Obituary of Audrey Mayne (nee Mellersh)

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of our mom on February 4, 2024, after a brief battle with cancer. Audrey passed away peacefully with her family by her side and surrounded with love. Audrey is survived by her husband, Roy, her two children, Garrett (Christine) Mayne and Jana (Ty) Schulz, along with her grandchildren Alexis (Brandon), Rylee (Alyssa), James, and Jordan. Also survived by her sister, Louise (Wayne) Fairchild, many family members, life-long friends, and neighbors. Audrey was predeceased by her parents, Larry and Irene Mellersh.

Audrey was born in Edson, Alberta on January 30, 1950, and later moved to Hinton in 1967 at the age of 17, where she met the love of her life, Roy in 1968. Audrey and Roy moved to Cranbrook in 1970 after Roy started work at the CFI Pulp Mill. Since moving to Cranbrook, Audrey worked at the Bank of Nova Scotia when it was in the Cranbrook Mall on Baker Street, for the City of Cranbrook in city administration, Crestbrook Forest Industries, and then later retired from Tembec.

Audrey was well known for her kindness, humor, grace, and love for many things. When her children came to visit, it wasn’t long before she brought out the crib board and a competitive spirit. In one year, she played over 688 games with her daughter and countless games with her son. She had a love of hunting for vintage linens and could often be found in the second-hand stores or scouting out garage sales for handmade doilies and tablecloths. She would treasure her finds by handwashing and picking out the finest ones to add to the hundreds of pillows she made with love. Her crafting abilities were endless, such as making stunning wreathes out of vintage Christmas decorations, giving new life to old trinkets with the use of paint and other materials, and passing down her knowledge of sewing to her daughter and granddaughter.  Her favourite color was purple, especially lilac, in fact, on many of the pillows she made, “poiple” was written on the labels - a running joke in our family. Audrey took pride in all that she did, she loved hard, and she unselfishly helped others without question. In 2016, her husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Audrey dedicated herself to providing care for him that was grounded in love, compassion, and respect.

Heartfelt gratitude to Home and Community Care and the Palliative Care team for supporting mom in living out her final days in her home with the help of her family. In addition, we are incredibly grateful to Dale, Shirley, and Janet for the check ins and for keeping us fed with home cooked meals so that we could focus on mom.

There will be no service at Audrey’s request. In lieu of flowers, Audrey asked that you please consider donating to a charity or non-profit of your choice in her honour.