Lena Harrison

Mrs. Lena Alva Harrison of Lethbridge, beloved wife of the late Gerald Keith Harrison, passed away at Chinook Regional Hospital on Wednesday, July 7, 2021, at the age of 97 years.

Lena was born on September 14, 1923 in the McCreary district of Manitoba to Robert Lindsay and Elisabeth Gardiner. The second of six children, she was raised on a farm, but joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1942, working in Ottawa. After discharge in 1946, she married her childhood sweetheart, Keith, and moved to Winnipeg, where their first child, Marvin, was born. In 1950, the family moved to Edmonton where a second son, Trevor, was later born.

Lena became the head of night admissions at Edmonton’s University Hospital, a position she held until 1967. That year, Keith was ordained as a United Church minister and the family moved to Bashaw, Alberta. They lived there for two years, before returning again to the Edmonton area, where Lena was soon the head of admitting at the Charles Camsell Hospital and later the head of its volunteer services.

She retired (and then, unretired) on several occasions in the years that followed, to be with two beloved grand-children, Jayna and Keenan, born to Trevor and his wife, Terri. In 2004, she and Marvin moved to Lethbridge to stay close to Trevor’s family, and shortly thereafter took up volunteer work with Lethbridge Police Victim’s Services and the Chinook Hospital’s palliative care. She remained active until 2017 when the onset of dementia began taking its toll.

Lena was a kind and generous woman who lived her life in the service of others. She will be missed.

She was predeceased by her parents and five siblings, and her husband, Keith. She leaves behind to mourn her sons, Marvin and Trevor (Terri Saunders), grandchildren, Jayna (Adam Burleigh) and Keenan, and two great-grand-children, Maxton and Hollie.

A Funeral Service will be held at 10:00am, on Monday, July 12, 2021, at MARTIN BROTHERS RIVERVIEW CHAPEL, 610-4 Street South, Lethbridge, Alberta. Cremation to follow. An Interment of ashes will follow at a later date in Edmonton.

Flowers are gratefully declined. We request that memorial donations be given either to Lethbridge Police Victim’s Services or to another charity of one’s choice.

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