March 19, 1921 - June 27, 2023
Vita Zenia Simpson, of Sechelt BC, was 102 when she passed away peacefully on June 27 after a very full life. She was born in March, 1921 to parents, Jens and Helga Jensen in Strib, on the Danish Island of Funen. When she was seven, the family moved to Copenhagen where she spent the war years under German occupation, joining the Danish resistance and using her apartment as a "safe house". She met her future husband, Derek, a visiting major in the New Zealand military, in 1946 and they were married in London two years later.
The couple moved to Vancouver in 1948. She was a marvellous entertainer and homemaker, and set a shining example in her rôle as mother. During the 1970's and 80's they sailed the world on their ketch "Nyon III" - he as skipper and she as his first mate. She is predeceased by her beloved husband of 46 years, son Bill, son-in-law Tookie, and granddaughter Debbie. In 2005 Vita moved to Sechelt, the last of 29 houses that she lived in, to be closer to her children. She often said that she "only had love affairs with houses and never with other men". Derek was her true love.
Vita is survived by three of her four children, Helen, Robin (Rosemary) and Jette (Roddy) as well as grandchildren Fiona (Mike), Amy (Dan) April, and Hamish and great-grandchildren Kaitlin (Jake), Matthew, Katherine, Billy and Jackson, as well as Danish family, Jette and Erik, who will all miss her dearly and be mindful of her advice to them: "Be decent and truthful and honest with yourself and with others. You have to be able to like yourself."
