Obituary of Doreen Drusilla Kilbourn

Doreen Drusilla Kilbourn (née Standly), 94, of Invermere, BC, passed away on December 19, 2023, surrounded by family and friends.

Born on October 12, 1929, to Aylmer (Jim) and Edith Standly in High River, Alberta, Doreen was the last of four girls in a prairie homesteading family. As the youngest daughter, Doreen was the only one of the four to be born in a hospital. After the family moved to Calgary, Doreen went on to graduate in 1948 from Western Canada High School, where she was very active in the Young People's Players theatre club.  She had many adventures with the friends she made back then—such as a cycling trip to Banff, in the days of single-gear bikes—and kept them close all these years.

Doreen met Garry Kilbourn at a dance in Calgary, and in 1951 they were married. They went on to have three children, Kenneth, Drusilla, and Russell.

Doreen was a devoted mother to her children; in the style of the times, she was always there for them, until they went off to make their respective lives.  She later gained her own independence and worked for the Alberta Law Foundation and Canada Trust. That said, family always came first to Doreen, a value she instilled in everyone around her. The annual family “Standly Cup” golf tournament, for instance, was for decades a highlight for all the generations. Doreen’s quiet but lively presence inspired all she met, right up to her 2020 move to Invermere, BC, where she found a new circle of friends to complement those she left behind in Calgary, where, since 1960, she had lived in the house on Chicoutimi Drive N.W.

 

Doreen was predeceased by her husband Garry and son Ken (Elfriede), his son and Doreen’s grandson, Torsten, as well as Dave Clark, her partner for several years in later life. She is survived by Dru (Tony), Russell (Sandra), and her five grandchildren, Andy, Denise, Owen, Abby, and Francesca, her great grandchild, Hendrix, and five generations of nieces and nephews.

 

A funeral service will be held on Saturday April 13, 2024 at McInnis and Holloway Funeral Home, Chapel of the Bells, at 2720 Centre St. N., in Calgary, Alberta.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Doreen’s name to the Canadian Red Cross (https://www.redcross.ca/). Final Arrangements entrusted McPherson Funeral Services in addition to McInnis and Holloway Funeral Home and Queen’s Park Cemetery, Calgary, AB.