly surrounded by family & a few close friends. Leslie is survived by her husband Richard, siblings Melanie (Gavin), Keith (Amanda), nephews Jason Smith (Erin), Jacob & Malcolm Pereira and great niece Raven Smith; as well as half-siblings, many cousins here & abroad, and many friends.
Leslie was born in Montreal, Quebec, on Dec 20, 1953 & attended Somerled Elementary & Montreal West high school. Following school, she moved to Ottawa to pursue a career in modeling & Make-up artistry; working for CJOH & CBC TV. Leslie joined her mother & siblings in Victoria about 1976.
Leslie boldly took a Greyhound Coach Bus, round trip from Victoria to Boston, to attend a premiere Make-up Artist school to learn new techniques & enhance her skillset. Here in Victoria, Leslie worked at the Credit Union on Douglas St. full time, modeled for print & in fashion shows. She did make-up for a number of movie productions, as well as a few productions of the Pacific Opera Association. Leslie also did make-up at ChekTV. During her blossoming career as Make-up artist, Leslie did make-up for such luminaries as Ed Broadbent, Bill Bennet, Phyllis Diller, Shari Ulrich, & Henny Youngman, to name a few. Leslie left Victoria to accompany her husband to keep light at a few Vancouver Island lighthouses: Nootka, Cape Mudge, & Discovery Light Stations. Leslie was a member of the Highlands District Community Association, the Highland Heritage Park Society and an active volunteer in the District of Highlands for many years; willingly offering her skills as needed. She ran the Highlands Market for very many years, volunteered for the District of Highlands' annual Community Fling year after year, & was a part of a Highlands Ladies' Quilting/craft Group which gathered to lean new skills, crafts, creative techniques, to make quilts and build community. Leslie also supported the Highlands Coffee House. Leslie participated in the creation of the quilts currently hanging in the Highlands School House. Due to her committed volunteer work, Leslie earned two citations from the District of Highlands.
For 30+ years, Leslie was a member of a Ladies' Luncheon group, in which friends took turns hosting gourmet luncheons, in their home. Leslie was a most excellent cook and baker. As an enthusiastic player, Leslie played Mah-jong, weekly with a group of friends; she so looked forward to her various "afternoons with the girls". Leslie was an avid gardener with a well-developed green thumb. She managed a large home garden, growing various vegetables (which she used at home, shared, sold and preserved), spectacular Dahlias (she was a member of the Dahlia Society), a plethora of flowers and various strains of garlic. One memorable year she planted 1,550 individual cloves of garlic. Once the garlic was harvested and dried, she created gorgeous, flower-bedecked garlic braids, for gifts and sale. Leslie's beautifully arranged bouquets, delectable cookies, yummy jellies, and mustards were highly sought-after items at the Highlands Market, and she always sold out.
In Arizona, her winter home, Leslie, for several years, was a Docent at the Desert Botanical Garden (Phoenix); she very much enjoyed meeting with the public and sharing her desert knowledge with them. Leslie was an accomplished quilter, whose work was precise and beautiful - she had such an eye for colour and composition. Leslie was a long-standing member of the Quilters' Guild taking many quilting classes and going on numerous quilting retreats.
Leslie didn't paint or draw as much as she would have liked as her life was so full, but she was a talented, self-trained artist. Leslie also learned how to weave traditional cedar bark baskets, tried her hand at porcupine quill work, card-making, drying flowers, tatting, spinning wool (drop spindle), knitting, sewing and dabbled in photography; Leslie was a creative soul indeed. Leslie was an enthusiastic "thrifter", and she rarely missed her weekly swap and shop. Leslie's courage and determination to overcome cancer, with her ever-ready smile, was an inspiration to all; including her many friends at the Juan de Fuca Rec Centre gym, which she attended in the last few years of her life.
Leslie had a deep appreciation for beauty, an eye for the exquisite, possessed a quick wit, and keen sense of humour. She loved her family dearly, her friends were important to her, she appreciated the natural world, loved music, and was an insatiable reader. Leslie was a clever, caring, generous, thoughtful, gentle, compassionate person, and a loyal, steadfast friend. Leslie was an honorable, and uncommon woman; she is already so very much missed by all who knew and loved her. We would like to thank the kind, caring professionals at the Victoria Cancer Clinic, Leslie's G.P. Dr. Nicole Pewarchuk, Dr. Jason Hart, & Dr. James Cox for their attentive & compassionate care. We also thank the Home Support Workers & Community Nurses from the Westshore Health Unit who came to Leslie's assistance. Our deep gratitude & appreciation as well to Leslie's dearest friends who saw her to appointments (& stayed with her throughout them), & took her, twice weekly, to the gym. As well, we thank those friends that provided countless nutritious meals, distraction, encouragement & emotional support to both Leslie & her family. At Leslie's request there is to be no funeral, however a celebration of life will be held at a later date.