Obituary of Patricia Anne SNELLING (nee Lee)

April 21, 1951 – Calgary, Alberta

March 29, 2020 - Red Deer, Alberta

Patricia Anne Snelling (nee Lee), only child of Frank and Edna Lee of Calgary, passed away peacefully at Red Deer Regional Hospital on Sunday, March 29, 2020, from complications due to progression of her fight with MSA Parkinsonism – a cruel and rapidly progressing neurological ailment first appearing in 2015/2016 that slowly and steadily shut down her neuromuscular responses but which left her mind as sharp as ever.

Through the years she has made her home in Calgary, Airdrie,  Leslieville, Okotoks and lastly in Red Deer, AB. In all places and at all times her network of close friends continued to grow and most have remained lifelong companions.

Anne (Penny) was a collector and organizer of people. She filled the space of being an only child by reaching out and gathering a vast “sorta family” of friends – friends who have remained loyal and connected throughout all life’s ups and downs. While enjoying a bewildering variety of careers and employments through the decades her defining characteristic has always been one of expressing joy, maintaining a sense of style and grace, creating a true home, gathering of new kindred spirits into the ever-expanding family of friends, and in carefully maintaining that magnificent and eclectic garden of friends, treating each as a beautiful and precious addition.

Her greatest joy has been seeing her daughters find their place in the world and enjoy being a big part of their lives and the lives of the growing family of grandchildren. During this time too she found her other sustaining true life’s vocation through many years of expanding roles of responsibility at Heritage Park Living Museum in Calgary and where her talent for mentoring, managing and gathering in kindred spirits expanded exponentially up until she retired at the end of the 2015 Park season.

Anne will be greatly missed by all who knew her, and we will remember to keep her memories and her sense of both grace and joy close over the times ahead. She has been a wonderful life partner, a wonderful mother and grandmother, a true friend, mentor and wise counsel to many, and she is loved by so many because she first loved and collected them into her fold.

She is survived, and was attended bedside, by her husband and partner of forty-two years, Justin Snelling, and twin daughters, Melody Ing (Mike) and Heather Carson (Brent). She is also survived by ten beautiful grandchildren, Emma, Ava, Esteban, Brayden, Jayden, Celeste, Charlee, Landon, Julio (Julito), and Declan.

Currently precautions prevent any large gatherings and the family will hold a celebration of life with many of her true friends in her honour if an opportunity presents later in the year, or as circumstances permit.

In the interim condolences, memories and photos may be shared and viewed on Anne’s Obituary which may be found at www.McInnisHolloway.com

In living memory of Anne Snelling, a tree will be planted in the Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area by McInnis and Holloway Funeral Homes, Park Memorial, 5008 Elbow Drive S.W., Calgary, AB T2S 2L5, Telephone: 403-243-8200.