In loving memory ~
Beverley Houston (Graves) died suddenly on March 23, 2025, in Courtenay, B.C.
She is survived by three brothers and their spouses: Myron (Rita), Floyd (Donna) and Gary (Angelica); her son, Jason, and his wife, TaraLee, the daughter-in-law who became a daughter; and Bev's life partner of an adventurous and joyful 50 years, Jack E. Carey.
She was the cherished aunt of Andrew, Holly, Vanessa, Kenton, Gavin, Ian and Sean.
Bev's father, Cecil, died in 1992, her brother Clayton in 2010 and her mother, Inza, in 2014.
In the early 1960s Bev moved from the family home to Toronto. She worked in a florist shop, where she developed design skills and business acumen. Shortly after the arrival of her son, Bev moved with the baby from Toronto to Regina, where her parents then lived.
Not so long after that, in good and bad fortune, she both met Jack and developed an extremely rare cancer that cost her part of a leg. "I refuse to die," she told the doctors, "I have a son to look after." Only the second case of this disease in Saskatchewan, she became its first survivor.
In Regina she bought her own flower shop. Bev successfully ran Buds 'n' Blossoms, for 3 decades until her retirement in 2007. On the coldest day of February 2010, she and Jack moved to Vancouver Island where her parents had retired.
Bev was a feminist, dating from when it was called Women's Lib. She often was alone or among only a handful of women attending industry events. She supported women-owned businesses, female professionals and artists.
In her retirement, she found joy in playing guitar and piano, landscape painting, gardening Christmas decorating, flower arranging and baking. If you dropped in for coffee she might apologize for having on hand just two kinds of pie and only a few butter tarts. She also was a fan of the original Star Trek.
Bev wished to have her ashes spread on at a beautiful Vancouver Island landscape scene, like the kind that inspired many of her paintings.
Details of memorial will be published at a future date. The family does not wish to receive flowers in sympathy, but donations in her memory to a cancer, women's or hospital charity would be "Bev-approved."
