Melody Benson (nee Sjoquist), died Monday, March 16th, 2015 in Victoria BC. Melody was born on November 19th, 1942 in Vancouver, BC. Mom was positive and courageous until the end. She never lost her sense of humour and lit the hospital room with good energy over her final days.
Melody is survived by her three sons, Thomas (wife Katherine), Bradley, and Gregory (wife Stacey) and her wonderful grandchildren (Daniel, Shannon, Gabrielle, Madelaine, Mariah, Jake, Samuel, Maxwell, Jack) as well as her sister, Sandra Bossert. She will be missed by all who knew her.
Married into the RCMP, Melody lived all over Canada with her husband (Dean) and her boys. Whether creating adventure as a girl guide leader or driving the creation of support services for those with MS in Victoria, she always made a difference through community leadership. Melody dealt with her own challenges with MS in the most positive of ways, bringing her incredible humour to every moment of hardship. She showed others how to live, despite incredible challenge and the suffering of indignity. She was about opening doors, not closing them.
She showed us how to understand the larger force of it all with gratitude. Melody taught us to always see the bright side, to accept the cards that we are dealt, but never to develop a sense of impossibility, no matter how the deck was stacked.
Mom was always approachable and open to wherever the conversation was going…often way out of bounds…but always memorable. You could laugh so hard with her. She loved a story and lived vicariously through the ones that her physical limitations kept her from. She hated drinking water with a passion – anything “non water” or “enhanced water” was “riggy dig” – water – why bother?
Mom was wise, in the truest sense of the word, but wouldn’t have ever described herself that way. She was sharp and smart and even ravaged by her illness, she could pull out factoids that would have impressed those more schooled…and she would say “I don’t know how I know that, but I think it’s true”.
She was so brave and we will miss her deeply. We will gather and playfully remember Melody on April 18th, from 1-5PM at 298 View Royal Avenue in Victoria, BC. Story telling commences at 2PM.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the MS Society at 1004 North Park Street, Victoria, BC, V8T 1C6.
McCall Bros. Funeral Home
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Neil
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Mary Henry Hugs from a distant relative..my mother still alive, is 94 yrs old/ Louise Sjoquist/lowry..I just heard today..thru our family tree of your loss..hugs.
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Evelyn Wiggins Thinking of you and hope that happy memories and caring friends, give you comfort in the days to come.
Great memories of Melody 40 years ago. She was the cool mom that got up in the middle of the night to cook our freshly caught shrimp. Her noisy coffee maker was always going. She’d feed you, argue with you, chat and joke with you and steer you when needed. A fine woman that left her stamp.