Willi Wolfe remembered as a courteous, caring, positive woman
Published Friday November 6th, 2009
ST. ANDREWS - An exceptionally courteous, kind and gentle woman, Willi Evans Wolfe was determined to live a full life and make the best of any situation.
At the age of 66, Wolfe died of cancer while surrounded by friends and family at the Charlotte County Hospital on Oct. 30.
"She was always positive," her husband Max Wolfe said. "If you saw her two days before she died and asked her how she was feeling, she would say 'not too bad, all things considered.' She was just about to draw her last breath but you would never know it, she was not complaining."
Max Wolfe said his wife was loved by everyone who knew her because she was generous, thoughtful, kind and always thinking of others.
"She was the sort of person who would stop at a stop sign and let every left-hand turning car coming her way go rather than insist on her rights," Max said. "She was a very positive, happy person. Not like grinning and whopping happy but very content and you could see it in her face."
Born the daughter of a renowned neurosurgeon in Cincinnati, Ohio, Willi had a large family. She went to high school in Switzerland and was fully bilingual by the time she graduated.
She studied at an agricultural college, spent a year caring for her grandmother in Chicago and travelled to Colombia where she lived for a year helping her sister Caroline with her first-born child.
She later worked for the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Calgary where Max first got a glimpse of the woman who would become his life mate.
"I saw this long, lean, rather graceful woman and I thought 'hmm interesting,' and after that she left and went to work for a client of mine as it happens," he said. "I went down to do something for the client and she was there, so that was the start."
He said he fell for her grace, gentleness and kindness and in 1976 they married in Calgary, where they lived for five years before taking off on an adventure to New Brunswick.
Max said Willi wanted to leave Calgary so they went on a tour of the Maritimes where they found a farm in Jemseg, and lived there for 18 years until moving to St. Andrews on a similar whim.
On the hobby farm in Jemseg, Max Wolfe said he ran his law firm out of the kitchen and Willi ran the small farm. She milked cows, cleaned out hen houses and grew organic strawberries.
He said if Willi was nervous about either move, she didn't show it.
"One of her great virtues was that she was almost always calm," her husband said.
Helen Thomas, a friend of Willi Wolfe's for more than 15 years, said she was an intelligent and thoughtful woman who was talented at everything she did.
She said Willi was a terrific musician, a great singer who participated in several choirs, an outstanding weaver, craftswoman, gardener, environmentalist and peace activist.
Max Wolfe said when they moved to St. Andrews, Willi took up golf and bridge, and she excelled at both.
Thomas said she fit into St. Andrews with ease and was active in craft organizations in the province and all sorts of local fundraising events and committees.
She said her friend had warm smiling eyes, was always anxious to meet people and was interested in what people had to say to her. She said she brought the best out in everyone.
"She really lived right to the end," Thomas said. "She didn't seem bitter in the least about dying. She just made the best of things and lived as full a life as she could."
"I think what she left in me, apart from a whole bucket of tears, is consideration for others and the importance of being quietly kind," Max Wolfe said. "She never made a big fuss about these things. She wasn't interested in self-glorification. She was just a nice person."
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