Audrey Cleland SHEPPARD

LUCAS , Audrey (Berenice) December 4, 1911 - September 5, 2009 Berenice ("Lukey" to family and friends) was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, the only daughter of George and Jessica Sheppard. In 1930 she married W.H. Seymour Lucas from Belfast, Northern Ireland and embarked on her career as an executive assistant in the corporate world. She ultimately became involved in public charitable organizations and during the 1950's was co-chair of the United Way Red Feather Campaign as well as being on the boards of several charitable institutions. In 1960 Berenice and Seymour moved to London, England and over a three-year period she developed her skills in the world of antiques while working in London's famous Portobello Road. Following her return to Montreal, Berenice became a successful realtor, which she practiced until the couple moved to Vancouver in 1968. Following the death of Seymour in 1971 and now in her sixties, she embarked on a new career in the ladies fashion retail business with Woodward's at Oakridge, and was still actively involved in retail sales, in Kerrisdale, until her early eighties. An inveterate shopper most of her life, she heartily supported the ladies fashion industry until shortly before she passed away. Berenice was an irrepressible proponent of life and its new adventures. She was fiercely independent and was still living in her own walk-up apartment as her 98th birthday neared. She was determined not to live out her days in a nursing home and in the end she prevailed. Her last home was her own. Berenice is survived by her children, Anne (Tony), Crozier (Susan); grandchildren, Camilla, Steven (Monica), Robin and Guy; great-grandchildren, Nicholas, Zoe and Cassandra as well as relations in England, Ireland, Australia and the USA. A celebration of her life will be held at No. 102, 2776 Pine Street from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 27, 2009. Published in the Calgary Herald on 9/19/2009