1930 -2018
Bett Lauridsen had grown up in a small (population 800) Manitoba town where there was a real sense of community – something she felt was completely lacking in Vancouver. In CAS she knew she had found the community she had been seeking. She and her two sons were among the original residents of CAS. They were still laying the carpet when they moved in.
As an accomplished health care professional Bett spent 27 years with the Victorian Order of Nurses and Vancouver Health Department, after which she became manager of the STAT Centre (geriatric unit) at VGH. After retiring in 1995 she immediately became manager of the newly created Commuter Centre where she created the hospital staff shuttles which had carried over 2.5 million passengers and saved the health authorities hundreds of thousands of dollars. She was very proud of this success story. The Commuter Centre was eventually named in her honour.
As well as being a nurse clinician, Bett was an energy healer, and a mediator. She lectured provincially on the expanding role of nurses, and presented at a number of national conferences on the challenges of caring for an aging population. She managed somehow to find time to serve on the board of the RNABC and Conflict Resolution Society of BC.
Along with 2 other members of CAS, Bett was a co-founder of Muffin Works, a small business to provide employment to mentally challenged people. Her son was someone who found employment there, learned new skills, and was able to move towards independence through this successful business.
Bett was able to balance her busy work and volunteer life and home life as a single parent with spending relaxing time in her flower garden. She also became a passionate and accomplished weaver of tapestries of stunning west coast scenes. A believer in (and practitioner of) in lifelong learning, Bett was always taking new challenges, learning new skills and reinventing herself.