March 9, 1926 - September 27, 2022
March 9, 1929 to September 27, 2022 at Kiwanis Pavilion in Victoria, passed away at the age of 93.
Audrie is predeceased by her husband Edward Bayley (2014), and brother Stanley. She is survived by daughters Elizabeth Hansen (Darren), Robin Bayley (Colin Bennett), Alexandra Bayley (Peter Dickhoff), and grandchildren Christian Hansen (Kirsty), Rae Hansen (Kayleigh Udy), Conrad Bayley and Elizabeth Bayley. Audrie became a great grandmother earlier this month with the birth of Declan Hansen; a new life to buoy the family's spirits.
Audrie was born in Parksville, BC to Olga (Ganske) and Arthur Donat Thomas. She was raised in Little Qualicum, Wellington and Nanaimo, where Audrie graduated from high school. Audrie's adventurous spirit took her to Whitehorse after secretarial college, where she worked her way up in the office of Taylor & Drury's Department Store. She later worked in Toronto, before returning to Vancouver Island to take a job in the MacMillan Bloedel office in Port Alberni, where she met Ed, a young engineer at the Somass Sawmill. She admired his snazzy green Jaguar sports car, and their courtship flourished on drives down-island to visit their respective parents on weekends. They married in 1956, honeymooned cruising the Gulf Islands, and their shared love of boating endured through their lives together.
Ed and Audrie raised their three girls in Port Alberni. Family activities included skiing, boating, waterskiing, hiking, and exploring BC. Audrie kept her girls organized and on time for all manner of lessons, and encouraged academics. She championed the arts by organizing monthly talent hours for young dance and music students, and volunteered in various community organizations: Meals on Wheels, New Canadians, the local youth choir, and as a secretary for the Mount Arrowsmith Ski Association.
Being social by nature, Audrie hosted coffee parties, happy hours, hot dog picnics on the beach and impromptu dinners wherever she lived. She and Ed forged a community in their condominium in Victoria, where they moved in their late 70's. She was renowned for her sense of humour and propensity for practical jokes. She was a natural storyteller, and readily embellished actual events. She favoured friends and family with her delicious bread, shortbread, and lemon tarts. Well before it was the norm, Audrie researched and practiced healthy eating, but that didn't affect her fondness for a good Scotch and a well-mixed martini.
Audrie and Ed spent many happy years together; travelling to Europe and Australia, visiting friends in Vernon and Kamloops, boating around Barclay Sound, exploring coastal British Columbia's Inside Passage, and developing and spending time at their cabins, first at Sproat Lake and later Bamfield.
Audrie was tall, slim, auburn-haired and stylish, could operate a power saw, and almost any boat, and drive a 4x4 crew cab truck over logging roads. Each of her grandchildren has very special memories of spending quality individual time with their grandmother; she could make a game out of anything.
She touched many lives and we will miss her very much.
No service by request.