BERNADETTE MARIE WINSTANLEY LEANEY

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BERNADETTE MARIE WINSTANLEY LEANEY

December 6, 1950 – January 18, 2024

It is with profound sadness that we announce Bernie's passing. She passed quickly after a long and valiant battle against cancer.



She will be greatly missed by her husband Scott, daughter Marnie Howard (Preston), granddaughter Gemma Howard, siblings, Veronica Diment (Roy), Andrew (Olive), Martin (Arlene), Paul, Mark (Janice), Stephanie and Vincent (Julie), many nephews and nieces and great-nephews and nieces. She was predeceased by her parents, Tony and Celia (Henle) and older sister Jennifer.

Bernie was a vivacious, talented lady who lived an adventurous, impactful life full of generosity and humour. Bernie was born in Vancouver and grew up in Victoria, attending St. Patrick's School and St. Ann's Academy before spending her last two years of school at Oak Bay High School, graduating in 1968. After an early marriage, she moved to Vancouver, working at the TD downtown branch, rising ultimately to Personnel Manager. She caught the entrepreneurial bug and with a close friend founded Blood Alley Portraits in Gastown. Thereafter she founded Animotion, a successful dance and exercise studio in East Vancouver. She also worked as a commercial real estate property manager during this time.

In the summer of 1984 Bernie met Scott and so began a soul-mate love affair that would last almost 40 years. Bernie and Scott lived together on the eastside and then the westside of Vancouver. They first lived together at the Shamrock Hotel, a skid row rooming house on East Hastings which Bernie managed in exchange for reduced rent. This was not an easy job and is a testament to Bernie's courageous and giving nature. She helped many of the tenants through difficult episodes and earned their respect (and improved behaviour!). During this time Bernie was a Big Sister, helping young girls from broken homes. She also trained to become a police officer, passing the physical, no small feat for a 35 year old woman. She passed the interviews but ultimately did not pursue that vocation.

In 1988 Bernie joined Scott in Paris where they began their global adventure with the oilfield services company, Schlumberger. While in Paris, Bernie worked for Metropolitan Language School teaching English to corporate executives. When she wasn't bombing around Paris in her little red Italian company car dressed in French fashions, she was helping an old woman and a teenage girl in the apartment complex. She also attended Alliance Française to learn French and made plenty of international friends who were great fun to party with. In 1992, Bernie and Scott got married in Sèvres, just outside Paris, and headed to Jakarta, Indonesia to begin the next chapter of an exciting life.

In Jakarta, Bernie quickly got to work helping the many poor people living in the kampongs of that city. She partnered with a Burmese doctor and toured the kampongs, providing healthcare to the needy. She then became president of the Schlumberger Spouses Association and raised funds to build latrines and showers in the kampongs. At home she hosted weekly English lessons and bingo games around the ping-pong table for the local children and took them frequently to MacDonald's. Amongst the children was a special little four-year old girl, Sumarni (Marnie), who would park herself outside the front gate of the house. Marnie soon started spending days and nights in the house and became part of the family, finally being legally adopted three years later. Marnie completed the Bernie and Scott family. The special love between Marnie and Bernie was something to behold. After Jakarta it was off to Sussex in England. There Bernie helped at the school church and started up the boys and girls Cub Scout troop, being a wildly popular Akela. After six glorious years in Sussex it was off to Texas. The first thing Bernie did there was to train to be an EMT, working nights for the local volunteer fire department. She then joined the board of the home owners association, eventually serving as president for more than ten years.

Bernie was feisty and could be formidable at times, but she was also hilariously funny with a playful, naughty sense of humour. She kept the nurses and doctors in stitches over the last months. Bernie was always giving, rescuing and saving. She was an unabashed over-tipper, always with cash. She argued that since she didn't tithe, it was another way to give back to the community. She loved nature and was not afraid to pick up all kinds of critters, showing a remarkable kinship with all living things. She always had multiple dogs, every one of them a rescue. She also saved cats, many birds, small mammals and a lot of insects too. She raised butterflies and loved the garden. She was a west coast girl but when she visited Lake of the Woods in Ontario for the first time in 1987 she was amazed and loved returning every summer. She revelled in long walks in the wilds and loved boating to beaches to swim, picnic and play in the water. Bernie was a fantastic cooker of roast dinners and her sausage rolls were renowned. At home in Texas she was famous for dressing up and for her house decorations. She loved Christmas, Easter and Halloween for the kids. She hosted a Halloween party every year in the cul de sac dressed as a gorilla, serving lemonade and wine while dancing in the street in a grass skirt.

Bernie Leaney was a star for so many and gave her love generously. The world has lost a very bright light.

Our family would like to thank the staff at MD Anderson, Kelsey-Seybold, Houston Methodist West and HCA West hospitals.

Donations may be made to heart and lung or animal charities. A Celebration of Life is being planned for spring time at her family home in Katy, Texas.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Feb 10, 2024, Feb 10, 2024