PRYDWEN NANLIZ COLEGRAVE

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PRYDWEN NANLIZ COLEGRAVE

August 22, 1922 - May 31, 2026

Prydwen Nanliz (Nan) Colegrave died peacefully on Sunday, May 31st, in Kingston, Ontario. She is remembered with love and gratitude by her children Ian (Rosalind) Malcolm of Kingston, Duncan (Darlene) Malcolm of Victoria and Ann (Bill) LeBlanc of Collingwood, her grandchildren Rob (Santhe) LeBlanc, Jon (Tina) LeBlanc, Geoff Malcolm, Ian (Sarah) Malcolm and David (Beverly) Malcolm and great-grandchildren Heloise and Amelie LeBlanc, Collin and Caide LeBlanc, Robert Malcolm, Hazel, Ben and Myles Malcolm. She also leaves dear first cousins Nanlys Roberts and Mary (Colin) Burman, stepsons Raymond and Thomas Colegrave, and beloved relatives in Wales, England, Canada and Thailand. She mourned the loss of her infant son Robert Malcolm ( d.1947), her second husband Denis Colegrave (d.1997), her sister Dorothy (d. 2009) and her son Hugh Malcolm (d. 2023).

Born in Betws-y-Coed, North Wales, the elder daughter of Jane and Griffith Thomas and sister of Dorothy Owen, Prydwen excelled academically at Llanrwst Grammar School, and athletically, having played tennis and field hockey for the School. She trained in paediatrics at Royal Liverpool Children’s Hospital and earned her State Registered Nurse diploma at the Warneford Hospital in Leamington Spa. In the spring of 1944, at RAF Station Bournemouth, she met Flight Lieutenant Robert Malcolm, a Navigator with Bomber Command, from Winnipeg, Manitoba. They were married in December 1945 in St. Mary’s Anglican Church, Betws-y-Coed and moved to Winnipeg in 1946.

In Winnipeg, while raising four children, she pursued what became a very successful career in nursing. She became Head Nurse at Winnipeg General Hospital, and St.Vital Hospital, then Director of Nursing at St. Vital Hospital and finally Director of Nursing Education at Victoria General Hospital, continuing there until her retirement in 1987. She was proud to have been a leader in the development of the 1975 four-year Bachelor of Nursing program at the University of Manitoba. And she made many life-long friends during her twenty years’ residence on Victoria Row.

Her first marriage ended in 1972. In 1975 she married retired Lieutenant Commander Denis Colegrave, (RCN). For their 25 years together Nan and Denis were a formidable force in the fields of hospital administration and labour relations, the social life of golf and time spent with friends and family at Southwood Golf Club, and travelling to visit family in Canada and Wales.

Our mother moved to Kingston in 2000, and continued to live with grace, dignity and independence. She drove her Buick until 2016, and she remained in her King Street apartment until 2018, when illness compelled her to move to assisted living in Kingston’s Arbour Heights residence. Her family is grateful for the kindness and excellent care that she received throughout the past eight years from the Arbour Heights staff, and her visiting caregivers from Heart to Heart.

A private service will be planned at a later date, to bring her ashes to lie with those of her beloved Denis. She would have been pleased to know of the family’s wish that any charitable donations in her name be made to Parkinson Canada, to honour her and her late son Hugh.

Our mother’s final years were spent in reflecting on a life well-lived. She was our family’s rock, our conscience, our encourager, and our strongest supporter. “Mam annwyl, Duw a’ch hendithio a’ch cadw bob amser” – Dear Mother, God bless you and keep you always.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Jun 13, 2026