Margaret Helen Arnold

We lost our dear mom on Saturday, September 26th, 2026. She had just finished a meeting with her Raven’s Crossing community, and was helping a friend back to his unit, when she had an unsurvivable stroke. She died hours later surrounded by her family, with many others sharing messages for her via phone or video calls.

Our mom was born in Hague, Saskatchewan on June 10th, 1942. She was the middle child of 5, with two admired older brothers and two adored little sisters. Her home was loving and full of music. She graduated with a degree in nursing from the University of Saskatchewan, travelled through much of the world, and worked in Winnipeg and Montreal before putting down new roots in Red Deer, Alberta with her husband Murray and raising her three perfect children. Mom worked as a nursing professor for most of her life in Red Deer while caring for her kids, her husband and her home, and after retiring from teaching, worked as an elder’s nurse in the First Nation’s community of Bella Bella, BC. Five years ago, Mom moved westward to the warmer climes and ocean breezes of Sidney on Vancouver Island.

I cannot count how many people have told me that Mom changed their lives, that she was an angel to them, a bright light in the world. She was deeply and genuinely curious about the people around her and cared for them as though they were her family. She loved flowers and trees, walks by the river and the sea, and cross country skiing in the woods. She valued human connections and relationships above all, and saw each day as a new opportunity to help those in her orbit understand one another better and to live their best lives. She made the world a gentler and kinder place. We will miss her every day of our lives.